The Rad Framework
An Open-ended approach to climate adaptation
Alaska Wildlife Alliance has contributed to the development of the Resist, Accept, Direct (RAD) framework, which lays out three choices for communities and agencies to guide their climate adaptation planning. In contrast to other climate adaptation approaches (e.g., Climate-Smart, Open Standards, Scenario Planning or Structured Decision Making) that are open-ended, RAD carves up the decision space into three action-oriented bins. Three bins, or choices, are:
Resist: When we resist, our interventions are intended to maintain ecosystems in their current state or restore to a historical state. For example, on the Kenai Peninsula in southcentral Alaska, land managers resist climate warming and extreme weather events by restoring eroded stream banks, eradicating or containing invasive plant species such as Elodea or bird vetch, proactively allowing wildfire to run by creating fuel breaks around communities, and restoring landscape connectivity for wildlife with highway over- and underpasses.
Accept: When we accept, we embrace changes that cannot be feasibly resisted or directed, or that may be acceptable to society. For example, communities and agencies on the Kenai Peninsula have implicitly accepted ecological changes brought about by a warming and drying climate by simply monitoring (not managing) receding glaciers, rising tree lines, drying wetlands, and naturalized invasive species such as earthworms and common dandelions.
Direct: When we direct, our interventions are intended to guide ecosystems along the climate trajectory, perhaps because resistance is unrealistic or there is an opportunity to move toward a desirable future state. For example, after massive tree mortality brought about by an unprecedented 15-year spruce bark beetle outbreak, coupled with spring grassland wildfires, some spruce forests on the southern Kenai Peninsula are transforming into a novel monoculture of bluejoint grass with relatively low species richness. In response, some land managers have planted nonnative lodgepole pine to replace spruce, while others are considering introducing a large grazer, like bison, to help create a more diverse grassland
RAD In the news
New York Times, What to Save? Climate Change Forces Brutal Choices at National Parks by Zoe Schlanger. The Resist-Accept-Direct framework cited in the article was co-authored by AWA’s Vice President, Dr. John Morton.
The Economist, How Alaska is coping with global warming. Highlight on Dr. John Morton, AWA’s Vice President.
Yale Environment 360, As Warming Alters Alaska, Can a Key Wildlife Refuge Adapt? by Miranda Weiss. Highlight on Dr. John Morton, AWA’s Vice President.
RAD Publications
Alaska Wildlife Alliance is a co-author on the following publications:
Seasonal sonic patterns reveal phenological phases (sonophases) associated with climate change in subarctic Alaska, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2024. Mullet, T.C., A. Farina , J.M. Morton and S.R. Wilhelm. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2024.1345558.
A RADical approach to conservation in Alaska, The Wildlife Professional, 2022. Littell, J, GW Schuurman, JH Reynolds, JM Morton & N Schmitt. 16(4):26-30.
RAD fosters a new way of responding to climate change on the Kenai Peninsula, The Wildlife Professional, 2022. Thompson, LM, JM Morton, DR Magness, JL Wilkening, RA Newman & EA Beever. 16(4):31-33.
Managing for RADical ecosystem change: applying the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2021. Lynch, AJ, LM Thompson, EA Beever, AC Engman, CH Hoffmann, J Falke, ST Jackson, TJ Krabbenhoft, DJ Lawrence, D Limpinsel, RT Magill, TA Melvin, JM Morton, RA Newman, JO Peterson, MT Porath, FJ Rahel, GW Schuurman, SA Sethi & JL Wilkening. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.2377.
Responding to Ecosystem Transformation: Resist, Accept, or Direct?, Fisheries, 2021. Thompson, LM, AJ Lynch, EA Beever, DN Cole, AC Engman, J Falke, ST Jackson, TJ Krabbenhoft, DJ Lawrence, D Limpinsel, RT Magill, TA Melvin, JM Morton, RA Newman, JO Peterson, MT Porath, FJ Rahel, SA Sethi & JL Wilkening. https://doi.org/10.1002/fsh.10506.
Managing Foundations for Navigating Ecological Transformation by Resisting, Accepting, or Directing Social-Ecological Change, BioScience, 2021. Dawn R Magness, Linh Hoang, R Travis Belote, Jean Brennan, Wylie Carr, F Stuart Chapin, III, Katherine Clifford, Wendy Morrison, John M Morton, Helen R Sofaer. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biab083.
Navigating Ecological Transformation: Resist–Accept–Direct as a Path to a New Resource Management Paradigm, BioScience, 2021. Gregor W Schuurman, David N Cole, Amanda E Cravens, Scott Covington, Shelley D Crausbay, Cat Hawkins Hoffman, David J Lawrence, Dawn R Magness, John M Morton, Elizabeth A Nelson, Robin O'Malley. https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biab067
RAD Adaptive Management for Transforming Ecosystems, BioScience, 2021. Abigail J Lynch, Laura M Thompson, John M Morton, Erik A Beever, Michael Clifford, Douglas Limpinsel, Robert T Magill, Dawn R Magness, Tracy A Melvin, Robert A Newman, Mark T Porath, Frank J Rahel, Joel H Reynolds, Gregor W Schuurman, Suresh A Sethi, Jennifer L Wilkening.https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biab091.
Resist-accept-direct (RAD)— a framework for the 21st-century natural resource manager, Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/CCRP/NRR—2020/ 2213. Schuurman, G. W., C. Hawkins Hoffman, D. N. Cole, D. J. Lawrence, J. M. Morton, D. R. Magness, A. E. Cravens, S. Covington, R. O’Malley, and N. A. Fisichelli. 2020. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/nrr-2283597.
Alaska Wildlife Alliance. 2022. Approaches to adapting to Alaska’s rapidly warming climate: Workshop report. Workshop held virtually February 23-25, 2022. https://www.akwildlife.org/workshop
