Southeast Climate Hub to Aid Landowners 'SERCH'-ing for Management Advice
Raleigh, North Carolina, the state's capital, is well known as a hub of cultural, educational, technological, and political activity. Now the city is gaining new attention as a hub of climate change knowledge and assistance. On February 5, 2014, US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the formation of seven Regional Hubs for Risk Adaptation and Mitigation to Climate Change. These Climate Hubs will provide science-based information and outreach to help farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners manage resources in the face of climate change and related threats, such as wildfire, invasive species, drought, and extreme weather. Eastern Threat Center research ecologist Steve McNulty is the Director of the USDA Southeast Regional Climate Hub, or SERCH, based at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. "The main objective is to take the good science that's already been done, make sure it gets converted into usable land management practices, and get that information to the landowner," says McNulty. SERCH is a collaborative effort involving staff from USDA's Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and Agricultural Research Service as well as numerous partnering organizations. A SERCH "sub hub" located in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, will be focused on issues relevant to resource management in the Caribbean. Read more in CompassLive and the USDA blog, and listen to interviews with Steve McNulty in podcasts from WUNC and WCOM.
