Conservation Biology Institute is working with the U.S. Forest Service and Oregon State University to develop the Climate Smart Restoration Tool (CSRT), an interactive web-based application that allows the user to match current seed sources with future climate conditions.
Natural resource managers must match the climatic adaptability of their seed sources to the climatic conditions of their restoration sites in order to better ensure successful long-term restoration outcomes. There is an urgent need to adopt climate-smart approaches to ecosystem management, but progress has been slow because landowners and natural resource managers lack readily available, site-specific information on which to act. Existing scientific information has been unavailable at the scale needed by natural resource managers and restoration practitioners.
The CSRT will be designed to (1) easily incorporate new scientific information (e.g., climate projections, physiological thresholds) and (2) allow users to select parameters of interest (e.g., climate change scenarios, and time periods). Climate associated with existing ecoregions and seed zones will be displayed so that natural resource managers can choose the appropriate seed source for their restoration site, or decide where seed from a particular source can be planted in the future. Managers will also be able to view spatial maps of current and future climate, seed zones, ecoregions, and other contextual map layers. The CSRT will provide the ability to download outputs of the tool to PowerPoint slides, PDF documents, and GeoTIFF files in order to share those results with others and perform additional analysis within desktop data processing environments.
Because of the uncertainty in climate change projections, the CSRT is primarily intended as a planning and educational tool. It can be used to explore alternative future conditions, assess risk, and plan potential responses. The tool allows the user to control many input parameters so the results are appropriate for the management practices, climate change assumptions, and risk tolerance of the user.
The CSRT will be implemented following the same method used to develop and publish the Seedlot Selection Tool (SST; https://seedlotselectiontool.org/sst/; Figure 1). We will develop a fully functional and widely available version of the CSRT using the latest open-source software and incorporating mechanisms for its long-term maintenance. We will work collaboratively with key stakeholders to ensure that the application is effective in meeting their needs, using a variety of mechanisms including webinars and targeted outreach.
Screenshot of the Seedlot Selection Tool (SST), a forest-centric tool that helps natural resource managers match forest tree seed sources and climate conditions at planting sites.
CBI partnered with The Applied Climate Science Lab (ACSL) at the University of Idaho (UI) to expand functionality and data integration between the Northwest Knowledge Network (NKN) and Data Basin. These improvements better enable users to explore and interpret climate-related data, and incorporate that information into their projects and landscape-level or regional planning efforts. Specifically, these improvements allow users to import THREDDS map and data services into Data Basin for visualization. THREDDS is a data hosting system often used for climate-related data.
CBI also created a conterminous US Climate Console that includes simulated climate change impacts on vegetation cover, carbon cycle and fire occurrence and displays both MACA climate projections and MC2 vegetation model results in a web application similar to CBI’s California Climate Console. The Climate Console lowers the barriers to exploring and interpreting climate projections and impacts, and makes this information more readily available for natural resource managers. This tool will enable managers to more easily incorporate near and longer-term climate projections into their resource management planning. It supports making decisions about when to plant restoration species on a site post-fire and areas that are likely to undergo significant longer-term impacts from climate change.
A Regional Conservation Investment Strategy (RCIS) is a voluntary, non-regulatory, and non-binding conservation assessment that includes information and analyses relating to the conservation of focal species, their associated habitats, and the conservation status of the RCIS land base. The RCIS program, which is administered by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, was created by state bill AB 2087. This conservation strategy is intended to guide conservation investments and advance mitigation in RCIS areas. CBI provided scientific and technical support to ICF International, who led the development of a pilot RCIS for the Antelope Valley in LA County. Implementation of this strategy is intended to sustain and enhance focal species and their habitats in the face of climate change and other stressors such as habitat loss and fragmentation.
Working with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Department of Transportation, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and other governmental and non-governmental partners, CBI is reviewing the current state of knowledge and is developing a wildlife and habitat connectivity blueprint for the State of Oregon, including the plan for generating a number of useful map-based products and online tools that will address planning at multiple scales across the state. This initial phase is expected to conclude in January 2018 with testing of the blueprint being carried out for a subset of the state (Coast Range and Klamath ecoregions) through different funding.
The Conservation Biology Institute will partner with The US Fish and Wildlife Service, Refuges Lands Division and North Pacific LCC, to develop an interactive web-based mapping tool to support the Willamette Valley Conservation Study (WVCS). This tool will be targeted to conservation partners in the region, as well as the general public. The primary objective of this web-mapping tool is to serve as a communication and data exploration tool for priority areas identified within the WVCS, and will allow users to understand the key characteristics of each priority area and better understand why each area was selected.
This tool will be developed and managed by CBI, alongside and embedded in the North Pacific LCC’s Conservation Planning Atlas (http://wvcs.apps.nplcc.databasin.org/).
CBI is playing a key role in improving the health and resilience of wetland ecosystems in Southern California in a partnership with the Southern California Wetlands Recovery Project (SCWRP). The newly-released Marsh Adaptation Planning Tool provides data access and decision-support technology for SCWRP’s new Regional Strategy 2018, a recovery plan for tidal and non-tidal wetlands from Point Conception to the Mexican border.
Above: The Marsh Adaptation Planning Tool homepage, with access to the Regional Strategy 2018, the spatial data that informed its development, and a special tool for planning projects that will contribute to its Work Plan.
Above: The MAPT’s “Quick-Start Map” that allows the user to explore Southern California’s wetlands. Layers depicting historical and present-day wetlands, important transitions zones, and other features can be turned on and off for quick comparison. The map and its data layers can be downloaded for use in GIS, or saved and used with any other layers in Data Basin.
Above: The Marsh Adaptation Planning Tool’s project planning utility, where project proponents can use Regional Strategy 2018 spatial data, habitat types, and goals and objectives to inform the planning of a project and apply to have it included in the SCWRP Work Plan.
The Micronesia Challenge is a commitment by the Republic of Palau, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated State of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands to preserve the marine and terrestrial resources that are crucial to the survival of the Pacific traditions, cultures and livelihoods. The overall goal of the Micronesia Challenge is to effectively conserve at least 30% of the near-shore marine resources and 20% of the terrestrial resources across Micronesia by 2020. The USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) team, regional partners and CBI developed the Micronesia Challenge Regional Terrestrial Monitoring Initiative tool (mcterrestrialmeasures.org) to allow users to visualize the spatial data from the Micronesia Challenge monitoring effort by regional framework indicator(s) that measure the status of managed conservation areas set aside under the program. Forest data were collected between 2003 and 2018 and are now being used to determine the status and trends in forest area, forest health, understory vegetation, biomass, and carbon storage.
CBI has partnered with the Paulson Institute (PI), the Foreign Economic Cooperation Office (FECO) of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China (MEP), and the State of California to provide FECO with an Environmental Risk Screening Tool that will help guide Chinese international investment projects. The overarching goal of the tool is to significantly reduce negative environmental impacts as the result of Chinese development projects around the world.
The screening tool will include interactive mapping of biodiversity and environmental data against which potential development projects can be evaluated. The tool will include a standard Biodiversity Impact Analysis using a set of internationally recognized datasets (e.g., Key Biodiversity Areas, Critical Natural Habitat, Alliance for Zero Extinction sites, and Protected Areas). The tool will also include regional and country-level biodiversity and environmental data in priority countries. The tool is not available for viewing at present. But here is a powerpoint describing its capabilities.
CBI is supporting the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) as it works to develop a strategic, comprehensive approach for conducting inventory, monitoring, and assessments that respond to the priorities of the whole agency instead of individual or programmatic needs. Many of today’s management decisions require a landscape approach to acquiring and analyzing information about forests and rangelands. Therefore an effective inventory, monitoring and assessment system requires working across organizational boundaries to determine common goals, avoid duplication and build on common information needs. CBI will assess existing data collection, management and storage methods of the USFS and make recommendations regarding the relationship agency data has with current decision support processes. This work was completed for The Wayne National Forest in Ohio and is in process of completion for the Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho.
CBI is supporting the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) in its work to develop a strategic, comprehensive approach for conducting inventory, monitoring, and assessments that respond to the priorities of the whole agency instead of individual or programmatic needs. Many of today’s management decisions require a landscape approach to acquiring and analyzing information about forests and rangelands. Therefore an effective inventory, monitoring and assessment system requires working across organizational boundaries to determine common goals, avoid duplication and build on common information needs. CBI will provide support to assess existing data collection, management and storage methods for the USFS Region 8 and make recommendations regarding the relationship agency data has with current decision support processes.
While the U.S. Forest Service National Forest Review projects are focused at the individual Forest level, the Census of Inventory, Monitoring, and Assessment Activities is focused on Region 8, which encompasses 15 Forests and covers 13 states in the southeastern United States.
