Blueprint Development

The Blueprint for a Resilient Cascadia was developed through a collaborative, transparent and inclusive co-production process

Our collaborators

Pie chart showing breakdown of collaborators on the Blueprint. The pie chart shows that there are 48 different collaborators and organizations. Tribal and First Nations, nonprofits, and provincial and state partners are most represented among the collaborators. Science and academic partners, federal partners and funders follow, with private partners representing the smallest piece of the pie.

 
 

The Blueprint development process engaged dozens of land and wildlife decision-makers and other conservation stakeholders from Washington and British Columbia. Participants represented a diverse suite of partners, including federal, state and provincial governments; tribes and First Nations; and nonprofit organizations. The distribution of Blueprint participants’ affiliations is shown in the figure to the left.

Our theory of change

The Theory of Change that guides the Blueprint identifies five socio-political enabling conditions that are critical for implementing transboundary climate adaptation for Cascadia’s natural systems: capacity, coordination, motivation, authority and funding.

This Theory of Change was developed through a series of workshops with the Cascadia Partner Forum’s Climate Adaptation Core Team.

A figure capturing the theory of change for the Blueprint for a Resilient Cascadia. The figure shows two groups of factors lined up vertically on either side of a circle that says “Climate Resilient Cascadia.” One group of factors includes five socio-political factors, and the other includes five ecological factors. The socio-political factors are capacity, coordination, motivation, authority and funding. The ecological factors are core areas, ecologically connected, biodiverse, resilient to disturbance and refugia.

Our process

Participants engaged in three working groups that approached development of the Blueprint from three complementary angles. One group focused on identifying strategies and actions needed to achieve the socio-political enabling conditions at the scale of the whole landscape. The other two groups identified additional actions needed to effectively achieve the enabling conditions for two priority conservation targets - salmonids and carnivores.

  • snow-capped mountains and a crystal blue lake

    Whole Landscapes

    Facilitated by Meade Krosby

  • a bright orange fish tail in the foreground as a group of salmon swim

    Salmonids

    Facilitated by Carly Vynne

  • close-up of a wolverine

    Carnivores

    Facilitated by Bill Gaines

 These working groups were supported by the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington. Together, they drew on literature reviews, expert interviews and participant experience and expertise to identify key strategies and actions for addressing socio-political barriers to effective adaptation for Cascadia’s natural systems.

Our timeline

A figure illustrating the timeline for the project. The graphic for the timeline shows a line of five horizontal boxes with an arrow pointing from left to right. Each box contains an activity that is nestled under a year or timeframe. The text shows that from 2019-2020 we worked on engagement and process design. In 2021, we piloted the working groups. In January 2022 we launched the products from these working groups. In the next phases of the project, we will develop products for the full conservation targets, then move toward implementation and finally monitoring and evaluation.

The Blueprint is being developed comprehensively but delivered in phases. This process will result in a collaborative, living climate adaptation strategy at the regional scale. The process of building and sharing these pieces is as important as the product.

The first phase of the project, which included developing the Blueprint and the Resilient Cascadia Action Library, was completed in January 2022.