The Resist-Accept-Direct framework for climate-adaptive landscape management requires mapping diverse priorities and desired futures across jurisdictions

Climate change is driving rapid, often irreversible ecological transformations, challenging traditional land management approaches.In fire-prone systems like the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) in the western United States, increasing wildfire severity and ecological novelty in forest ecosystems demand adaptive strategies across jurisdictions.The Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework offers a flexible structure for navigating such transformations by providing three response options: resisting change, accepting transformation, or directing ecosystems toward desired states.To explore RAD at a landscape scale in the GYE, we conducted 20 interviews with federal agencies and a regional non-profit organization to (1) assess management objectives and desired futures related to wildfires, forest ecosystems, and ecosystem services, and (2) use the RAD framework to determine where and how these priorities align or diverge across different agencies.Our interviews revealed that management units share a common goal of promoting a resilient landscape, and current management actions primarily emphasize resistance to ecological change, often due to institutional mandates and policy constraints.However, we found an openness to implementing a mix of actions that resist, accept, and direct change under increasing climate uncertainty.For example, managers currently resist change in whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis) and sagebrush systems and are thinking about how they can direct change in Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) forests.Our findings highlight the importance of aligning values and knowledge about ecological changes to inform context-specific RAD strategies.Differences in ecosystem service priorities across agencies and climate uncertainty shape divergent responses, underscoring the need to explicitly identify values.These represent important first steps for coordinating RAD responses across a landscape scale: mapping values, desired futures, and ecological realities across jurisdictions can inform implementation of a RAD-informed portfolio approach that aligns resist, accept, and direct strategies with local ecological conditions, institutional capacities, and management objectives.

Climate change adaptation · stakeholder priorities · Forest Management and Policy · Land Use and Ecosystem Services · Sustainability and Climate Change Governance