Scientists working to find ways to fight global warming are enlisting a powerful partner: Mother Nature herself.

A new report from the Wildlife Conservation Society, “14 Solutions to Problems Climate Change Poses for Conservation,” details inventive “real-world” solutions where conservationists work with nature to address fallout from climate change, including rising temperatures, decreasing water availability, increasing risk of floods and wildfires, rising sea levels and changing land use and human behavior.

Some of the climate-informed projects:

• In Montana, in areas too degraded to support beaver or where landowners are unwilling to accept them, scientists are installing beaver-like structures, weaving willow stems and branches to help slow the flow of streams, rebuild sediments and boost water storage.

And beaver have been returned to landscapes in Utah and Washington where they once thrived. The dams they build slow runoff, increase riparian habitat and store water above and below ground, helping to offset declines brought about by climate change.

• Oyster reefs – “living shorelines” – are being built along coastal marshes in South Carolina to reduce the energy of boat wakes and tidal flows that erode the delicate habitat. The reefs promote sediment accumulations, raising the level of coastal ecosystems, and protecting them from rising sea levels.

• Trout and other cold-water species in southwest Montana are being provided with access to higher-elevation streams through the removal of fish passage barriers, improving riparian vegetation and securing of in-stream flow rights. Low elevation streams are expected to warm beyond optimal conditions for native trout.

“These solutions are on the leading edge of a field where traditional conservation work is no longer sustainable or strategic in light of climate change,” WCS climate adaptation fund program director Darren Long said.

WCS’s Climate Adaptation Fund, made possible with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, helps underwrite innovative ways to help wildlife and ecosystems adapt to climate change.

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