Introduction

Climate change—changes in the average or variability of weather conditions that persist over long time scales (e.g., multiple decades or longer)¹—and related global changes can threaten human health; the economy; the built environment; and the natural world, including wildlife, plants, and the ecosystems upon which they rely.² Many scientists, governments, and organizations have researched climate change, documented its experienced effects, projected potential effects, and undertaken activities to respond to it.³ Scientists have demonstrated the effects of climate change already realized around the world, and they project that climate changes will intensify in future decades.⁴

Climate change has been observed directly (e.g., in long-term temperature and extreme weather records).⁵ The changes can affect plant growth rates, water availability, energy demand, and many other aspects of human and natural systems; these changes can be beneficial or adverse, can change over time and across regions, and can influence other stressors, such as poverty, famine, and water stress.⁶ Effects of climate change are spatially variable, with some regions more affected than others. For some degrees of climate change, certain regions may see benefits (e.g., longer growing seasons) in addition to stressors.⁷ Projections for climate change and its effects over the coming decades span a wide range and depend on many factors (e.g., current and future greenhouse gas emissions). Ultimately, the magnitude of the effects of climate change over time will depend on actions taken to adapt to and mitigate climate change (see text box "Adaptation Versus Mitigation").⁸

This report does not analyze climate change science, the causes of multidecadal climate change, or the experienced or projected effects of climate change.⁹ Rather, this report describes activities related to climate change adaptation within the Department of the Interior (DOI). The information in this report reflects the state of climate change adaptation activities within DOI and its agencies as of the end of 2020 and does not address activities undertaken under the Biden Administration (see text box on "Changes in Department of the Interior Climate-Adaptation Activities Under the Biden Administration"). Climate change adaptation activities described herein have been implemented both through administrative actions (e.g., executive and secretarial orders and actions taken within agencies' discretion under existing statutory authorities) and pursuant to statutory requirements.

This report provides an overview of selected DOI departmental and agency policies, programs, and actions (herein collectively referred to as activities) aimed at adapting to experienced and projected effects of climate change. This report focuses on activities related to adaptation to climate change rather than activities related to the mitigation of climate change. For the purposes of this report, adaptation includes activities undertaken to adjust to and prepare for, including through research, the experienced or projected effects of climate change; mitigation includes activities directed at reducing the magnitude of climate change (see text box on "Adaptation Versus Mitigation").¹⁰ However, it is often difficult to differentiate and categorize activities as either explicitly adaptation or mitigation, due to potential overlap or differing approaches to defining the two concepts.

The report provides updated information on selected climate change adaptation activities undertaken by DOI and the five DOI agencies considered in the earlier CRS report (CRS Report R43915, Climate Change Adaptation by Federal Agencies: An Analysis of Plans and Issues for Congress):¹¹ Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).¹² It is broken into six sections—one section covers DOI and DOI-wide activities; the remaining sections cover the five listed DOI agencies. Each section contains a brief background of the department or agency and an overview of climate change adaptation activities for that department or agency. A brief conclusion is provided at the end that raises selected issues that may be of interest to some Members of Congress. This report is not intended to be a comprehensive review of DOI's climate change adaptation activities—for example, other agencies within DOI have undertaken climate change adaptation activities—and the information provided should be considered illustrative rather than exhaustive.

Congress may find information in this report pertinent with regard to its oversight and legislative activities related to climate change adaptation as it applies to DOI and DOI agencies, the resources they administer, and the programs they undertake.¹³

Department of the Interior¹⁴

DOI has a wide range of responsibilities, many of which are related to managing lands and resources throughout the nation.¹⁵ For example, DOI houses three of the four major federal land management agencies.¹⁶ Together, these DOI agencies—BLM, FWS, and NPS—manage roughly 20% of the nation's lands and related cultural and natural resources.¹⁷ The department also manages 35,000 miles of coastline and 2.5 billion acres of the outer continental shelf, and it has numerous responsibilities for water and power resources.¹⁸ Among the properties managed by DOI are the nation's national parks, monuments, and recreation areas; national wildlife refuges; other public lands and resources, including certain forested lands and rangelands; lands held in trust for American Indians; and more than 300 dams and reservoirs owned and operated by the Bureau of Reclamation.¹⁹ DOI facilities provide large quantities of water and produce hydroelectric power for communities and farmers in 17 western states.²⁰ The department also is responsible for managing federal energy and mineral resources located belowground and offshore; this responsibility includes leasing lands for oil and gas production, as well as for certain renewable resource development. In addition, DOI provides financial and technical assistance to U.S. territories.

Through its agencies, DOI manages and monitors certain fish and wildlife species and their habitats. The department's agencies are responsible for protecting federal trust species, such as species listed as threatened and endangered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA),²¹ as well as ecosystems.

In addition to its cultural and natural resource stewardship responsibilities, the department plays an important role in cooperating with, providing scientific information to, and supporting other federal agencies, states, local and tribal governments, and other nonfederal entities. For example, USGS and other agencies measure and monitor resources and develop science-based tools for land and water resource managers nationwide. The department also is involved in numerous private-public partnerships involving monitoring, research, and resource management.

Because of DOI's widespread land and resource management responsibilities, its operations and missions are particularly sensitive to changing climate conditions, whether due to naturally occurring climate variability or to the projected intermediate and long-term effects of climate change.²² Climate change effects influence DOI's ongoing operations; these effects likely include changes in soil, air, and water temperatures; precipitation patterns; streamflow and runoff; sea-level rise; habitat conditions; and the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as storms, floods, and droughts. Changing climate conditions can affect the health and habitats of fish and wildlife; they also can expand or restrict access to and development of natural resources and infrastructure upon which many communities and industries depend.

Status of DOI Adaptation-Related Policy and Guidance

DOI has undertaken various activities related to climate change adaptation for more than a decade, and some related activities—such as observations of sea levels, stream flows, and ice and snow—have been in place for even longer.²³ Many of the climate change adaptation activities conducted by DOI over the past decade have been in accordance with government-wide executive orders, presidential memoranda, and presidential proclamations or through DOI-specific secretarial orders. Other such activities are the result of departmental policies or specific programs and guidance issued by the various agencies within DOI. Congress also has used a variety of tools—including authorizing legislation, appropriations legislation, and oversight activities—to weigh in on and provide guidance to DOI and other executive agencies on whether or how such adaptation activities are conducted.

Climate-specific executive orders and secretarial orders may be revoked, modified, or superseded. As a result of such actions, some adaptation-related activities undertaken by DOI have been altered or suspended in subsequent years.²⁴ For example, DOI issued strategic sustainability performance plans that included adaptation strategies and principles from FY2010 to FY2016, as well as a 2012 department-wide policy on climate adaptation.²⁵ DOI issued these plans in accordance with the goals outlined in Executive Order (E.O.) 13514, "Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance," as well as the revised goals issued in 2015 as part of E.O. 13693, "Planning for Federal Sustainability in the Next Decade."²⁶ Both orders required federal agencies to develop sustainability plans and to integrate climate change adaption strategies into agency policies and practices.²⁷

President Donald J. Trump revoked these requirements in May 2018 with the issuance of E.O. 13834, "Efficient Federal Operations." Among other provisions, E.O. 13834 required federal agencies to meet "statutory requirements related to energy and environmental performance ... in a manner that increases efficiency, optimizes performance, eliminates unnecessary use of resources, and protects the environment."²⁸ Consistent with revocation of the requirements in E.O. 13693, DOI does not appear to have released an updated strategic sustainability performance plan since FY2016.

In addition to sustainability performance plans, DOI issued a department-wide Climate Adaptation Plan in 2014. ²⁹ This plan was issued as part of DOI's implementation of E.O. 13653, "Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change." E.O. 13653 directed federal departments and agencies—including DOI—to take various steps to prepare for climate change impacts and to support state and local resilience efforts.³⁰ However, on March 28, 2017, President Trump rescinded E.O. 13653 with the issuance of E.O. 13783, "Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth."³¹ E.O. 13783 generally aimed to establish a policy to promote domestic energy development and use and to ensure affordable and reliable electricity. To accomplish these broad goals, the E.O. directed executive agencies to review their existing regulations and "appropriately suspend, revise, or rescind those that unduly burden" domestic energy production or use, "with particular attention to oil, natural gas, coal, and nuclear energy resources."³²

DOI adaptation-related activities also are guided by department-wide secretarial orders and by policies and programs implemented pursuant to earlier orders. Secretarial Order (S.O.) 3289, issued in September 2009 and amended in February 2010, provides the primary guidance for DOI agencies. The order established "a Department-wide approach for applying scientific tools to increase understanding of climate change and to coordinate an effective response to its impacts on tribes and on the land, water, ocean, fish and wildlife, and cultural heritage resources that the Department manages."³³ Pursuant to S.O. 3289, DOI established the Climate Change Response Council (CCRC), which was, among other things, responsible for overseeing the creation or reorganization of several different department-wide initiatives. Major initiatives included the establishment of the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center, the creation and renaming of eight regional Climate Service Centers, and the establishment of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives. As of early 2021, these initiatives—as well as S.O. 3289—remain in place; they are briefly described below in "Selected DOI-Wide Adaptation Activities."

Other climate-related secretarial orders and policies issued in prior Administrations have been revoked by subsequent orders. For example, in March 2017, then-DOI Secretary Ryan Zinke issued S.O. 3349, "American Energy Independence." This S.O. implemented President Trump's E.O. 13783 by, among other provisions, rescinding a 2013 secretarial order on climate mitigation (S.O. 3330, "Improving Mitigation Policies and Practices of the Department of the Interior") and ordering a review of department and agency mitigation and climate change policies issued pursuant to that order.³⁴ This was followed by S.O. 3360, "Rescinding Authorities Inconsistent with Secretary's Order 3349, 'American Energy Independence,'" which was signed by then-DOI Deputy Secretary David Bernhardt on December 22, 2017. S.O. 3360 revoked several directives and policy manual components addressing climate adaptation activities, including Departmental Manual Part 600, Chapter 6 (600 DM 6), "Landscape-Scale Mitigation Policy" and DOI's 2012 department-wide climate adaptation policy (523 DM 1), "Climate Change Policy".³⁵

Selected DOI-Wide Adaptation Activities

DOI and its agencies have undertaken multiple climate change adaptation initiatives. The following are examples.

Federal Interagency Councils. DOI and its agencies have participated in several federal advisory panels and councils related to climate change and adaptation. Although some of these entities have been dismantled or discontinued—such as the Interagency Land Management Adaptation Group and DOI's CCRC—others continue to operate. For example, DOI is, by statute, 1 of 13 participating federal entities in the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP).³⁶ Congress mandated the USGCRP in the Global Change Research Act of 1990 to improve understanding of climate science, including the cumulative effects of human activities and natural processes on the environment; to develop science-based resources to support policymaking and resource management; and to communicate findings broadly among scientific and stakeholder communities.³⁷ The development and administration of the National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASCs) and Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) programs—as well as the ongoing research conducted by USGS—constitute DOI's formal participation in the USGCRP.³⁸

National and Regional Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASCs).³⁹ Formerly named the National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center and the Climate Science Centers, CASCs support research, assessment, and synthesis of global change data for use at regional levels, including undertaking research relevant to on-the-ground resource managers. Congress authorized the National CASC (then referred to as the National Global Warming and Wildlife Science Center) in 2008 to be housed at the USGS headquarters in Reston, VA.⁴⁰ Following the establishment of the National CASC, DOI developed eight regional CASCs across the country.⁴¹ With the issuance of S.O. 3289, DOI and the CCRC broadened the missions of the CASCs, which were primarily focused on providing climate change impact and analysis data to fish and wildlife managers, to encompass other climate change-related impacts on DOI resources, such as tribal and cultural heritage resources.⁴² The explanatory statement accompanying the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020,⁴³ stated that enacted FY2020 appropriations for USGS included funding to support "the development of the Midwest Climate Adaptation Science Center."⁴⁴ The Midwest CASC is to "focus on and address the threats to natural and human communities in Midwest states and develop a more tailored strategic science agenda."⁴⁵ This ninth CASC would encompass some of the 21 states currently under the purview of the existing Northeast CASC.

Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs). As part of S.O. 3289, DOI and the CCRC also were charged with the development a Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) network to provide science capacity and technical expertise to meet shared natural and cultural resource priorities.⁴⁶ At the time of their creation, the 22 LCCs that made up the national network were collaborative entities comprising research institutions, federal resource managers and scientists, tribes, nonprofit organizations, and other stakeholders. LCCs address a wide range of land-use pressures and landscape-scale issues—including climate change—and help coordinate regional adaptation efforts through partnerships and collaboration. FWS has indicated the agency "no longer provides dedicated staff, administrative functions, and funding" for the initiative.⁴⁷ Rather than providing direct financial support, FWS has shifted to providing technical and collaborative support for landscape conservation science and coordinating directly with state fish and wildlife agencies and tribes on shared conservation priorities.⁴⁸ The status of all 22 LCCs is not clear, although there are some indications that a portion of these LCCs are on hiatus or have been dissolved.⁴⁹ Congress provided funding for LCCs in the FY2020 and FY2021 appropriations acts, with instructions for DOI to report on the current status of LCCs and on the department's plans for future engagement.⁵⁰

Bureau of Land Management⁵¹

BLM administers more onshore federal lands than any other agency, with BLM lands heavily concentrated in 12 western states.⁵² BLM lands, officially designated the National System of Public Lands, include grasslands, forests, high mountains, Arctic tundra, and deserts. BLM lands often are intermingled with other federal or private lands, and the agency has authority to acquire, dispose of, and exchange lands under various authorities.⁵³

Under law, BLM generally manages its lands under principles including sustained yield and multiple use. Land uses and resources include recreation, grazing, energy and mineral development, timber, watershed, wildlife and fish habitat, and conservation.⁵⁴ Some lands have been withdrawn (restricted) from one or more uses or managed for a predominant use. The agency inventories its lands and resources, and it develops land use plans for its land units. The public uses BLM lands for their diverse attributes and opportunities.

DOI and other sources have cited climate change as a contributing factor to changes in western lands and resources and to challenges in their management.⁵⁵ The magnitude and effects of climate change on BLM lands—as well as the lands' vulnerability to such effects—likely vary considerably among locations.⁵⁶ Possible effects of climate change on public lands are currently being observed and are projected to occur in the future.⁵⁷ For example, effects may include the desertification of some public lands and changes in the availability and quality of water and forage. These effects may result in part from increased temperatures and/or changes to the quantity and timing of precipitation.⁵⁸ Changing climate also may increase the vulnerability of BLM forested lands to damage from insects and disease, due directly to climate stressors (e.g., temperatures near the threshold that species can tolerate) as well as indirectly to changes in ranges or lifecycles of pests (e.g., when longer warm seasons allow two birth cycles of insects rather than one).⁵⁹ As temperatures and precipitation patterns change, some locations may experience an increase in the size and frequency of wildfires and an expansion of noxious weeds and invasive species.⁶⁰ Melting of glaciers and permafrost in Alaska has increased as well, contributing to erosion and a loss of soil stability in some locations.⁶¹ Another challenge pertains to management of freshwater ecosystems, as climate change could alter water quality and the ranges of both cold-water and warm-water fish.⁶²

Selected BLM Adaptation-Related Activities

Under government- or DOI-wide policies, BLM has considered the effects of climate change through various actions. For instance, BLM has considered impacts of climate change in environmental assessments related to proposed uses of its lands, such as certain energy development activities.⁶³ The agency also has considered climate change in developing and amending land use plans.⁶⁴ Further, BLM might undertake actions that in part address the effects of climate change without explicitly referencing such change—for instance, by addressing desertification and other range health issues that affect livestock grazing and other land uses.⁶⁵

The current extent and types of climate change adaptation activities at BLM are unclear. BLM does not appear to have broad, agency-specific guidance focused on climate change adaptation.⁶⁶ In the last few years, some former guidance on this topic was rescinded directly by executive or secretarial orders or based on directives in those orders.⁶⁷

In the early in the 2010s, BLM began to focus on two efforts in part to adapt to climate change: a landscape approach to managing lands and rapid ecoregional assessments (REAs). Though these efforts have continued, the extent to which they currently are used to inform climate change adaptation is uncertain. The activities' goal is to help BLM managers understand land conditions and trends, as well as influences and opportunities for land use, from a broader perspective that may not be apparent when focusing on smaller areas. The landscape approach looks at large, connected geographic areas defined by their similar ecological characteristics, such as the Sonoran Desert or Colorado Plateau. In conducting REAs, BLM uses a landscape classification known as ecoregions, which span land ownerships, including both federal and nonfederal land. REAs collectively cover about 800 million acres and are prepared in cooperation with other federal and state land management agencies.⁶⁸ Part of the intent is to synthesize scientific information about natural resource conditions and trends; highlight and map areas of high ecological value; and help BLM to identify and coordinate resource conservation, rehabilitation, and development priorities over the long term. BLM has used REAs to inform resource management planning and to integrate landscape-scale analyses into BLM programmatic activity, among other uses.⁶⁹ Moving forward, it is unclear as to whether and to what extent BLM might use a landscape approach and REAs for climate change adaptation.

Bureau of Reclamation⁷⁰

DOI's Bureau of Reclamation manages water resource projects primarily in 17 western states.⁷¹ Reclamation's mission is to "manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public."⁷² Reclamation built and manages most of the large federal dams in the West, in addition to hundreds of other dams and diversion projects; it now operates more than 300 storage reservoirs and 53 hydropower plants serving approximately 30 million people.

Temperature, precipitation, and runoff conditions in the western United States already have changed in some areas and are expected to change further if the projected effects of global climate change are realized. Such changes may affect Reclamation's ability to reliably deliver water to project users in the future. Changes to soil and air temperature, precipitation, seasonal runoff, long-term streamflow, and extreme events are of particular concern.⁷³ As most of the surface water "stored" in the West is stored in snowpack, changes that reduce snowpack or that accelerate or alter the timing of runoff may result in less effective reservoir storage and major changes in reservoir and river operations. Extreme weather events—such as severe drought, heat waves, and mega-storms—pose additional risks. Much of the West, particularly the Southwest, is naturally semiarid and arid, and has experienced periods of naturally occurring decades-long drought in past millennia. Some observers note that if climate change projections prevail, the Southwest may face a synergistic or "double-whammy" impact on water supplies due to recurrent mega-drought as well as consequences from greenhouse gas-induced climate change.⁷⁴ Irrigated agriculture, hydropower production, municipal water deliveries, and aquatic species that rely on the Lower Colorado River and the Rio Grande may be especially at risk.⁷⁵ Planning for potential conditions is difficult, particularly for the Colorado River Basin, which has multiple storage reservoirs across a wide geographic area—some parts of which may see less precipitation and other parts of which may see the same or more precipitation, according to different climate models.⁷⁶

Reclamation facility operations are closely intertwined with numerous stakeholders, including other federal agencies, states, Indian tribes, local water and irrigation districts, and other nongovernmental organizations. Although Reclamation built, owns, and operates much of its infrastructure, local sponsors play a large role in system operations and maintenance; these local sponsors also are obligated to reimburse the federal government for a portion of construction costs. Thus, many stakeholders are likely to play a role in ensuring that Reclamation facilities continue to provide water, power, and ecosystem services into the future under varying climatic conditions.

Selected Reclamation Adaptation-Related Activities

In response to E.O. 13514, Reclamation published its Climate Change Adaptation Strategy in 2014.⁷⁷ The document built on existing work by the bureau to extend climate change adaptation efforts across Reclamation's mission responsibilities. The strategy was divided into four goals:

• 1. Increase water management flexibility
• 2. Enhance climate adaptation planning
• 3. Improve infrastructure resiliency
• 4. Expand information sharing

Reclamation last reported on progress under its climate change adaptation strategy in 2016, with the publication of its Climate Change Adaptation Strategy: 2016 Progress Report.⁷⁸ The report highlighted several individual Reclamation programs' progress toward each of the aforementioned goals. For example, several Reclamation programs support the first goal of the 2014 strategy (increased water management flexibility), including the bureau's WaterSMART Grants program,⁷⁹ Title XVI Water Reuse/Recycling Program, and Reservoir Operations Pilot Initiative.⁸⁰ Similarly, Reclamation's Basin Studies Program, in which the bureau collaborates with partners to assess and respond to water supply and demand imbalances, contributes to the second goal (enhance climate adaptation planning).

After Reclamation's climate change adaptation strategy was last updated in 2016, the Trump Administration continued to solicit and award funding for new projects under the programs noted above contributing to the first and second goals.⁸¹ In some cases, funding for these programs has increased since 2016. Other programs and initiatives emphasized by Reclamation's 2016 Progress Report were not proposed for funding in Trump Administration budget requests, and Congress has not added funding for these programs. For example, West Wide Climate Risk Assessments were noted contributors to the strategy's second goal (enhance climate adaptation planning) but have not been funded since FY2016. Similarly, the Western Watershed Enhancement Program, which contributed to the strategy's third goal (improved infrastructure resiliency) was last funded in FY2016.

National Park Service⁸²

NPS administers the 423 units of the National Park System, which face a diverse array of impacts from climate change. Warming temperatures, precipitation changes, streamflow changes, sea-level rise, wildfire, invasive species, and wildlife migration, among others, all have the potential to alter park resources (depending on their location and vulnerability) and to affect tourism and recreation in the parks.⁸³ Some researchers have suggested the units of the National Park System are experiencing a higher magnitude of climate change than other parts of the country because they are disproportionately located in strongly impacted areas such as the Arctic, the high mountains, and the arid Southwest.⁸⁴ For example, mean annual temperatures in the park system increased at double the national rate and precipitation decreased in a higher proportion of park system areas than for the nation generally for the period between 1895 and 2010.⁸⁵ Some natural resource changes have attracted popular attention, such as ongoing glacial retreat in Glacier National Park (Montana), threats from rising temperatures to the Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) at Joshua Tree National Park (California), and sea-level rise that could damage or submerge parts of Everglades National Park (Florida).⁸⁶ Attention also has focused on potential impacts of climate-related events to the iconic cultural resources administered by NPS, such as the Statue of Liberty National Monument (New York), an NPS unit that experienced significant damage in Superstorm Sandy of 2012.⁸⁷

NPS has addressed climate change and associated effects through research, education, and adaptive management, as well as through efforts to reduce its own carbon footprint. Some have suggested managing the parks for adaptation would require a fundamental rethinking of NPS mission, from one that historically has focused on preserving lands in an unimpaired state to one that would "steward NPS resources for continuous change that is not yet fully understood."⁸⁸

Selected NPS Adaptation-Related Activities

NPS has long engaged in efforts to assess climate change impacts and consider adaptation in the parks.⁸⁹ During the Obama Administration, NPS published multiple policy and planning documents addressing climate change adaptation. The agency released a Climate Change Response Strategy in September 2010, focusing on four types of actions: science, adaptation, mitigation, and communication.⁹⁰ It followed this with a Climate Change Action Plan in November 2012, emphasizing the same four response areas and detailing over 50 immediate actions to incorporate climate change considerations into NPS operations.⁹¹ The actions, some of which have been implemented since 2012 (or were implemented in earlier years), included training park personnel on climate change issues, assessing park management plans and project plans for climate considerations, partnering with universities to research park-specific climate trends, developing a "risk screening tool" to assess the vulnerability of park facilities to erosion and sea-level rise, creating interpretive exhibits on climate effects for park visitors, and initiating youth outreach programs, among others.⁹²

The planning documents also focused on NPS's unique role as an "extraordinary educational institution where millions of people learn about the environment."⁹³ Thus, they included as a key component of NPS strategy the goal of raising public awareness of climate change and potential responses.⁹⁴ Other documents released by the agency included a Scenario Planning Handbook (2013), detailing how park managers can use climate change scenario planning to inform actions and strategies, and a Green Parks Plan, published in 2012 and updated in 2016, which explored ways to make parks more sustainable by reducing energy and water consumption, limiting waste, and making other management changes.⁹⁵ Also in 2016, NPS released a Cultural Resources Climate Change Strategy and a National Climate Change Interpretation and Education Strategy.⁹⁶ Additionally, then-NPS Director Jonathan Jarvis issued Director's Order 100, "Resource Stewardship for the 21^st Century," which was rescinded in 2017.⁹⁷

NPS's Climate Change Response Program (CCRP), established in 2007, continues to operate as a resource for park system adaptation planning under the guidance provided by these planning documents (other than the rescinded Director's Order 100). The CCRP provides training, technical expertise, educational products, and in some cases funding support for projects in the park system aimed at preserving natural and cultural resources in the context of climate change.⁹⁸ Examples of recent CCRP activities include training courses for park interpretive staff on climate change communication, an internship program for students to work on climate change-related park management issues, a series of regional roundtables for NPS staff on findings from the National Climate Assessment, and assistance to individual NPS units with climate change scenario planning, as well as a January 2020 report on scenario planning.⁹⁹ Other agency programs and activities that are not primarily focused on climate change also may play roles in NPS's adaptation efforts.¹⁰⁰ In addition, broader DOI entities such as the USGS National Climate Adaptation Science Center have provided support for some NPS projects related to climate change adaptation.¹⁰¹

The scope of climate change adaptation activities across individual park units is unclear. A 2012 survey of public land managers in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming found 78% of surveyed NPS managers and staff reported that either no climate change adaptation planning was taking place at their unit or they did not know whether such planning was occurring.¹⁰² More recently, the NPS CCRP reported some ongoing efforts at the individual park level, including work to incorporate climate scenario planning into each park's Resource Stewardship Strategy.¹⁰³

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The mission of DOI's FWS is "working with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people."¹⁰⁴ FWS is responsible, among other activities, for

• administering the National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS) and the National Fish Hatchery System;
• enforcing many of the nation's federal wildlife and conservation laws and international treaties;
• working with federal and nonfederal partners on conservation activities; and
• managing hundreds of millions of dollars in grant funding each year.

The effects of climate change have the potential to impact many FWS activities related to fish, wildlife, and habitat and FWS-administered resources. As such, the agency may consider climate change adaptation in many of its activities. Such activities may include, for example, administration of agency resources, such as national wildlife refuges; management of federal trust species, such as those listed under the ESA;¹⁰⁵ and provision of training and information to resource management staff on how to incorporate climate change adaptation into their conservation activities.¹⁰⁶ However, many such activities may not explicitly reference climate change, and it can be difficult to ascertain how adaptation to climate change is incorporated into certain FWS actions.

Selected FWS Adaptation-Related Activities

Over the years, FWS has undertaken several activities, pursuant to multiple authorities, related to climate change adaptation. FWS described adaptation as follows: "adaptation involves planned, science-based management actions, including regulatory and policy changes, that we take to reduce the negative impacts of climate change on fish, wildlife, and their habitats."¹⁰⁷ FWS "policy and staff responsibilities on climate change adaptation" are outlined in Chapter 056 FW 1 of the agency's Service Manual, which was issued on July 22, 2013, pursuant to E.O. 13514, S.O. 3289, and 523 DM 1.¹⁰⁸ Although E.O. 13514 has been revoked, the remaining two listed directives are active and FWS policy in the Service Manual is still in effect.¹⁰⁹ (For FWS's climate change adaptation policy, see shaded text box.)

In addition to the agency's climate change adaptation policy as stated in Service Manual Chapter 056 FW 1, the service established the FWS Climate Change Adaptation Network in 056 FW 2.¹¹⁰ The network comprises a team of senior-level FWS personnel, and its mission is "to guide the Service to enhance preparedness, adaptation, and resilience in the face of the impacts of climate change and its interaction with non-climate influences on fish, wildlife, plants, ecosystems, cultural resources, and facilities."¹¹¹

FWS has published or partnered in publishing two climate change-related documents:

• the service's climate change strategic plan, Rising to the Urgent Challenge: Strategic Plan for Responding to Accelerating Climate Change, 2010 (hereinafter, the Strategic Plan);¹¹² and
• The National Fish, Wildlife, and Plants Climate Adaptation Strategy, 2012 (hereinafter, the Climate Adaptation Strategy).¹¹³

The purposes of the first document, the FWS's Strategic Plan, were to

(1) lay out our vision for accomplishing our mission to "work with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people" in the face of accelerating climate change; and (2) provide direction for our own organization and its employees, defining our role within the context of the Department of the Interior and the larger conservation community.¹¹⁴

The second document, the Climate Adaptation Strategy—which was published by an intergovernmental working group of federal, state, and tribal representatives, including FWS—included as its purpose "to inspire and enable natural resource administrators, elected officials, and other decision makers to take action to adapt to a changing climate."¹¹⁵ According to FWS, both the FWS Strategic Plan and the Climate Adaptation Strategy are active documents; the FWS Strategic Plan is available as a "resource for FWS programs," and efforts are underway to "review and update" the Climate Adaptation Strategy.¹¹⁶

According to FWS, service personnel consider climate change adaptation in numerous programmatic activities.¹¹⁷ For example, FWS may consider climate change in ESA listing decisions.¹¹⁸ In making these decisions, FWS and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration within the Department of Commerce, the two agencies responsible for administering the ESA, must consider five factors specified in the ESA to determine whether a species should be listed as threatened or endangered. Two of the five factors are "the present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of [species'] habitat or range" and "other natural or manmade factors affecting [species'] continued existence."¹¹⁹ While evaluating these factors, FWS and NMFS may be required to consider climate change as a potential threat in some cases.¹²⁰ FWS also may consider climate change adaptation activities in the administration of the NWRS, which is administered pursuant to the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act (NWRSAA), as amended.¹²¹ The NWRSAA requires that each refuge in the NWRS is managed to "fulfill the mission of the System, as well as the specific purposes for which that refuge was established."¹²² For example, FWS may implement actions to address sea-level rise, which can be an effect of climate change, at certain coastal wildlife refuges.¹²³

U.S. Geological Survey¹²⁴

The mission of USGS is to deliver integrated scientific understanding and forecast natural systems to improve the nation's economic well-being, reduce societal risks from hazards, and inform natural resource stewardship.¹²⁵ USGS has eight interdisciplinary program areas: (1) Water Resources, (2) Land Resources, (3) Energy and Minerals and Environmental Health, (4) Natural Hazards, (5) Ecosystems, (6) Core Science Systems, (7) Science Support, and (8) Facilities. Much of the work relevant to climate change adaptation is done through the Land Resources program area, although portions of several other program areas also relate to climate change adaptation.¹²⁶

USGS is primarily a science agency. Unlike some other DOI agencies, USGS does not manage large tracts of lands, construct infrastructure, or modify waterways or habitat. Further, the agency does not have regulatory authority under any laws. Consequently, USGS addresses climate change adaptation by conducting scientific studies; collecting and analyzing data related to climatic variables; modeling and predicting the effects of climate variability on natural resources, natural processes (e.g., natural hazards), wildlife, and ecosystems; and monitoring resources such as water flows, habitat changes, and wildlife. For example, USGS provides data on natural resources and scientific analysis to support adaptive management strategies implemented by DOI land management agencies (as well as by other federal agencies, state and local governments, and others) that address climate change adaptation. DOI agencies rely on USGS for scientific data and interpretations to inform their land management decisions. In a 2020 report, USGS committed to reporting to DOI at least once every five years (or sooner, as needed) on significant new findings in climate science and advances in best practices for incorporating climate information into planning and policymaking activities.¹²⁷ The report also outlined best practices the agency will continue to follow, such as modeling potential future impacts over timescales ranging from the near term to a century or longer, depending on the management decision under consideration. Memoranda of understanding and scientific agreements between USGS and other federal and state agencies allow USGS to provide research results on climate change processes and impacts, as well as data for making decisions related to specific geographic areas.

Selected USGS Adaptation-Related Activities

USGS does not have a formal plan to evaluate or implement adaptation strategies related to the potential effects of climate change on its facilities.¹²⁸ USGS evaluates facility projects through a capital planning and investment review process. An Investment Review Board analyzes agreements and the costs and benefits of actions related to facilities. When funding is available, USGS invests in "hardening" its observational equipment, which may be vulnerable to natural hazards.¹²⁹ For example, Congress provided supplemental funding in FY2018 and FY2019 for USGS to aid recovery from wildfires, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, and earthquakes.¹³⁰ With the funding, USGS repaired and replaced equipment and facilities, often to be more resilient, and conducted scientific observations and assessments.¹³¹

Beyond these efforts, USGS conducts several scientific and monitoring activities that directly and indirectly relate to climate change adaptation. The following provides an overview of some of these activities.

Climate Adaptation Science Centers.¹³² As noted above, one of the primary functions of the Land Resources program area under USGS is the implementation and maintenance of the National CASC and its regional entities, the Regional CASCs.¹³³ These centers support research, assessment, and synthesis of global change data to assist in the management of DOI-administered resources, including federal lands, at regional levels. The centers aim to evaluate global climate change models at scales appropriate for research managers of species and habitats, and they facilitate applied science and outreach to collaborators and stakeholders, including federal agencies. As noted, the FY2020 appropriations explanatory statement directed increased funding for Land Resources to develop a Midwest CASC to "focus on and address the threats to natural and human communities in Midwest states and develop a more tailored strategic science agenda."¹³⁴ This ninth CASC would encompass some of the 21 states currently under the purview of the existing Northeast CASC.

Climate Change Research and Development Program.¹³⁵ The objectives of USGS's Climate Change Research and Development Program include understanding regional effects of climate change and estimating how climate change might affect future scenarios or processes. Research areas under this program include understanding the effects of sea-level rise on coastal communities and infrastructure, studying the long-term effects of drought, and documenting the retreat of glaciers. Although the program focuses more on basic science than on management, its findings may help to inform adaptation actions.

Biologic Carbon Sequestration. The USGS's "biologic carbon sequestration assessment program," known as LandCarbon, "investigates ecosystem carbon cycle problems and develops carbon management science and monitoring methods."¹³⁶ USGS completed assessments of biologic carbon sequestration for the conterminous United States, Alaska, and Hawaii.¹³⁷ Program activities now include (1) researching carbon processes and management in ecosystems and (2) completing carbon sequestration application studies in support of DOI land management decisionmaking. Information gleaned from this program may be used to help inform future DOI land management practices.

Data Collection and Monitoring. USGS collects data and monitors natural processes that are relevant to climate change adaptation. For example, the USGS Streamgaging Network monitors streamgages, which collect data on streamflow, throughout the country.¹³⁸ These data can be analyzed to determine changes in water flows and water quality over time, and they can be used in projecting future flows under various climate scenarios to inform federal land managers, federal infrastructure investments and preparedness, and nonfederal decisionmaking.

Issues for Congress

DOI and its agencies have undertaken various climate change adaptation activities over the years, many of which were conducted in accordance with government-wide and DOI- or agency-specific authorities. Many of these activities were undertaken pursuant to executive and secretarial orders, and selected climate change adaptation activities continued to operate in some capacity during the Trump Administration. Selected orders from previous Administrations, such as the Obama Administration, that initiated certain adaptation activities were revoked during the Trump Administration, at times resulting in the cessation of certain activities. Other adaptation activities have been undertaken pursuant to statutorily authorized programs or congressional directions or when compatible with statutory purposes. The status of some adaptation activities also is unclear, and activities may have been altered, suspended, or set aside at times. Further, with available information, it can be difficult to identify the full breadth of climate change adaptation activities that DOI and its agencies have undertaken and the current status of such activities.

One concrete measure of how approaches to climate change adaptation have changed throughout the years and across Administrations is the issuing, amending, and/or revoking of executive and secretarial orders related to climate change adaptation. Generally, climate change-related executive and secretarial orders issued during the Trump Administration focused on rescinding climate adaptation orders, including several executive and secretarial orders that required various climate change adaptation activities to be conducted, issued during prior Administrations. Rather, the Trump Administration focused on certain other activities, including energy production. As a result, there apparently was less focus on undertaking new DOI-wide climate adaptation initiatives during the Trump Administration than during some previous Administrations, although agencies within DOI continued to implement certain policies and programs relevant to climate change adaptation.

The extent to which individual agencies within DOI were pursuing climate change adaptation activities at the end of 2020 varied by agency and activity and, in some cases, is unclear. For example, pursuant to the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020,¹³⁹ USGS was required to establish a new Midwest CASC and FWS was required to provide a report updating Congress on the status of the LCC network. However, information regarding the status of these activities was not publicly available at the time of this report's publication. As of the end of 2020, the National and Regional CASCs were operational, and FWS reportedly was providing scientific support for the LCC network but was no longer providing direct funding to the individual cooperatives.

In other instances, climate change adaptation activities undertaken by DOI agencies have been more readily identifiable. For example, the USGS's scientific and monitoring activities listed above that directly and indirectly relate to climate change adaptation are documented examples where climate change adaptation activities have continued. In addition, the USGS commitment in 2020 to report to DOI on significant new findings in climate science and advances in best practices for incorporating climate information into planning and policymaking activities reflects ongoing climate change adaptation activities.

In its oversight capacity and to bolster its legislative activities, Congress may be interested in seeking additional information related to the full breadth of climate change adaptation activities within DOI and its agencies that have been undertaken pursuant to both administrative directives and statutory requirements, as well as the current status of such activities. Congress has shown this type of interest in the past; for example, Congress has required DOI or its agencies to produce reports—at times with potential repercussions for an agency's appropriations—to inform Congress on the status of certain activities. For example, in FY2020 Congress required FWS to provide a report on the status of the LCC program prior to receiving certain appropriated funds. In addition to oversight of ongoing programs, some Members of Congress in the 116^th Congress expressed interest in pursuing legislation related to climate change adaption.

A more complete public understanding of DOI's climate change adaptation activities, such as those presented herein, may be useful to inform congressional responsibilities for authorizations, appropriations, and oversight. For example, Members of Congress may be interested in examining legislation related to whether, how, or under what circumstances DOI agencies might incorporate climate change adaptation activities into the pursuit of fulfilling their statutory responsibilities.