What natural areas managers could do now to begin to adapt to climate change.  Bill Kleiman Nachusa Grassland Project Director The Nature Conservancy Wild Things, Chicago

Assume that a healthy and diverse natural area will have more resilience. It is nice to know that the diversity we love also gives our natural areas the ability to handle some of the changes coming our way.

Care for the rare things first Gather baseline data on current status of rare elements. How many of those prairie fringed orchids do you have? What do they seem to need to keep high numbers? How might you create ten new populations in the next 10 years?

Manage invasives well If birdsfoot trefoil were left untreated it would form dense stands all over our preserve. This would take up space for plants we want to encourage. We want to create efficient strategies that limit invasive plants. A new approach we are considering is the use of pre-emergent and long soil residual herbicides.

Protect remnants now. The remaining unplowed habitats that are in good condition need to be protected now as the future shows more stresses on our landscape. We can protect more sites by using the momentum of programs like the State Wildlife Action Plan and the update of the Natural Areas Inventory.

Connect natural areas. Corridors should allow movement of some species. Better corridors are remnant habitat, they are wide and as short as possible.

Restore habitat well. Restored habitats surrounding remnants need to not be weed filled, brush encroached messes. You might be restoring a simple matrix of species to act as a buffer around a remnant. This buffer should be free of invasive weeds and brush. Or perhaps you are attempting a re-creation of a highly diverse habitat. This is noble and a challenge. If you are successful you get a gold star. If not, you might want to use herbicides as needed to remove invasive plants and brush.

Protect ground water. Assume your ground water will have more demands placed upon it. For fens, seeps, and wetlands define needed ground water recharge areas and work to protect them.

Practice moving species. Consider moving unlisted but uncommon species to new areas on the same preserve, or a nearby preserve.

Green power may brown your natural area. The power grid is expected to grow much larger. Protect your important natural areas from power lines and buried utilities.

Build sustainable economic support. The future will require at least the current amount of work we do now, plus the demands of a growing population, short on petroleum, with industries coming and going. How will you fund your natural areas staff? (Friends group, endowments, volunteer community, building a reputation within your community.) How can you make your natural areas easier to manage? (Purchasing some inholdings, improving fire breaks, removing park amenities from natural areas.)

Act now to make your natural areas resilient. The end.