Interior Department seeks climate change advisers

The Interior Department is creating a panel of outside experts to help steer its scientific work on the effects of climate change on natural resources.

The department, in a notice to be published Thursday, will seek nominations for the new, roughly 25-member “Advisory Committee on Climate Change and Natural Resource Science.”

The experts will advise the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Climate Change and Wildlife Science Center (NCCWSC) and the Interior's network of regional Climate Science Centers.

The notice, to be published in Thursday’s Federal Register, states that the committee will include members from federal, state and local governments, scientific and conservation groups, academics, Native American tribes, landowners, and businesses.

The group’s mission is to provide input on the “contents of a national strategy identifying key science priorities to advance management of natural resources in the face of climate change.”

It will also provide advice on ensuring scientific integrity and quality of the NCCWSC’s work.

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