Starting with the upper left-hand bubble, working through the questions in the decision tree can help determine how much effort to put into climate change analysis for any given consultation. For initial screening, existing climate change summaries such as the National Climate Assessment (NCA), regional inputs into the NCA, or regional summaries prepared by Federal climate hubs are sufficient. For more detailed information, talk with regional or national FWS climate support staff or check out the resources of this website.

The more the answers for a specific consultation fall toward the right side of the scales, the more effort should be invested into the climate analysis.