Appendix F

Further Information About Federal Programs

As noted in the text above, there are several federal programs that are potential users of the NCA and its products. These include:

• The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Climate Adaptation Partnerships (CAP)/Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments program consists of 14 centers across the United States and territories focusing on applied climate change research with a regional focus and emphasizing community collaboration and partnerships. The focus is on regional capacity to adapt to climate impacts.¹ These are NOAA-led.
• The NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information Regional Climate Center Program² provides existing weather extremes and climate data, as well as climate change-related research and services. These are led by the lead academic partner.
• The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has 10 (9 regional and 1 national) Climate Adaptation Science Centers for the purpose of developing science, data, and tools to help natural and cultural resource managers address the impacts of climate change on fish, wildlife, ecosystems, and the communities they support. A key part of the effort is the creation of datasets, web applications, assessments, surveys, and other tools that are then made publicly available for future management or research projects. These are hosted at academic institutions and co-led by the USGS and host institution, and they receive guidance from regional participants and audiences, including tribes.³
• The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the lead agency for the 22 National Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs), an organization that includes federal, state, local, and NGO participants. These are meant to function as applied science and ecosystem management collaborations. The LCCs focus on habitat resilience to large landscape-level stressors and those stressors that may be magnified by the changing climate.⁴

• The U.S. Department of Energy leads the Grid Resilience Technical Assistance Consortium, which is a national-scale center to support state energy officials, public service commissions, and utilities through the analysis of climate change threats, expected impacts, best practices for adaptation and investment, and resilience planning.⁵
• The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has organized an Office of Climate Change and Health Equity,⁶ which relies on USGCRP products such as “The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment.”⁷

All of these organizations interact with and share data with each other and with other federal agencies, forming a large network of networks. The following provides additional descriptive information about the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) climate hubs, which are used in the text as an example of a federal program that might be included in a USGCRP evaluation of the use of the NCA and its products.

USDA CLIMATE HUBS

The USDA climate hubs are a collaboration across the department’s agencies that are led and hosted by the Agricultural Research Service, Forest Service, and Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA, 2023b). These 11 hubs develop and deliver science-based, region-specific information and technologies to enable climate-informed decision-making. Each Regional Climate Hub is based out of a Forest Service research station or Agricultural Research Service lab. The International Climate Hub is based out of the Foreign Agricultural Service. An executive committee of the climate hubs includes the above agencies as well as the Economic Research Service, Farm Service Agency, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Office of Energy and Environmental Policy, Risk Management Agency, and Rural Development. Each hub is tasked with addressing the unique climate challenges and opportunities of its region, while also working with other hubs to develop and share information nationwide (USDA, 2021).

The climate hubs provide periodic regional assessments of risk and vulnerability to production sectors and rural economies, building on material provided through the NCA. The hubs use existing climate change information and assessments to identify primary risks to producers from increasing weather variability and a changing climate. These assessments/syntheses consist of information on vulnerabilities of primary regional agricultural, ranching, and forestry commodities to climate change effects and identify mitigation and adaptation strategies (USDA, 2021). The climate hubs draw upon the NCA’s regional chapters when addressing the hubs’ needs for more detailed information.

The climate hubs create a dialogue between the services the agency is authorized to provide and the needs expressed by individuals and the communities they serve. The inward dialog allows the climate adaptation needs of the agriculture and ranching communities to inform the direction of USDA support. Employees at the hubs who cover the needs of USDA customers and the public in general focus their work using NCA information to cover eight priority areas: (1) adaptation/resilience, (2) mitigation, (3) adaptation plan implementation, (4) wildland fire management/restoration, (5) climate literacy, (6) climate-smart agriculture and forestry practices, (7) environmental justice, and (8) international work. Hubs further operate through three main relevant work areas which often draw on NCA scientific information (NOAA, 2024c; USDA, 2023b). These three areas are discussed below.

1. Science and Data Synthesis: The hubs translate and deliver the latest NCA climate science information relevant to users. This includes regional risk and vulnerability assessments⁸ as well as contributions to the National Climate Assessment.
2. Tool Development and Support: The hubs help develop and support tools that enable climate-informed planning and decision-making. So far, the hubs have collaborated on the development of over 25 climate-based tools.⁹

TABLE F-1 USDA Climate Change Hubs’ Accomplishments During 2013–2023

SOURCE: See https://www.climatehubs.usda.gov/climate-hubs-quarterly-reporting.

3. Outreach, Convening, and Training: The hubs promote engagement, discovery, and exchange of information on climate science and climate-based tools to adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change. Such efforts involve engaging with farmers, foresters, and land managers, often going directly to where they are located. The hubs develop products such as fact sheets, science briefs, opportunities for peer-to-peer engagements, workshops, webinars, and multimedia products. An example of this work is the Northwest Adaptation in Action profiles,¹⁰ which highlight the climate resilience work of farmers, foresters, ranchers, and land managers implementing climate change adaptation and mitigation practices on the ground.

The climate hubs also work outward, providing climate change information, support, and resources to all levels of users, from schoolchildren to producers and land managers. Access to this information is provided through each hub’s website. This information includes assessments, tools, webinars, demonstrations, and other didactic materials. Many of the communities with which the hubs work are further covered under the Justice40 Initiative, building resilience to extreme events and providing materials to help increase food security, support mental health, and more (USDA, 2024).

The climate hubs complement the federal network of climate science and information centers of the Department of the Interior Climate Adaptation Science Centers, NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnerships program (formerly known as Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments), and others (see descriptions above) in directing audiences to usable, trustworthy, regional data and climate forecast services for incorporation into individual and community hazard and climate adaptation planning.

Examples of climate hub engagements with constituents over the last 10 years at the national level are presented in Table F-1.