We support and connect regionally-specific science about how climate change is affecting species and ecosystems with partners making on-the-ground climate adaptation decisions to reduce risks. 

We provide science to Northwest resource managers — foresters, fish and wildlife practitioners, and others stewarding our region’s species and ecosystems — that helps answer questions about how to best safeguard our natural resources as the climate changes. All of the research the NW CASC supports is conducted in partnership with resource managers at state and federal fish, wildlife and lands agencies, as well as Tribes and Tribal organizations, to ensure findings can be applied to the complex, real-world contexts that managers face.

Our science is specifically geared toward natural and cultural resource managers within the Department of the Interior bureaus — including the U.S. Geological Survey, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Reclamation — as well as Northwest Tribes and Northwest state fish and wildlife and natural lands agencies.

Our Science Agenda guides our science investments and activities.

The overall direction and priorities for the research we support are outlined in our five-year Science Agenda, developed through a process of collaboration with regional resource managers and scientists on our NW CASC Advisory Committee to identify climate-sensitive management priorities and goals, relevant knowledge gaps, and strategies for filling those gaps.

We address the science needs identified in the NW CASC’s 5-year Science Agenda, as well as emerging science needs identified in the Actionable Science Agendas produced by our Deep Dives, through both consortium- and USGS-directed research funding. The NW CASC Consortium supports climate adaptation research projects through its Research Fellowship Program and Faculty Fellowship Program, while the USGS side of the NW CASC directs research funding to a portfolio of regional projects each year.