Science Workshop Overview

Western Alaska Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) Science Workshop
26–27 April 2011
Anchorage, Alaska

27 June 2012: The Science Workshop is now available online at: http://www.arcus.org/western-alaska-lcc/spring-workshop-2011/report

The Western Alaska LCC and the Department of Interior's Alaska Climate Science Center brought together 150 land and resource managers, field specialists, researchers and local knowledge experts to identify climate change related priority science/information needs for land and resource management in western Alaska.

The workshop results, which are being summarized in a report, will help inform development of the LCC's Science Strategy, which will guide the LCC's efforts over the next five years. The Science Strategy will be drafted during the winter of 2011-2012 and distributed for comments. (Please sign up on the LCC's mailing list if you are interested in reviewing the draft Science Strategy.)

For questions about the workshop or the report, please contact Joel Reynolds, Western AK LCC Science Coordinator, at Joel_Reynolds [at] fws [dot] gov or 907-786-3914.

The workshop was modeled in part after the 2007 WildREACH Workshop for the arctic region. Attendance was by invitation; workshop organizers sought diverse cross-program and cross-agency participation.

The workshop agenda, background materials, logistics information, and participant list are available through the menu on the right.

Following the LCC Science Workshop, an Alaska Climate Data Downscaling Workshop was held on 28-29 April. This 1.5 day invitation-only workshop, sponsored by the Department of the Interior's Alaska Climate Science Center and with facilitation by the University of Alaska Fairbanks, provided a forum for scientists and managers to: explore state-of-the-science techniques and methodologies for downscaling climate data; understand current science capacities applicable to Alaska; learn about new initiatives and future capacity in Alaska; and discuss science and management needs for the State of Alaska. The expected outcome of this workshop will be a white paper report addressing Alaska’s downscaling capacities and needs; the paper will identify a science action plan that provides capacity-building recommendations and propose a research agenda that addresses State needs.

For more information, contact: Scott Rupp, Scenarios Network for Alaska Planning (SNAP)/University of Alaska Fairbanks, at scott [dot] rupp [at] uaf [dot] edu or 907-474-7535 or Mark Shasby, Alaska Climate Science Center, at shasby [at] usgs [dot] gov or 907-786-7065.