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The Colorado Plateau has abundant oil, gas, and alternative energy potential. This energy potential is scattered among a patchwork of land ownership, with private, tribal, and public lands being actively developed for energy extraction. Elements of biodiversity (e.g., listed and sensitive plant and animal species) are distributed among all land tenures, yet the laws protecting them can vary as a function of land tenure. It is imperative to understand the spatial distributions of threatened endangered, and sensitive species in relation to land tenure to preserve habitat and conserve species populations in areas undergoing energy development. We developed species distribution models and spatial conservation optimization frameworks to explore the interactions among land ownership, existing and potential energy extraction, and biodiversity. Four management scenarios were tested to quantify how different approaches to energy extraction may impact rare plant distributions. Results show that incorporating risk and land tenure in spatially optimized frameworks it is possible to facilitate the long-term viability of rare plant species. The scenarios developed here represent a different attitude towards the value of rare plants and the risk of energy development. Results gives insight into the financial consequences of rare species protection and quantifies the biodiversity costs of energy development across landscapes. 

Manifestations of global warming in the Arctic include amplifications of temperature increases and a general increase in precipitation. Although topography complicates the pattern of these changes in regions such as Alaska, the amplified warming and general increase in precipitation are already apparent in observational data. Changes in snow cover are complicated by the opposing effects of warming and increased precipitation. In this study, high-resolution (0.25°) outputs from simulations by the Community Atmosphere Model, version 5, were analyzed for changes in snow under stabilized global warming scenarios of 1.5 °C, 2.0 °C and 3.0 °C. Future changes in snowfall are characterized by a north–south gradient over Alaska and an east–west gradient over Eurasia. Increased snowfall is projected for northern Alaska, northern Canada and Siberia, while milder regions such as southern Alaska and Europe receive less snow in a warmer climate. Overall, the results indicate that the majority of the land area poleward of 55°N will experience a reduction in snow. The approximate threshold of global warming for a statistically significant increase in temperature over 50% of the pan-Arctic land area is 1.5 °C. The corresponding threshold for precipitation is approximately 2.0 °C. The global warming threshold for the loss of high-elevation snow in Alaska is approximately 2.0 °C. The results imply that limiting global warming to the Paris Agreement target is necessary to prevent significant changes in winter climates in Alaska and the Arctic.