Climate Change Symposium
September 4, 2008
Cheyenne, Wyoming

In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its 4th Assessment Report, an analysis of climate change and its likely impacts on Earth and its inhabitants. The most catastrophic outcomes of climate change which have been featured in the popular press include global warming, melting of the polar ice caps and coastal flooding, loss of coral reefs, and increased severe weather activity. While these are high priority concerns, there are many other potential impacts of climate change, some of which have important consequences for western rangelands. In fact, evidence suggests that rangelands have already been affected by climate change.

In an effort to expand the discussion about climate change and its consequences for western rangelands to the entire community, the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS), University of Wyoming, and Colorado State University, in partnership with the Society for Range Management, invite you to attend Climate Change in Western Rangelands, a symposium to be held in Cheyenne, WY on Thursday, September 4, followed by a field tour of an on-going climate change experiment at the ARS High Plains Grasslands Research Station near Cheyenne, WY. The morning symposium will feature presentations by climate change experts and a discussion among attendants and an expert panel on the latest knowledge of climate change and what it means for rangelands—both research and management. In the afternoon, the group will visit a unique field experiment which is evaluating how rising carbon dioxide, warming, and altered precipitation patterns are affecting the northern mixedgrass prairie.

We invite you to participate in this important discussion on climate change, how it will change rangeland environments, the implications for rangelands, and what we can do to prepare for it. Advanced registration is required, and attendance will be limited to the first 200 registrants. To register, go to http://www.rangelands.org/zencart/, and click on Conferences and Workshops.