Conservation and Adaptation Resources Toolbox

The Red River Basin is a transboundary river basin spanning the states of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Thirty-eight major reservoirs in the basin supply water for nearby metropolitan areas (such as Oklahoma City and Dallas-Fort Worth), crop...

The North American beaver (Castor canadensis) has shaped its environment for millennia by chewing down trees to build dams, creating ponds for their lodges. Beaver-created wetlands provide important habitat for both aquatic and terrestrial species throughout...

The Sonoran Desert of northwestern Mexico and southern Arizona and is a semi-arid desert with rain split between summer monsoons and the temperate winter months. It is the most biodiverse desert in the world and is home to the saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife (PFW) Program provides financial and technical assistance to private landowners in an effort to restore habitat for wildlife. PFW helps design projects to benefit species of concern including those...

Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are a candidate species for listing under the Endangered Species Act. In North America, monarchs migrate to overwintering sites in central Mexico and the Pacific Coast because they cannot survive freezing temperatures in...

Freshwater mussels are important filter feeders that remove algae, bacteria, nutrients, and pollutants from rivers and lakes. In Texas, there are 12 species of freshwater mussels, such as the Texas fatmucket (Lampsilis bracteata), currently listed or...

Springsnails (genus Pyrgulopsis and Tryonia) are small, aquatic snails that live in springs and seeps (areas where water slowly seeps out of the ground, forming small ponds). Talussnails (genus Sonorella) are terrestrial...

The Ogallala Aquifer underlies eight states, from South Dakota to Texas, providing 30% of the United States’ total irrigation water, and supporting 20% of the country’s agriculture harvest (Kite and Hardy, 2024). The region’s agriculture-based economy requires...

Riparian corridors are lands bordering rivers or streams. Riparian ecosystems account for less than two percent of land area in the arid southwestern U.S. but support the highest abundance and density of species of all habitat types in the region, including endangered...

The Red River Basin (RRB) spans across the South Central United States, encompassing parts of five states from New Mexico to Louisiana. It covers approximately 27% of Oklahoma's territory (Kellogg, 2020). Numerous cities rely on its waters for commercial, municipal,...

Salmonid species are central to the economy and cultural identity of Washington and its sovereign Tribal nations, and the decline of salmonid species in the state is an ongoing concern. Historically, salmonids were abundant in south-central Washington’s Yakima River...

Lassen Volcanic National Park (LAVO) in northern California sits at the meeting point of four watersheds and multiple bioregions. The southern North Fork Feather River watershed within LAVO is dominated by mixed conifer and, in the higher elevations, red fir (Abies...

Climate change threatens the local agriculture of southern New Mexico, where over 4,000 farms grow pumpkins, watermelon, chiles, onions, apples, pears, and pecans (New Mexico Public Education Department, 2018). As a result of climate change, average temperatures in...

Pollinator populations in the Great Lakes Basin (GLB), and across the world, have been steadily declining (IPBES, 2016). Threats to pollinators include parasites and pathogens, environmental contaminants, climate change, habitat loss/degradation, and invasive species...

The Pecos River is the largest tributary of the Rio Grande and flows 926 miles south-southeast through eastern New Mexico and western Texas. The Pecos River Basin covers approximately 44,000 square miles and can reach elevations more than 12,000 feet above the North...

Grasslands in southeastern Arizona and northern Mexico are threatened by climate change, drought, human development, overgrazing, and encroachment of invasive species. These threats are leading to the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of grassland ecosystems as...

Walnut Gulch is an experimental watershed in southeastern Arizona that is managed by the Southwest Watershed Research Center. Walnut Gulch has experienced an increase of whitethorn acacia (Vachellia constricta), a common native woody shrub, into areas...

Military lands contain some of the United States’ most intact natural areas that provide essential ecosystem services and value for native wildlife. McConnell Air Force Base (AFB), located in Wichita, KS, is part of a regional watershed that drains into the Arkansas...

Land degradation is worsening, and the problems it creates are increasing in complexity. Resource managers must account for many factors including analysis of at-risk or endangered species, wildfire history and risk, past drought management conditions and future...

Urban Heat Islands (UHIs) are urban areas that are warmer than surrounding rural areas, largely due to differences in land cover. Within UHIs, temperatures can vary greatly depending on nearby environmental features. For example, areas with dark pavement and few trees...

Droughts can negatively affect ecosystems by reducing water availability and changing vegetation cover, influencing agricultural productivity, wildlife populations, and increasing the risk of wildfire. Droughts can occur across various time scales, influencing...

Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (GDS) is a 113,000-acre forested wetland given to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) National Wildlife Refuge System in 1974 by The Nature Conservancy, along with additionally purchased land. The refuge covers a...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) protects 38,000 acres of freshwater forested wetlands, long-leaf pine forests, and historic rice fields near the northeastern coast of South Carolina. The refuge provides habitat to...

Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge (the refuge) is a tidal salt marsh and forested wetland of “International Importance” that spans over 33,000 acres in the Chesapeake Bay system. The refuge provides habitat for many species of plants and animals, especially rapidly...

New Mexico’s average annual temperature has increased by 2.5℉ since 1980, and the Southwest region is experiencing the driest 22-year period in over a thousand years (Williams et al., 2022). Most of the precipitation in New Mexico arrives during the North American...

Parker River National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) preserves 4,662 acres of barrier island habitat along the northeastern shores of Massachusetts. Approximately 2,660 acres of the refuge is part of the Great Marsh, New England’s largest salt marsh ecosystem. The 20,000-...

Soil plays a major role in mitigating the effects of climate change due to its ability to draw down and sequester carbon from the atmosphere. In particular, agricultural and degraded soils hold great potential as a carbon sink. Every year, one-third of food produced...

Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge (PHNWR), located along the Atlantic Flyway in Delaware Bay, was established in 1963 to conserve and protect migratory birds. The refuge contains 10,144 acres of hardwood forest, upland grassland, wooded swamp, and freshwater...

The Missouri River Basin is a 500,000 mile watershed containing the Missouri River, the longest river in the United States. The Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) constructed 40 dams in the basin that provide irrigation for agriculture, generate power, control floods...

Fishlake National Forest (Fishlake NF) in Central Utah is the home to 1.8 million acres of diverse forested ecosystems with varying fire regimes. The Old Woman Plateau (OWP) in the Fishlake NF contains shrublands, dry grasslands, ponderosa pine (...

The San Juan River sub-basin is the second largest of the three sub-basins that comprise the Upper Colorado River Basin. Construction of the Navajo Dam on the San Juan River in 1962, while necessary for water development and flood control in the area, has reduced...

Oatman Flats Ranch, near Gila Bend, Arizona, has been owned by the Hansen family for four generations. After decades of intensive horse ranching and cotton farming in the lower Gila River region, Oatman Flats Ranch transitioned from conventional to organic practices...

South Dakota’s Badlands National Park contains a large expanse of mixed grass prairie. This unique ecological mosaic is home to several rare and endemic plants including Visher’s Buckwheat (Eriogonum visheri). The small Visher’s Buckwheat flower requires a...

The San Carlos Apache Reservation spans across 1.8 million acres in Arizona and contains many unique and rare ecosystems. These ecosystems range from deserts and grasslands that have low canopy cover of woody plants, to savannas, woodlands, and forests that have...

Land degradation in arid and semiarid ecosystems is often difficult to reverse because low rainfall and high temperatures impede reestablishment of vegetation. Seed-based restoration success and recovery rates are also impeded by harsh climatic conditions and remain...

Since the 1930s, wetlands along the Gulf Coast region of the U.S. have experienced negative impacts due to sea-level rise, urbanization, increased wetland salinity, tropical storm damage, and reduced fresh-water inflows. Climate change is expected to further exacerbate...

The coastal prairie in Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge-Bahia Grande Unit in South Texas protects inland areas from storm surges and erosion while also serving as habitat for grassland-dependent species, such as the federally Endangered...

In the Intermountain West, snowpack-fed mountain streams provide the water supply to support growing populations in the semi-arid and arid valleys below. However, that snowpack is diminishing. Between 1955 and 2022, the majority of the Intermountain West experienced a...

Frequent, low-intensity fires maintain ecosystem health and biodiversity in New Mexico's fire-adapted forests. The absence of periodic fires can lead to unnatural density, increasing susceptibility to high-intensity wildfires. However, it's crucial to recognize that...

Lake Powell is the second largest reservoir in the United States, established at the junction of the San Juan and Colorado Rivers following the construction of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963. The accumulation of sediment when the reservoir was full and the subsequent decline...

Agricultural water use accounts for 80-90% of the United States’ water supply, and demand continues to rise as the human population grows. Climate change limits water supply through various mechanisms, including increases in evapotranspiration (ET) (i.e., evaporation...

Historical fire suppression practices and the increasingly severe effects of climate change have increased the risk of large, high-intensity wildfires in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests across northern Arizona (Schussman et al., 2006). These forests...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (USFWS) Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) protects 38,000 acres of freshwater forested wetlands, long-leaf pine forests, and historic rice fields near the northeastern coast of South Carolina. The refuge provides habitat to...