Uploaded June 2018 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
NOAA’s Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) program supports research teams that help expand and build the nation's capacity to prepare for and adapt to climate variability and change.
In 2012, the NOAA RISA team for the Pacific Northwest, the Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Research Consortium (CIRC), reached out to community members in Idaho’s Big Wood River Basin to help them respond to climate variability and change around water use and scarcity. The result was the Big Wood Basin Alternative Futures project. This video tells the story of that ambitious project.
More info
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The Big Wood River Basin:
Idaho’s Big Wood River Basin, an area of more than 3,000 square miles, faces potential water scarcities as warming temperatures lead to less mountain snowpack, altering the region’s water resources and potentially affecting everyone from farmers and ranchers to skiers and snowboarders.
From 2012 to 2016, the CIRC team, led by John Stevenson, worked with local Big Wood community members, including local farmers, ranchers, policy makers, and conservation groups.
Working together, CIRC and the Big Wood community developed an innovative computer model of the basin. The model ran a series of sophisticated simulations informed by local know-how and the CIRC team’s scientific expertise. The result was a series of storylines, or science-backed thought experiments, that empowered local residents to glimpse how drivers of change—from projected temperature spikes to population growth—are likely to affect the Big Wood’s water resources and the communities that rely on them.
So, what did CIRC and the Big Wood community learn?
The project concluded that even in the face of significant change there are a number of actions—from changing farming practices to policy decisions—Big Wood community members can take to make their basin more resilient in the face of climate variability and change.
About CIRC:
The Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Research Consortium (CIRC) is a climate-science-to-climate-action team funded by NOAA’s Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) program, a national leader in climate science and adaptation.
CIRC team members are a mix of climate and social scientists. CIRC team members can be found throughout the Pacific Northwest, including at Oregon State University, the University of Idaho, the University of Washington, and the University of Oregon.
CIRC is hosted at Oregon State University by the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute and the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.
As part of its Community Adaptation effort, CIRC helps the Pacific Northwest become more resilient in the face of climate variability and change. CIRC’s work in Idaho’s Big Wood River Basin represents just one of these efforts.
Through working directly with communities, CIRC’s efforts have advanced both climate and social science related to climate adaptation and resilience.
NOAA’s Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) program supports research teams that help expand and build the nation's capacity to prepare for and adapt to climate variability and change.
In 2012, the NOAA RISA team for the Pacific Northwest, the Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Research Consortium (CIRC), reached out to community members in Idaho’s Big Wood River Basin to help them respond to climate variability and change around water use and scarcity. The result was the Big Wood Basin Alternative Futures project. This video tells the story of that ambitious project.
More info
——————————————————————
The Big Wood River Basin:
Idaho’s Big Wood River Basin, an area of more than 3,000 square miles, faces potential water scarcities as warming temperatures lead to less mountain snowpack, altering the region’s water resources and potentially affecting everyone from farmers and ranchers to skiers and snowboarders.
From 2012 to 2016, the CIRC team, led by John Stevenson, worked with local Big Wood community members, including local farmers, ranchers, policy makers, and conservation groups.
Working together, CIRC and the Big Wood community developed an innovative computer model of the basin. The model ran a series of sophisticated simulations informed by local know-how and the CIRC team’s scientific expertise. The result was a series of storylines, or science-backed thought experiments, that empowered local residents to glimpse how drivers of change—from projected temperature spikes to population growth—are likely to affect the Big Wood’s water resources and the communities that rely on them.
So, what did CIRC and the Big Wood community learn?
The project concluded that even in the face of significant change there are a number of actions—from changing farming practices to policy decisions—Big Wood community members can take to make their basin more resilient in the face of climate variability and change.
About CIRC:
The Pacific Northwest Climate Impacts Research Consortium (CIRC) is a climate-science-to-climate-action team funded by NOAA’s Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA) program, a national leader in climate science and adaptation.
CIRC team members are a mix of climate and social scientists. CIRC team members can be found throughout the Pacific Northwest, including at Oregon State University, the University of Idaho, the University of Washington, and the University of Oregon.
CIRC is hosted at Oregon State University by the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute and the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.
As part of its Community Adaptation effort, CIRC helps the Pacific Northwest become more resilient in the face of climate variability and change. CIRC’s work in Idaho’s Big Wood River Basin represents just one of these efforts.
Through working directly with communities, CIRC’s efforts have advanced both climate and social science related to climate adaptation and resilience.
