CIRMOUNT Ecosystems Working Group
MTNCLIM 2006 – Timberline Lodge Summary
Conveners: Jeremy Littell, Jeff Hicke
Contact: jlittell@u.washington.edu or jhicke@uidaho.edu
Participants: Allan Carroll, Steve Corn, Don McKenzie, Lindsey Christensen, Steve Cooch,
Dave Parsons, Julio Betancourt, Andy Bunn, Jeff Kennedy, Jim Thorne, John Dwyer, Phil van
Mantgem, Nate Stevenson, Craig Allen, Martha Apple, Ann Lynch
The Ecosystems Working Group goals for MTNCLIM 2006 were to:
(1) develop a working group identity and
(2) identify one action for the group to focus on during the next year.
Tuesday (19 Sep. 2006) p.m. meeting: discussion of role of working group.
We asked ourselves:
•
What are we uniquely poised to do?
•
What are the BIG questions related to global change and the management of western
North American ecosystems?
We solicited lists of important questions from the participants listed above, and collated a list
that contained several common themes, most of which fell under the purview of a broader
statement:
The working group participants are interested in using science to improve ecosystem
management in mountain regions that are vulnerable to global change.
Our discussion of an action item resulted in identification of a set of related actions:
•
Refine our list of “Big Questions” and identify important research gaps
•
Collate these on the CIRMOUNT Ecosystems working group website
•
Develop an archive of compelling research results (case studies and broad syntheses)
that depict the causes and consequences of, and potential responses to global change
•
Develop a presentation describing the most compelling results, potential vulnerabilities,
and important research gaps. This presentation would be targeted to a wide audience
including other scientists, policy / decision makers, federal land managers, educators,
etc.
In addition, we would like to solicit the input of the larger community to further define our list of
questions and priorities and welcome any suggestions.
We would like to publicize the CIRMOUNT ecosystems working group at other meetings (e.g.,
AGU, ESA, etc.).