Environmental Change
Programs

Environmental Change

Environmental change – warming temperatures and accompanying changes in precipitation and weather patterns – will play a significant role in shaping BLM’s stewardship over the coming decades. It significantly impacts the health and resilience of ecosystems, exacerbating existing management challenges and threatening the sustainability of current land uses, including energy production, livestock grazing, recreation, and timber harvest.

BLM managed lands are experiencing warming temperatures, altered water availability, and changes in vegetation composition, which in turn affect wildlife, livestock, recreation, and cultural values. Environmental change creates new risks and exacerbates existing vulnerabilities in communities across the United States, presenting growing challenges to human health and safety, quality of life, and the rate of economic growth. Without substantial and sustained reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions, transformative impacts on some ecosystems will occur. To address these complex challenges, the BLM must rely on solid science, strong partnerships, and adaptive management practices.

Explore this page for curated science products relevant for land managers, including adaptation menus, environmental change assessments, and forward-looking environmental change datasets.

A Climate Adaptation Menu for North American Grasslands

  • First published: 17 March 2025 | https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.70017
  • Webinar recording from the BLM Adaptive Management Community of Practice
  • The Grassland Adaptation Menu makes actionable recommendations for land managers and distills complex ecological concepts into structured, evidence-based recommendations. 
  • The Grassland Adaptation Menu incorporates eight general strategies and 32 approaches in a structured format designed to help managers translate concepts into actions.
  • Developed through a systematic literature review and expert consultation with land managers across North America.  

National Climate Assessment

  • The Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5) is the US Government’s preeminent report on environmental change impacts, risks, and responses. It is a congressionally mandated interagency effort that provides the scientific foundation to support informed decision-making across the United States.
  • NCA5 emphasizes that environmental change is already affecting every region of the country, with increasing risks to water resources, ecosystems, infrastructure, and public health. It underscores that the degree of future harm depends on today’s decisions to reduce emissions and build resilience.
  • The NCA5 provides a science-based foundation to guide adaptive management of public lands—highlighting region-specific vulnerabilities such as drought, wildfire, and habitat shifts that directly impact conservation planning, resource allocation, and stakeholder engagement.
  • About and guide to NCA5
  • List of all chapters and PDFs
  • NCA5 Glossary: This glossary provides foundational definitions for commonly used terms.

USGS National Water Availability Assessment

  • A comprehensive assessment of water availability in the U.S, the first since 1978, this assessment integrates water quantity, quality, and use to better understand water availability. 
  • The assessment uses state-of-the-art models to fill in the data gaps between water monitoring stations. It allows water resource managers and decision makers to assess water availability more comprehensively. 
  • These capabilities enable a new evaluation of the balance between natural water supply and water demand, providing new insight on areas of the U.S. with a potential supply-use imbalance. 
  • Explore highlighted key findings and interactive data visualizations - Key Findings Interactive Website
  • Read the comprehensive, scientific summary of water quantity, quality, and use in the United States - National Water Availability Assessment Report
  • Download the data and learn more about the models that generate the data - National Water Availability Assessment Data Companion
  • Watch the recording of the January release event - January 16, 2025 webinar recording