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Many tools have been generated in recent decades to support decision-makers in understanding and acting on climate science, causing stakeholders in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) to repeatedly express the need for guidance when selecting climate resilience tools. The Climate and Resilience Community of Practice (CoP), Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GOMA), and the Northern Gulf of Mexico Sentinel Site Cooperative (Cooperative) developed and implemented an end-user driven process for tool creation. Research has suggested that integrating target end-users throughout tool development improves the probability a tool will be utilized, yet there is little practical guidance available on how to successfully design and implement an end-user driven tool development process. In this study, an end-user driven process and results from implementing the process during tool development are presented. Challenges, successful approaches, and lessons learned to support future tool development, especially for tools focused on sharing climate science are identified. Guidance is provided on needed expertise, timelines for engagement with target end-users, and methods on how to solicit, analyze, and assimilate end-user needs, perspectives, and priorities into a final product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Gulf TREE, a climate resilience tool, saw differences in how it was adopted by different users. • Academic and non-profit users appear to have other pathways for finding climate resilience tools. • Many users appeared to use Gulf TREE between two and three times over the course of the year. • Web tracking analytics, such as Google Analytics can be adapted to better estimate number of uses. • Highly ranked usefulness, usability, and intention to use a tool did not guarantee tool adoption. Increasingly, climate researchers are pressured to generate products and tools from their research that support informed decision-making for increased social and environmental resilience. Despite the goal of these tools to integrate climate science into decision-making, little follow-up study is conducted after climate resilience tools are released to understand their effectiveness or application. It is important as limited resources across federal, state, local, and private sectors are invested in the development of climate resilience tools to understand their efficacy at achieving their intended purpose(s). This study leveraged Gulf TREE, a climate resilience tool released in 2018, to assess diffusion and adoption by intended users for intended purposes. Strategic efforts to enhance Gulf TREE via stakeholder engagement during development and positive evaluations prior to tool release, suggested there would be a high rate of adoption across all potential end-users; however, an end-user's intention to use a tool does not guarantee implementation. To expand the body of knowledge around climate resilience tool development, diffusion, and adoption, the authors explored the following research objectives: 1) Assess if end-users are adopting Gulf TREE; 2) Assess if end-users are adopting Gulf TREE for the intended purpose of finding climate change resilience tools; 3) Assess if end-users from different stakeholder categories are adopting Gulf TREE similarly. The study successfully determined that the climate resilience tool, Gulf TREE, was being adopted for its intended purposes. There were not sufficient data for statistical comparisons of use between stakeholder categories; however, general trends provided some indication of different stakeholder types utilizing Gulf TREE with different frequencies and for different purposes. Further, the study identified variability among sectors for how Gulf TREE was integrated into their existing suite of tools, with federal government and Sea Grant stakeholders using Gulf TREE as their primary resource versus academia and non-profit who appeared to have alternatives on which they continued to rely. Finally, this study identified that usability and usefulness may not be good indicators of tool adoption. This study expands the limited peer-reviewed assessments of a climate resilience tool's use. Continuing to develop this body of knowledge will allow for a better understanding of what constitutes a successful or effective climate resilience tool, how to improve current and future climate resilience tools, and how to best utilize limited resources when attempting to integrate climate science into decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]