State Wildlife Action Planning in the Midwest

State Wildlife Action Plans (SWAPs) are essential blueprints for conservation, enabling states to protect wildlife species before they become too rare or costly to restore. A core requirement of these plans is identifying threats to species and habitats. 

The USGS Climate Adaptation Science Centers (CASCs) support species conservation efforts by producing and sharing science to help states, Tribes, and federal agencies understand climate impacts and foster effective adaptation. This includes crucial support for SWAP planning – convening key partners and providing vital climate data, tools, and training. The persistence and recovery of iconic Midwestern species, including moose, red-shouldered hawk, piping plovers, eastern massasauga, blandings turtle, and others, will depend on using the most up-to-date science available for conservation and restoration decisions by wildlife agencies and conservationists. 

Sharing the Best Available Science 

In anticipation of SWAP revisions, the USGS Midwest CASC engaged state partners to ensure Midwest states would be in the best position to evaluate and use the latest science available on climate stressors and impacts to habitats and key species. USGS Midwest CASC staff took a lead role in producing individual reports that help to provide a detailed overview of climate change impacts to Midwestern habitats in order to enable wildlife management and protection strategies that are more comprehensive and forward-looking. This process has been iterative and flexible, ensuring products directly addressed state-specific priorities and needs. 

A set of six comprehensive reports that summarize projected climate impacts on key Midwestern habitats and species of greatest conservation need is now available. The reports identify and delineate priority habitats, summarize exposure to key climate change stressors, and synthesize scientific literature into qualitative summaries of climate change impacts to habitats. Each report also summarizes peer-reviewed literature detailing climate impacts to key wildlife species within these habitat types and explores possible restoration and conservation strategies.  

Some key findings from the reports on climate impacts to habitats and species include: 

• Across the Midwest, climate change is expected to intensify flooding and drought, resulting in increased hydrologic variability that may threaten the persistence of wetlands and floodplain forests.
• Climate stressors are likely to disproportionately limit plant regeneration, shaping future communities by favoring species able to establish, while regeneration failure, limited establishment of better-adapted species, and selective deer herbivory may collectively promote plant assemblages poorly suited to future climate conditions. 
• Tolerance traits (e.g., flooding, drought, fire, and thermal limits) will play an increasingly important role in shaping community composition, while elevated plant mortality in some species may create opportunities for others, contributing to shrub expansion and woody encroachment in many habitats, such as grasslands.
• Climate change is expected to amplify pest and disease pressure, as warmer winters and longer growing seasons enhance survival, reproduction, and range expansion, while climate-stressed plants become more susceptible, increasing impacts from both existing and newly expanding threats.   

One more report is in production and expected to be delivered to states soon. In addition to the final reports, future needs and directions for states to pursue were identified through this collaborative approach so that wildlife programs will be better prepared for future management challenges as well as shifting needs and new requests of their programs. Outreach to regional partners, education of the public, new science initiatives, and informed policy development were all highlighted through this process that brought federal and state staff together for over one year. 

Read more from CASC Project Explorer.