Federal wildlife service unveils new climate change policy

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday unveiled its new climate change strategy, which environmental groups have heralded as a significant advance in government policy. The proposed plan will provide a framework for incorporating climate change modeling into the service’s decisions, which include Endangered Species Act enforcement and management of the nation’s 540 national wildlife refuges. Tom Strickland, assistant secretary of the interior for fish, wildlife and parks, called climate change “the single greatest conservation challenge of the 21st century” in a teleconference Wednesday. Sam Hamilton, the new chief of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the policy is a fundamental shift toward anticipating effects of climate change on plants, animals, their ecosystems and the humans who rely on the same resources. The wildlife service plan calls for targeted monitoring of climate change impacts on fish and wildlife, developing “landscape conservation cooperatives” with private partners, and pursuing reforestation projects to increase the amount of carbon dioxide being removed from the air...Macon.com