Resources & Related Programs

Climate change is one of the biggest threats to transboundary conservation efforts within the Greater Yellowstone Area (GYA). The Greater Yellowstone Climate Assessment is an excellent synthesis of the best available science and serves as a basis for discussion and common understanding among agencies, organizations, and the public in finding solutions to climate change at a regional scale.

The report was produced by researchers from the universities in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, partnering with scientists from the US Geological Survey and National Park Service. It is a source of climate change information for diverse groups in the region, including private landowners, communities, policy makers, natural resource specialists, and non-profit organizations. Its coverage of past, present, and future climate change and water resources in the GYA provides baseline information for future assessments of the climate impacts on fish, wildlife and forests in the region, as well as our social-economic well-being and human health.

An assessment of Montana’s climate to describe past and future climate trends that affect different sectors of the State’s economy.  The Montana Climate Assessment (MCA) project involves university researchers, decision makers, and other stakeholders with the goal of providing timely and relevant information for the citizens of the State.  The first assessment, released in September 2017, focuses on climate issues that affect agriculture, forests, and water resources in Montana.

The purpose of this assessment is to a) present understandable, science-based, Montana-specific information about the impacts of climate change on the health of Montanans; and b) describe how our healthcare providers, state leaders, communities, and individuals can best prepare for and reduce those impacts in the coming decades. This assessment draws from, and is an extension to, the 2017 Montana Climate Assessment(MCA^[1]) (Whitlock et al. 2017), which provides the first detailed analysis of expected impacts to Montana’s water, forests, and agriculture from climate change. MCA explains historical, current, and prospective climate trends for the state based on the best-available science.