Many communities are taking action to create plans to prepare for potential climate change impacts, such as sea level rise, changes in weather conditions (floods or drought), higher maximum temperatures, more severe weather, and changes in distribution of plants and insects. This session will focus on methods to address climate issues and tools that agents can use to provide leadership in climate change planning. Alicia Betancourt will share the program strategies and barriers she learned over 10 years in her effort to increase climate resilient policies and energy efficiency in county operations. Through the efforts of this Extension program Monroe County has adopted 40 local policies on energy and climate resiliency since 2010. Alicia worked with county staff and community members to develop the Monroe County Climate Action Plan. Monroe County was one of the first in Florida to adopt climate and energy policies into their comprehensive plan. A 5 year plan for sustainability implementation began in 2016 with 42-46 projects per year. The projects cover all aspects of resiliency such as infrastructure, purchasing and road elevation and have led to local funding of over 3.3 million dollars through 2018. Register Now
Alicia Betancourt is the University of Florida IFAS, Monroe County Extension Director. Alicia has a M.A. Degree in Public Administration with a focus on Sustainable Development. Since 2006, Mrs. Betancourt has been working with local governments on climate, energy and sustainability. Alicia works with the University of Florida, Sea Grant and with the Association of Climate Change Officers on climate change programs. Some of the efforts she has worked on include; Southeast Florida Climate Compact technical work groups, National Extension Climate i-Three Corps, Monroe County GHG Analysis, and Sustainable Floridians. She is the current president of the Florida Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals
Join us on May 4th at 3:00pm EDT when Stephen Handler from USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station and Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science presents The Adaptation Workbook: Building your climate adaptation plan. The Adaptation Workbook is an online, interactive, and practical workbook that helps land managers develop their own custom-built climate change adaptation plans (www.adaptationworkbook.org). This tool is designed to support people who are working on forest management, urban forestry, or agriculture projects anywhere in the USA. This presentation will include a background on the concepts behind the Adaptation Workbook process, a tour of the Adaptation Workbook website, and a few examples to illustrate how this tool is being used in the real world.
Stephen Handler is a climate change specialist with the USDA Forest Service Northern Research Station and Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science. His main role with NIACS is to coordinate the Northwoods Climate Change Response Framework
, which involves building partnerships, assessing climate change risk, and working with forest managers and landowners to develop real-world projects to adapt and prepare for future change. Stephen moved to Houghton, MI, in 2011 and loves being a Yooper.
The USDA Northern Plains Climate Hub (NPCH) region includes 6 states: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. NPCH Coordinator, Windy Kelley, will provide an overview of the Hub’s working partnerships with Cooperative Extension at the 1862 land grant universities throughout the region. These partnerships include several from-the-field Extension, Outreach, and Engagement efforts, which will be highlighted during the webinar. They range from K – 5 education to focus groups with agricultural producers to explore different climate scenarios, associated impacts, and potential adaptations.
Our presenter, Windy Kelley, wears two hats working for the University of Wyoming Extension as the Weather Variability and Agricultural Resiliency Specialist, and the USDA Northern Plains Climate Hub Regional Extension Program Coordinator. Windy was an Extension Rangeland Educator working throughout five counties in western Wyoming prior to her current position. She has also worked for the Wyoming Department of Agriculture in the Jonah and Pinedale Anticline interagency offices.
The UN CC:e-Learn platform has just undergone a complete makeover. The platform, which was launched in 2014, still boasts its state of the art climate e-learning courses in six different languages.
New features include:
The NC ADAPT Work Group is a coalition of leaders from the agriculture and forestry sectors, along with partners from the business, academic, research and government communities. The NC ADAPT Work Group’s initial mission was to explore the threats and impacts of increasingly extreme and erratic weather events and changing climatic 
conditions on North Carolina’s agriculture and forestry sectors to determine if these sectors are adequately prepared for what scientists are projecting. The NC ADAPT Work Group concluded that weather variability is a threat to agriculture and forestry in North Carolina, preparation is needed, and the state would benefit from the development of a comprehensive adaptive management strategy. The NC ADAPT Work Group’s findings and roadmap for constructing an adaptive management plan are outlined in the June 2015 report, Keeping North Carolina’s Farms and Forests Vibrant and Resilient: An Adaptive Management Planning Strategy.
Sign up to become part of a new discussion forum on climate change and agriculture in the northeast, hosted by the USDA Northeast Climate Hub and the Climate Learning Network. In response to stakeholder demand, we created six forums focused on crops, livestock, forestry, aquaculture, fruit or specialty products. These email distribution lists are designed for you and your colleagues to share information and learn about innovative adaptations in this region. These lists are a professionally moderated forum for question/answer-style dialogue among peers. Learn about the climate impacts on agriculture and the successful adaptations that keep farms productive.
NIACS created the Adaptation Workbook as an online, interactive version of the decision-making process published in Forest Adaptation Resources. NIACS has recently updated the site with many new improvements. Most significantly, the Adaptation Workbook now supports urban forestry and agriculture projects, in addition to regular forestry projects. The goal of the project is to help a wider variety of landowners and land managers to use the site, which helps people connect their land management goals to practical, ready-to-use information on climate change impacts and adaptation actions. Visit the Adaptation Workbook and give it a try.
The Weather & Climate Decision Tools for Farmers, Ranchers & Land Managers Conference was held December 5-7th at the University of Florida. Tool providers from around the country were on hand to demonstrate and educate about a wide-range of climate tools for producers. Extension personnel and other consumers of these tools were able to use the tools first-hand in several Tools Cafe sessions that showcased the tools and provided one-on-one interaction with the experts that designed and programmed the applications. Video of the presentations and other resources are now available here. 
