with guest Abigail J. Lynch (Research Fish Biologist, USGS National Climate Adaptation Center)

Most natural resource conservation and management approaches look to the past for precedent. But, what happens when the past doesn’t reflect the future? With climate change and other stressors, ecosystems are transforming, making many of these approaches increasingly untenable. The RAD (Resist-Accept-Direct) framework can help navigate the unfamiliar territory of ‘what comes next’ while still using some familiar tools and strategies (e.g., adaptive management). This presentation will introduce the RAD framework and discuss how it lays out adaptation options deliberately. These conversations are often uncomfortable but, at some point, we do need to ask “When to Resist?” and “Resist until when?” If we wait well past when restoration and rehabilitation efforts are effective, we’ve likely missed opportunities to prepare for adapting to ecosystem change under any RAD strategy and it will likely come at higher economic costs, greater losses of ecosystem services, and more significant consequences to natural systems.

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