The Southern California Montane Forests Project convened a virtual Practitioner Workshop on January 26th to review planning and implementation challenges, brainstorm solutions and strategies, and discuss next steps for the conservation strategy and continued outreach. Learn more on today’s blog!
Project team members from the Southern California Montane Forests Project: A Climate-Informed Conservation Strategy convened a virtual Practitioner Workshop on January 26, 2022 as an opportunity to review planning and implementation challenges, brainstorm solutions and strategies, and discuss next steps for the conservation strategy and continued outreach.
The virtual Practitioner Workshop brought together over 20 practitioners representing federal, state, local, and Tribal government, non-profit organizations, and private companies with expertise spanning fire and fuels management, forestry, ecology and biology, planning and policy, and numerous others. The workshop’s discussions built upon feedback provided through a practitioner questionnaire that was circulated in late 2021, with Engagement Strategy Team lead Dr. Megan Jennings from San Diego State University organizing the feedback and prompting further discussions. Through interactive polling and break-out sessions with members of the project team and other practitioners, participants provided valuable feedback and ideas, emphasizing the importance of partnerships and multi-agency cooperation. This input will help shape the project’s climate-informed strategy that aims to serve as a road map for sustainability of montane forests in southern California.
In the coming months, the Southern California Montane Forests project team will continue to develop the Forest Conservation Strategy and invite further input from the community through three virtual workshops on:
Monday, March 7th at 2:00pm PT
Thursday, March 10th at 10:00am PT
Wednesday, March 16th at 9:30am PT
The combined feedback from both practitioners and the community will ensure that the project can create a robust strategy that successfully informs planning and management efforts to enhance forest health and resilience. More information about the community workshops will be shared in the coming weeks on the project website, blog, newsletter, and social media channels – stay tuned!
The Southern California Montane Forests Project is a collaborative partnership funded by the Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center that brings together a unique partnership with USGS, U.S. Forest Service, the Institute for Ecological Monitoring and Management at San Diego State University, and the Climate Science Alliance. Through collaborative planning sessions, guided by stakeholder input, partners are developing a scientific assessment and creating a conservation strategy for southern California’s montane forests to advance our collective understanding of the vulnerabilities and challenges facing these forests and identify the opportunities and strategies for increasing forest resilience. To learn more about this effort, please visit: www.climatesciencealliance.org/southern-forests.