摘要：Climate change will increasingly challenge ecosystem managers' ability to protect speciesdiversity and maintain ecosystem function. In response, the National Park Service and the United StatesForest Service have promoted climate change adaptation as a management strategy to increase ecosystemresilience to changing climatic conditions. However, very few examples of completed adaptation plans orprojects exist. Here, we examine managers' perceptions of internal and external institutional barriers toimplementing adaptation strategies. We conducted semi-structured interviews (n=32) with regionalmanagers and agency staff in six park and forest units in Washington State. We found that internal barriers,including unclear mandates from superiors and bureaucratic rules and procedures, are perceived as greaterconstraints than external barriers related to existing federal environmental laws. Respondents perceivedprocess-oriented environmental laws, such as the National Environmental Policy Act, as enablers ofadaptation strategies, and prescriptive laws, such as the Endangered Species Act, as barriers. Our resultssuggest that climate change adaptation is more often discussed than pursued, and that institutional barrierswithin agencies limit what can be accomplished
