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Introduction

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North American grassland coverage has steadily declined over the last 60 years due to human activity, such as agriculture and urbanization (). This trend has resulted in declining plant and animal populations within these regions. Climate change will further threaten the survival of grassland species by intensifying stressors, such as the lack of available grassland microhabitats needed for species to survive during extreme weather events ().  

While climate information exists that can support decision making in North American Grasslands, many grassland managers have received little to no formal climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.

Learn more about climate change education. Inconsistent levels of climate literacy and foundational understanding of how climate influences the environment makes it difficult to implement adaptive conservation actions in these ecosystems. These knowledge gaps need to be filled to ensure managers can properly identify climate change impacts and resolve them with well-informed management strategies.

To improve climate literacy among grassland managers, multiple Climate Adaptation Science Centers partnered with the bet365����ios’s (USbet365����ios) Science Application’s program in 2022 to develop the Climate Change and Climate Adaptation Training for Grassland Conservation Practitioners. This training series included participation from the Service’s Grasslands Ecosystem Team (GET) as well as staff from other federal agencies, state fish and wildlife agencies, academic institutions, tribes and tribal organizations, and non-government organizations. The final workshop in the training series provided participants with foundational climate change knowledge through hands-on activities. Instructors guided participants through the decision-making process of creating adaptation strategies and introduced them to the “Resist-Accept-Direct” (RAD) framework, which helps land managers consider whether to resist change, accept change, or direct change in a particular ecosystem ().

Key Issues Addressed

Climate change will complicate existing efforts to preserve North American grasslands. This ecosystem will face stressors from climate change and human activity, jeopardizing the survival of plant and animal species within this region. By integrating climate change considerations into the development of management strategies early in the process, grassland managers can better address these stressors and achieve the goal of large-scale grassland preservation and restoration.

However, inconsistent levels of climate literacy among grassland managers will impact this process. Until recently, climate change was rarely included in college curriculums thus contributing to inconsistencies in climate literacy among grassland managers (). Furthermore, few publicly available resources and trainings exist for adult learners, creating additional barriers to using climate change information. New climate-relevant training and resources for practitioners and decision-makers are needed to bridge this knowledge gap. 

While increased access to climate-relevant training and resources can increase climate literacy, navigating the climate adaptation process can be time consuming at first. Initial support is necessary to guide practitioners through this process, from identifying vulnerabilities to implementing adaptation strategies and monitoring their success. Grassland managers need relevant skill building opportunities that utilize climate adaptation processes in order to effectively adapt their management strategies to address climate change impacts.

Project Goals

• Develop and deliver a climate adaptation training for Great Plains grassland managers.
• Provide grassland practitioners with foundational knowledge about climate change to support climate-informed decision making.
• Expand the actionability of research supported by the National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers. 

Project Highlights

Improving Climate Literacy Among Grassland Managers: The project team developed a five-part training series including a self-paced online course and three webinars followed by a day-and-a-half in-person workshop. The self-paced portion covered introductory climate change concepts through short educational videos and a virtual discussion forum where questions were posed and answered. This webinar series outlined the impacts of climate change on grassland ecology and demonstrated how to apply climate projections to assess land cover changes and the vulnerability of grassland species. The final workshop guided participants through the decision-making process of creating adaptation strategies and introduced them to the “Resist-Accept-Direct” (RAD) framework. 

Incorporating Climate Information into Decision-Making: During the final workshop, participants were introduced to the RAD framework and engaged in a centered on a real-world management challenge. The activity walked participants through selecting relevant climate information to develop management strategies for the Regal Fritillary (Speyeria idalia) and Grasshopper Sparrow (Ammodramus humeralis). The activity included five-steps that were modeled after the adaptation workbook planning process, developed by the Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science (NIACS) (). The RAD framework was used in the final steps of the activity as practitioners decided what adaptation strategies they wanted to pursue and why.

Acquiring Participant Feedback: The organizers conducted an optional survey to gather feedback throughout the training series. In general participants found the training sessions well-organized and easy to follow. Some respondents (n=5) indicated that the self-paced portion was less practical, expecting more material directly related to grassland management. Workshop participants, however, noted that the in-person activities improved their understanding of climate change and adaptive planning. Many appreciated the small group exercises which were tied to specific locations and required the use of the Climate Toolbox, a repository of web tools used to visualize past and projected hydrology and climate over the contiguous United States. However, some suggested extending the workshop duration and including activities focused on ecosystem-wide management scenarios. 

Lessons Learned

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The self-paced portion provided participants with foundational knowledge about climate change to prepare them for the webinars and the in-person workshop. Some participants expected the first session to focus more on grassland management versus introductory climate information. This expectation arose from how the program was advertised to North American Grassland managers as it was unclear this was the first part of a longer training series. Advertising this portion of the training series as an introductory climate science course to provide foundation information for future and more in-depth sessions may have reduced misunderstandings.

Positive feedback was generally received regarding how the information was presented in the webinar portion of the training series and how valuable this information was to the participants’ field of work. However, the organizers faced difficulties in encouraging participant engagement. They included a facilitated discussion at the end of the first two webinars to improve engagement, but approximately half of the participants left the webinar as the organizers transitioned to the more active discussions. The third webinar included polls and chat discussions, which successfully encouraged engagement throughout the webinar and more participants stayed for the entire session. Advertising the series as a ‘webinar’ gave the impression of a passive learning experience, so the transition to more active methods may have been unexpected. Using different terms, such as ‘virtual classroom’ or ‘active learning session’ might have increased the likelihood of the participants staying for the entire session as there would be an expectation of an active learning experience. 

The in-person workshop received positive feedback as well, as participants valued the inclusion of the in the curriculum and the introduction of the “Resist-Accept-Direct” (RAD) decision framework. It created a space where climate researchers and land managers shared ideas and co-developed management strategies to bridge the knowledge to action gap. 

The training series lasted eight months, but the extended timeframe negatively impacted the participant engagement across all sessions. After completing this series, the team conducted a similar training series for Sagebrush in the western US, but this time they designed the entire training series to span for three months instead of eight. They found that a shorter duration improved engagement in all sessions of the series. Additionally, setting clear expectations during the advertising process about the different sessions as part of a larger training series contributed to the success of the Sagebrush training.

Next Steps

• Develop future training series to guide land managers through creating climate adaptation strategies for different biomes and audiences
• Further expand the actionability of research conducted by the National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers for climate-informed decision-making
• Weave Indigenous Knowledges and Western Science throughout future training programs 

Funding Partners

• bet365����ios Science Applications Program

Resources

• Sauer, J. R. et al. (2013).. North American Fauna, 79, 1–32.
• Suggitt, A. J. et al. (2018).. Nature Climate Change, 8(8), 713–717.
• Kuster, E. L., & Hesed, C. D. M. (2024).. Conservation Science and Practice.
• Schuurman GW et al.. Natural Resource Report. NPS/NRSS/CCRP/NRR—2020/ 2213. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado.
• Arndt, D. S., & LaDue, D. S. (2008).. Physical Geography, 29(6), 487–499.
• Swanston, C. W. et al. (2016).. 2nd ed.

Contact

• Emma Kuster, affiliation: South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center, emmakuster@ou.edu

CART Lead Author

• Richard Cavaliero, CART Student Intern, imricky20222gmail.com

Suggested Citation

Cavaliero, R.,I., Kuster, E. (2025). “Climate Change and Adaptation Training Series for Grassland Conservation Practitioners.” CART. Retrieved from /project/climate-change-and-adaptation-training-grassland-conservation.