Background:  Fish and Wildlife Service regional offices are directed
to organize a climate forum. In order to keep the carbon footprint
of such a forum small, the Region 3 forum will occur in partnership
with IU-Bloomington as a distance-based opportunity for both
students and FWS personnel. Local guest speakers will attend the
class at IU-Bloomington. Guest speakers who are not in the local
area will join the class through audio/PowerPoint with video hookups
wherever possible. Class participants from Fish and Wildlife Service
will join the class remotely, as may IUPUI students.

Class format:  Guest speakers will give 40-60 min presentations and
lead discussions from 2:30-3:45. We will break briefly to air brain
cells and reconvene (with snacks ?? ) from 4-5:15 for additional
discussion, including discussion of readings related to the
speaker’s topic. Additional agency and industry guests may join
discussions.
	Grades will be based on participation, on 2-3 p briefs
(approximately 5/semester) written during the course of the
semester, and on a final paper, which will constitute the final
exercise for the course (i.e., no final exam). IU faculty and FWS
decision makers will provide feedback on written assignments.

Approximate outline, subject to considerable tweaking but not major
changes:

Week 1: Background on the global carbon cycle and climate change
	Fourth IPCC report

Weeks 2 - 3: Climate change in the Midwest
	Observed climate changes
	Forecasting climate change
	Reliability of climate change projections

Weeks 4 - 6: Direct effect of climate change on fish and wildlife
(phenology, range shifts of wildlife species and habitat)
	Observed changes in relevant areas worldwide
	Observed changes in the Midwest
	Changes likely to occur given forecasted climate change

Weeks 7 - 8:	Anticipated secondary effects of climate change on
fish and wildlife resources, such as biofuels development and carbon
sequestration
•	Observed changes (land conversion for ethanol and other
biofuels, changes in property values, enrollments in Farm Bill
programs)
•	Methods for projecting changes
•	Projections, what and how reliable are they?

Weeks 9 - 10: Existing and proposed climate change and related
policies and legislation globally

Week 11-12: Existing and proposed climate change and related
policies and legislation nationally and regionally: Implications for
fish and wildlife in the Midwest
		Agriculture, Coal mining, Industry

Weeks 13-14: What can fish and wildlife managers do now?
•	monitoring change (e.g., phenology networks)
•	overcoming geopolitical limitations
•	setting management objectives in an uncertain environment
•	adaptive management

Week 15: Concluding discussion