Climate change and invasive species threaten ecosystems across the Northwest and the world, creating significant challenges for managing our lands and waters. Although both are recognized as major threats, there are still many questions about how climate change and invasive species interact to create novel and complex challenges for our ecosystems. 

Building Regional Capacity for Managing Invasives in a Changing Climate 

Participate in the NW RISCC network:

1. Stay up-to-date on upcoming events, research summaries, and more by subscribing to our listserv.
2. Share new research by filling out this form.
3. Share invasives-climate management stories by filling out this form.
4. Join our Advisory Team by filling out this interest form.

The Northwest Regional Invasive Species and Climate Change (NW RISCC) Network was established to help natural resource managers and biologists in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, British Columbia, and neighboring states and provinces incorporate climate change science into invasive species management. The network’s goal is to establish a community of practice that helps resource practitioners — including federal, tribal, state, and local agencies and organizations — make climate-smart decisions around invasive species prevention, early detection, control, monitoring and future research activities. 

The NW RISCC was launched in 2019 and is supported by the Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (NW CASC) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Overseen by an advisory team and coordinated by a staff member housed at the University of Washington Climate Impacts Group (host of the NW CASC), the NW RISCC explores on-the-ground strategies for managing invasives in the Northwest under climate change and identifies regional research needs and opportunities. It does this through compiling and sharing relevant resources like management briefs, research summaries and journal articles and through convening scientists and practitioners through symposiums and webinars. For example, when the Emerald Ash Borer was detected in Forest Grove, Oregon in June 2022, marking its first appearance west of the Rocky Mountains, the NW RISCC was quick to respond by organizing a webinar on proactive management opportunities for practitioners in the Northwest and developing a management brief to share with the Network.

Learning from Other Regional Invasives-Climate Networks Across the Country

The Northwest RISCC Network is one of several RISCC Networks across the United States and its territories. Newer networks that have coalesced in recent years are building on the work of more mature RISCC Networks, which have paved the way through generously sharing their approaches and lessons learned. For example, the inaugural Northeast RISCC Network has been working since 2016 to reduce the combined effects of invasive species and climate change by synthesizing relevant science, building strong manager-scientist communities and conducting priority research. Though each RISCC operates differently, they are all multi-partner collaborations working towards a common mission of bringing people together to better understand regional threats related to invasives and climate change and equip resource managers with information and tools to manage these threats.

VISIT THE NW RISCC WEBSITE