Rancher Experiences and Perceptions of Climate Change in the Western United States

Ranchers in the western United States have long managed working landscapes prone to drought and wildfires. As the frequency and intensity of climate change impacts increase, ranchers will be front-line workers in the climate crisis—both adapting to climate impacts and managing landscapes with mitigation potential. This Forum paper first summarizes recent peer-reviewed research on ranchers and climate change in the western United States and then offers conceptual clarification of climate change adaptation based on this empirical research. Many ranchers remain unconvinced by climate science and express skepticism about long-term and anthropogenic climate change, though this may change as climate extremes intensify. Researchers working with ranchers often avoid climate change terminology, instead focusing on impacts, especially drought. Ranchers adjust their land and livestock management practices, as well as livelihood strategies, to cope with weather variability. Ranchers identify increasing management flexibility and diversifying ranch income as key adaptation strategies. While studies often focus on how to transition ranchers from reactive and toward proactive adaptation planning, few ranchers are actively planning for climatic change. Yet in this ranching context, many practices that begin as reactive coping strategies become longer-term adaptations as the impact, such as drought or recurrent wildfire smoke, persists. As ranchers observe positive outcomes of short-term adaptations or are unable to return to previous strategies, reactive coping strategies become proactive. We provide a conceptual clarification of adaptation in ranching systems, forwarding adaptation as a process, inclusive of a continuum from coping actions to more transformative adaptation strategies. Centering ranchers’ experiences, perceptions, and responses related to climate change can help land managers, agricultural advisors, and policy makers increase the pace and scale of adaptation and mitigation in range systems.