Climate change is impacting fisheries through ecological shifts altering the geographical distribution and quantity of fish species. About 60% of United States fish caught by volume is caught in the Alaska region, with Alaska's economy dependent on fisheries. Additionally, fisheries are an important source of employment for many Alaskan communities. Therefore, it is important to have policies and strategies in place to prepare for ongoing climate impacts. One step to support better tailoring policy to support those most likely to be negatively impacted is to identify the fishing communities most vulnerable to climate change. This study uses data on vulnerable fish species and fishery catch by species and community to identify what communities are most vulnerable to changing climate conditions. I identify 26 communities that are fishing climate vulnerable species. I then use vulnerable fish species revenue data to identify communities most at risk either because they generate a substantial amount of revenue from these species or a substantial proportion of their total revenue is derived from these species. Using species-specific revenue, I show that Sablefish contribute the most to this vulnerability.

The status of Earth’s diversity is deteriorating quickly which will continue to impact humans’ way of life, as well as every other living creature, in all regions of the world. However, there are organizations taking action to protect biodiversity on our planet. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is one of those organizations and includes 196 signatories from around the world who are committed to strategies to preserve their biodiversity (Secretariat). Indeed, 98% of the parties which have participated in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) have created national biodiversity strategies (NBS) and action plans (NBSAPs) (Secretariat). Yet, there are still countries that have yet to partake in these efforts. America continues to hold out against ratifying the CBD and remains the only developed country without a National Biodiversity Strategy. As an NBS for the U.S. is under consideration, my goal is to understand what works from previous plans. In particular, I focus on stakeholder engagement in Conservation Biodiversity Action Plans. Stakeholder engagement is important because, without it, there may be insufficient levels of integration of the action plans, which can lead to the failure of the CBDs conservation efforts. To address this question, I analyze the 193 strategies created for countries across the globe. My review describes the ways that stakeholders are engaged in National Biodiversity Strategies for CBD member countries. All plans mention some form of engagement. The most common types mentioned are ‘Education’, ‘Communication’, and ‘Training’. Examining the plans further reveals that most forms of engagement often are just mentioned and not completed. Close to 58% of the engagement forms are only completed about 50% of the time. Exceptions are surveys, interviews, and workshops, which are each completed in over 70% of plans that mention them. I then use this information to provide practical recommendations for creating an effective NBSAP for the United States.

Public and private lands depend on organizations to manage and protect them for the recreational enjoyment of humans and the conservation of biodiversity. Organizations that partner, or co-manage, to manage these lands can combine their resources to reach efficient conservation outcomes for biodiversity protection. How organizations express their priorities publicly through their mission statements are important because of their ability to reach stakeholders. In my thesis research, I collect the mission statements for 1144 organizations that are categorized into two groups of those that partner at least once and those that never partner. I analyze the extent to which they align and the drivers through performing text analysis by creating word clouds, word frequency lists, and identifying themes to categorize the words into for each group of partnering and non-partnering. Comparing partnering and non-partnering organization mission statements, I find that partnering organizations use more conservation-themed language and non-partnering organizations use community/people-themed language more frequently. I also find that the type of organization impacted the words being used, as well as the ratio of these different types of organizations that made up the total group of partnering and non-partnering (federal, local, and non-government organizations (NGO)). Future research could center around the dynamics of the partnerships and the extent to which mission statements play a role in attracting other organizations to partner and their role in clearly reflecting priorities to the public.

Fire is a naturally-occurring disruptive ecological force that is an essential part of certain ecosystems, and has historically been a tool used by indigenous fire stewards to maintain the health of the land. In the past century, fire has been severely suppressed throughout many areas of the Western United States as Western colonization and the suppression of native traditional ecological knowledge took place, causing a severe decline in ecosystem health and the accumulation of flammable vegetation, which has more recently contributed towards a frequency of catastrophic, high-intensity wildfires. Current fire management challenges include balancing social and ecological perspectives. In Colorado and other areas of the country, community wildfire protection plans (CWPP) are evolving as a means to involve a variety of community stakeholders in fire management decisions. Using Colorado CWPP boundaries as a social management unit and endangered species ranges as an ecological management unit, I analyzed the spatial overlap of these different factors. Since each CWPP has its own fire management policies, I drew implications from the results for which important factors different CWPPs should consider.