UND professor joins first National Nature Assessment

Team of experts selected to take stock of America’s wildlife and ecosystems includes UND Ecologist Bob Newman

“Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone.”

According to Bob Newman, professor of biology at UND, these lyrics from Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” are a sort of  unofficial anthem of the National Nature Assessment (NNA). Announced by the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy last year, the NNA will be the first comprehensive evaluation of the United States’ biodiversity and natural ecosystems.

And as the NNA announced in April, Newman will co-author a chapter of the United States Global Change Research Program’s (USGCRP) report. He will collaborate with experts across the country to deliver an evidence-based overview of America’s wildlife and ecosystems, evaluate emerging trends and identify the most effective strategies to mitigate the challenges posed by the nation’s rapidly changing natural landscape.

“The idea with the National Nature Assessment is that we’re trying to figure out what we’ve got before it’s gone,” Newman said.

This National Nature Assessment will be the first of its kind, following the model of the National Climate Assessment, a similar USGCRP report published every four years since 2000. While climate change is undoubtedly a component of the NNA, the report will look more broadly at the health and trends of natural ecosystems and their impact on humans, Newman explained.

An ecologist ‘since I was 4’

An ecological and wildlife research specialist, Newman has had a lifelong interest in natural sciences.

“We all have particular, personal relationships to the systems that we’re working in. I tell people I’ve been an ecologist since I was 4 years old,” Newman said. “My siblings were always looking at the vendors on Fisherman’s Wharf, and I was always looking underneath the boardwalk at the things washing up from the ocean.”

As this trajectory — which took him from observing critters in the sand to teaching ecology at UND — suggests, Newman’s participation in the NNA is the culmination of years of research. But a scientific background isn’t necessary to appreciate nature’s impact, he noted. The report intends to offer a comprehensive overview of America’s ecosystems and biodiversity, including their interconnectedness to Americans’ health, heritage and economy, elements that affect everyone.

“Part of what we’re looking at is how changes in nature are going to impact humans, and there’s a lot of research that shows human health depends on healthy ecosystems in ways we don’t always realize,” he said. “We depend on healthy nature for clean water, clean air, food and even our mental health.”

Newman will co-author “Status, Trends, and Future Projections of Drivers of Change of Nature in the U.S.,” one of the report’s 11 chapters. The chapter will focus on the factors contributing to the nation’s continued ecological changes, many of which have repercussions worldwide.

For example, drivers such as climate change and drought have led to pervasive bark beetle infestations in Canadian forests, making them more susceptible to wildfires, Newman said. The fires, in turn, decrease air quality, which many North Dakotans recognize when smoke fills the air on summer days.

It’s crucial to trace the consequences to their root causes, Newman said. We may be able to get rid of the beetles, but the underlying issues, such as global temperatures and drier summers, can continue to cause problems without straightforward solutions.

“We’re looking at the ways that climate change and other factors are showing up in all of these different areas. We often refer to these as ‘wicked problems,’ because there aren’t solutions to them that will make everybody happy,” he said.

“So, it’s important that we provide policymakers with the best available research to inform the decisions the government and communities make.”

Guiding, not dictating

The NNA’s multidisciplinary approach will also incorporate other disciplines in chapters focusing on topics such as nature’s relationship to the economy and its importance to cultural heritage. Moreover, the NNA is not just about contributing scientific knowledge, Newman added. It’s also about effective communication.

“One of the things I stress to my students is that you have to consider how your information will be used,” he said. “With the NNA, our goal is to provide a clear picture of the state of nature and the consequences of different policy decisions. We want it to be easy to understand, and we want the message to be clear. But it’s about informing and guiding, not dictating.”

Newman said his chapter began meeting in mid-May and will hold regular meetings until the NNA’s projected publication in 2026. Their first deadline, submitting a draft of the chapter’s five key themes and messages, is already upon them.

“We had this initial panic. We were all thinking, ‘This is moving really fast,’” Newman said with a laugh.

However, he’s optimistic about their progress and excited to see how things will come together over the next two years. He’s especially pleased to represent the Great Plains on a project with such an immense scope.

“A lot of these groups tend to be filled with people from bigger research universities, and sometimes people from the Northern Plains get forgotten about,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of people doing great research at UND, and I think it’s great that we have a presence here.”