CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Plants and animals living in the Rocky Mountain West could face bigger challenges than previously expected as global temperatures rise, according to a new study by the University of Montana.

Its lead author, Solomon Dobrowski, an associate professor of forest landscape ecology, said as climate change makes their current homes inhospitable, both wildlife and plant life will face four options.

"Basically as the earth warms, if you're a plant or an animal living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, you're going to have to either adapt to those changes; you'll have to tolerate those changes; you'll have to move or you'll go locally extinct," he said.

Because mountain areas contain multiple micro-climates, scientists had predicted organisms living there wouldn't have to travel far to find cooler habitats. But Dobrowski's research found even short migrations could expose plants and animals to potentially life-threatening variations in temperatures, moisture and soil quality.

He explained the complexity of mountain topography creates variable climates close together, which is one reason they support roughly one-quarter of the planet's biodiversity, and are home to nearly half of the world's biodiversity hotspots.

Dobrowski said those variances also pose risks, however.

"So, if you think about moving from one mountaintop to another mountaintop, you often have to traverse a very warm valley in between," he explained. "And organisms, through time, that warm valley may preclude them from actually being able to migrate and keep pace with climate change."

He noted Rocky Mountain states are already seeing some impacts of climate-related migration. He cited the disappearance of white-bark pine, a prominent food source for grizzlies, as one reason bears have moved to lower elevations in search of food, increasing their contact with people.

The full study is online here.


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A new report warns that the window is quickly closing to prevent the most harmful effects of climate change. As global leaders face pressure to act, efforts continue to educate Wisconsin families.

Last week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said countries have to quickly come together to achieve deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to secure a livable planet for all.

Rebecca Borkowski is the executive director of the Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education, which supports teachers and students in learning about these issues.

She said they've sometimes avoided using words like climate change around parents to avoid political tension. But that's changing.

"I think it's at a point," Borkowski said, "where affiliates like ours and the national network are just going to have to take more action and be more direct in our conversations."

As part of their effort to get more climate education in schools, her group is trying to get more adults to become engaged with the issue.

That includes hosting online discussions and prompting elected officials and political candidates to talk about climate change, including those running in Wisconsin's high-profile state Supreme Court race.

A recent survey of teachers from the North American Association for Environmental Education found that 56% of respondents' students have brought up climate change on their own in the classroom.

Megan Giefer chairs the Wisconsin chapter's advocacy committee and said getting kids to pay more attention isn't a concern.

She suggested that it's harder when adults, who have lived through changing seasons their whole lives, might feel that a cold and snowy winter is enough to think there isn't a threat.

"And so, a lot of people will brush it off and say, 'Well, that's the Midwest, that's Wisconsin,'" said Giefer. "But it's really not what we're supposed to be having."

A 2021 statewide report noted that Wisconsin winters are warming more rapidly than summers.

Meanwhile, the national teacher survey says a lack of formal curriculum and an unclear mandate are among the reasons why school districts haven't made climate change education a priority.




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Offshore wind development is coming to Texas under the Biden administration's plan to grow America's clean-energy economy, and union members want the jobs to include proper safety and worker protections.

The federal government is seeking comments about which areas near Galveston to consider for the first-ever offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico. The project is part of the administration's promise to establish 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030.

Luis Estrada, a plumbers apprentice and a member of Plumbers Union Local 68 in Houston, said stringent labor and equity standards need to be in place before hiring begins.

"We have every capability to make these jobs strong, family-sustaining jobs," Estrada pointed out. "But there's a lot of anti-worker laws here in Texas, and it makes Texas the most dangerous state in America to work."

Estrada was one of several union members who traveled to Washington, D.C., to deliver some 200 messages to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management about the unique challenges faced by Texas construction workers.

The U.S. Interior Department said projects proposed for Louisiana and Texas have the potential to power more than a million homes with clean energy.

PJ Shipman, an electrical apprentice and a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 716, said Texas' "right-to-work" laws should not limit living wage requirements and workers' compensation.

"To be able to set a standard for the clean-energy boom that we really believe is about to happen would be amazing," Shipman contended. "To set the standard in Texas where, to everyone's knowledge, is 'right to work.' "

Because they do not require valuable land space, offshore wind projects have risen in popularity.

Estrada added Texas union members want the emerging industry to succeed, but not at the expense of workers.

"The unions are going to be the only people who can keep up with the demand of these jobs," Estrada asserted. "But we just want the language to be in the leases; that these jobs are going to protect Texas communities and Texas workers."

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is accepting comments about the Texas wind proposals through April 25.


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As wildfire seasons in Colorado and across the American West become longer, less predictable and increasingly destructive, a new report aims to provide an equitable roadmap for protecting communities, watersheds and wildlife.

Rob Addington, Colorado forest program director for The Nature Conservancy, said engagement with tribal nations, who have been successful stewards of lands for thousands of years, will be critical to address the scale of the challenge.

"Developing tribal partnerships and really looking to tribal knowledge, ecological knowledge that many of the tribes hold from their centuries in many cases of working with the land, working with fire," Addington outlined.

Addington pointed out the roadmap represents a paradigm shift in modern forest and wildfire management. After decades of fire prevention strategies, for example, experts said prescribed burns will be necessary to thin fuel supplies across thousands of acres of dry western lands. The report also called for advanced computer modeling and unmanned drones to improve early detection, help battle fires more effectively, and to reseed and restore scarred forests.

The roadmap, created by The Aspen Institute and The Nature Conservancy, compiled input from more than 250 experts in forest and fire management, federal, state, local, and Tribal Nation authorities, and the private sector, including the forest products and insurance industries.

Addington noted many of the report's recommendations are shovel-ready, due to recent public investments such as the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

"But what we need in parallel to complement that funding is this set of policy recommendations," Addington urged. "To really make best use of that funding, and have it hit the ground in the most efficient and effective way that we can."

Addington underscored building successful partnerships will be key for work that needs to happen in metropolitan areas and across tribal, federal, state and privately owned lands. The report also identified some potential roadblocks, and offered policy solutions requiring action from Congress, the executive branch, and partners like states, Tribal Nations, nonprofits, and industry.