Leona Svancara is the new assistant regional administrator of the Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center. Her research interests include assessing the effects of climate and landscape change on at-risk fish and wildlife species and their habitats and identifying and implementing conservation actions to address those effects.
Prior to joining USGS, Leona spent 17 years as a spatial ecologist with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) assessing the conservation and management needs of at-risk wildlife, incorporating those needs into agency planning, and engaging diverse partners to identify and implement actions to reduce impacts and inform management decisions. She has represented IDFG on the NW CASC Advisory Committee since 2013.
Leona received both her doctorate in natural resources and master’s in wildlife sciences from the University of Idaho, as well as a bachelor’s in zoology and marine biology from Humboldt State University. She is an adjunct faculty member at University of Idaho. In her spare time, she can usually be found on horseback in the backcountry with family and friends.
What led you to work in the field of climate adaptation?
Since my undergrad days at Humboldt State, I have worked on projects to identify and address threats to at-risk species, including both landscape change and climate change. As a graduate student and staff researcher at the University of Idaho, I was continually challenged to ask the question “So what?”. Evaluating, analyzing, assessing and planning can provide useful scientific information to inform decisions, but to really make a difference and answer the “so what” questions for these species and the habitats on which they depend, the science and relevant management actions need to be implemented, evaluated and adapted. After helping launch the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program in the region in the early 2000s, I jumped at the chance to affect conservation and management of at-risk species with IDFG in 2006. My work in climate adaptation naturally progressed while addressing state resource management issues over the last 17 years.
What does your day-to-day work look like?
At IDFG, I spent a lot of time evaluating changes in current and future species distributions and assessing species’ potential adaptive capacity. I worked closely with IDFG managers and various conservation partners to identify and implement conservation actions necessary to enable and enhance species’ resistance, resilience and response. My day-to-day work often encompassed both broader strategic planning and more specific project development and implementation. I was also involved in several multidisciplinary and interagency working groups (e.g., AFWA, WAFWA, NW CASC Advisory Committee) challenged with addressing climate change issues across broader extents. In my new position, I look forward to working with a greater audience of managers and partners to enhance the resilience of species and habitats in the Northwest.
How does your work support climate resilience in the Northwest?
My previous work at IDFG supported climate resilience through internal and external partnerships that led to research, planning, habitat management and outreach. For example, I worked with partners to identify species most sensitive to climate change, increase empirical assessments of their distribution and abundance and identify conservation opportunity areas likely to remain resilient to climate change to inform decision-making. I also worked with researchers to improve climate measures (e.g., snow cover, species-specific seasonal temperatures) at biologically relevant scales, including co-locating microclimate monitoring with species inventories. This allowed us to better describe microclimate habitat needs and develop more appropriate conservation actions.
In addition, I worked to incorporate climate change effects into species-specific management plans, the Idaho State Wildlife Action Plan and broader agency strategic plans. In my new position, I hope to leverage these experiences and connections to further enhance climate resilience of species and habitats across the Northwest.
What is your favorite thing about your climate adaptation work?
I really enjoy working with resource managers and biologists to tackle challenges in the conservation and management of a species or habitat. Few resource management actions are done solely in the name of climate change. Instead, they are focused on building resistant and resilient populations and habitats to withstand the effects of various forces, including climate change. Nothing beats the feeling of collaborating with a great group of people to address a pressing issue, seeing the results of their hard work implemented on the ground, and knowing that, even if the actions are not 100% successful, we can adapt and continue to make a difference.