North Atlantic LCC Wildlife Action Plan Assistance:

Mapping Species and Habitats across State Boundaries

Steve Fuller & Lori PelechConservation Design Specialist

North Atlantic LCCU.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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Objective NE Conservation Synthesis for State Wildlife Actions Plans

• To synthesize regional conservation information into a consistent format that states can easily access and incorporate into their Wildlife Actions Plan revisions

• To this information easily accessible to states and conservation partners.

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How does NALCC help the Northeast States with their Wildlife Action Plans?

•We compiled species data for the “RSGCN” •We compiled data layers on relative condition of habitats•We are building a national network of information platforms•We fund and negotiate data sharing agreements•We resolve data compatibility issues across state lines

•We are not here to make decisions about Wildlife action Plans or SGCN data, but we can provide assistance•We can “crunch” big datasets to help analyze the distribution, abundance and condition of populations, species, and habitats•We agree to put sensitive results back in State protection•We aim to help satisfy the 8 Elements of Wildlife Action Plans

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Why is a regional context important ?

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Missing Data?

The image shown is for demonstration only and does not represent actual data

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Uneven effort?

The image shown is for demonstration only and does not represent actual data

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OMGA nice data set?

The image shown is for demonstration only and does not represent actual data

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Rarity?

Severe decline?

The image shown is for demonstration only and does not represent actual data

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The image shown is for demonstration only and does not represent actual data

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What is the role of LCCs in Wildlife Action Plans?

We want to create baseline landscape conservation science for voluntary use in Wildlife Action Plans:

•Data layers summarizing environmental conditions that describe the status of species and habitats

•Data layers summarized at multiple scales to describe the collective status of species and habitats within important geographies or jurisdictions

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WE HAVE ASSEMBLED THE DATA TO DO ALL THESE THINGS.

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Scie

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plex

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Time to Adoption

Limited adoption!

Useful Science

We think about science utility and adoptability every day.

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What is the role of LCCs in Wildlife Action Plans?

•After 10 months negotiating agreements, acquiring data, and cleaning it up…

•one week we summarized the security, fragmentation, connectivity, and many other factors for over 300,000 records of top priority Northeast RSGCNs

•Building a multi-state Conservation GIS involves a lot of “grunt” work…

•It is the only way to see the big picture!!

•We are here to provide capacity to assemble consistent data across boundaries and provide useful analyses to our partners

•We need states Wildlife Action Planners to decide what to do with landscape analysis results!

Getting data is the hard part.

NE Terrestrial Habitat MapA consistent classification and map across 13 states

Above Zoom-in:Pitch Pine BarrenAcidic SwampRocky Oak WoodlandPine-Oak ForestApp Hemlock-N Hardwood Forest

SizeGradient

TemperatureGeology

Possible Metrics for each Terrestrial and Wetland Type

Biotic and Geophysical Indicators•Richness of rare species•TNC Portfolio•SWAP PortfolioEcological Setting • Size of patch and core Area• Size of Block • Number of landforms / Ecological land units • Connectedness of patch• Distance /Adjacencies to other patches Human Modification• Type and number of bounding and internal roads.• Fragmentation index• Housing Density Pressure • Landscape context / Isolation index• Degree of Cutting (FIA – types only)• Age/Size class statistics (FIA – types only)• Risk of Pollution (acid ep, ozone)Securement•% of Secured Land by GAP Status•% of Secured Land by Ownership Classes•Secured Land by % Interest Types

Completeness Bar as of 4/5/2013: 0% 100%

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Habitat Maps

% Conserved

Securement

Habitat Names

Habitat Descriptions

State Crosswalks

Places to Visit

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Associated Wildlife

Habitat GuidePage 1

• Map• Description (NS)• Similar Habitats• Ecological Setting• Securement• Wildlife

– Birds– Herptiles– Mammals– (From Literature)

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this is a rat this is a snake

What do landscape data tell us about species?

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this is a rat this is a snake

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this is a rat this is a snake

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this is a rat this is a snake this is a dead rat

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NE Regional SGCN 538 SpeciesA dataset of 300,000 species “presences” across 13 states

What are the applications of a multi-state habitat

classification and a species presence dataset?Data-driven best-available science!!

Raw Data Points:NatureServeState DataBird AtlaseseBirdResearchers

Species data hotspots

QUANTIFY the relative condition of populations, patches….Then prioritize across species, habitats, and landscapes

…more efficient than QUALITATIVE rankings!!!

Connectivity

∑ …of factors ABCD for each point or “patch”

= index of relative condition of a population or patch of habitat Resiliency

Integrity

•RSGCN•T&E•Surrogate species

Vulnerability

Security

Development

Habitat Class

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Landscape conditions summarized for each point…

•Relative condition of populations•Relative condition of habitat patches

Landscape condition summarized across points…

•Prioritize Species•Prioritize Habitats•Prioritize Locations•Prioritize Actions

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What is the role of LCCs in Wildlife Action Plans?

SWAP CHAPTER TEMPLATE

Prioritizing Actions

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•Reports and data will be packaged so that they can be used voluntarily in SWAP revisions

•Each state will choose how to use our results in collaboration with their partners

•Reports and data will be made accessible via the NALCC web portal

•Regional tools will allow states to plan locally for species needs in the context of their regional distributions

•The regional context may help prioritize decisions about which things NOT to work on.

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•Emphasis on State-Federal collaboration in the Northeast Conservation Framework•We know we NEED to collaborate managing BIG datasets is a challenge

•We schedule joint meetings & fund complementary projects to States•NEAFWA Directors asked us to help with information management and synthesize landscape analysis•We created capacity in FWS, WMI and TNC to help states

How do States and NALCC stay connected?