Tennessee’s topography, geology, and elevations range from the Great Smoky Mountains in the east to the delta floodplains of the Mississippi River 400 miles to the west. This array of landscape features supports a high diversity of native plants and wildlife, in addition to being home to a growing population of over 6.5 million people.
Climate change is gradually creating shifts in our seasonal and annual temperatures and rainfall across this state. More frequent and more intense droughts and floods are on the horizon. These changes have both near and long-term effects on the health of our lands and waters. Our ability to manage for change requires new analytical, engineering, and resource management approaches.
Our colleagues with The Nature Conservancy’s Eastern U.S. Division Conservation Program have pioneered new science initiatives designed to improve our understanding of how natural landscapes may adapt –- or be constrained from adapting –- to our changing climate.
In Tennessee, we have used this innovative data along with information on our state’s biodiversity to begin creating data products for use in a wide range of conservation decision-making including land acquisition and forest resource management.
We also worked closely with our partners at the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the National Wildlife Federation to ensure the best available information on climate change vulnerabilities was incorporated into the 2015 Tennessee State Wildlife Action Plan.
Our “Key Resources” links provide more information on TNC’s landscape resiliency planning and our efforts to apply this science specifically to our work here in Tennessee.
