Kenogami-Ogoki Forest Conservation Planning in Ontario, Canada

CBI is providing scientific and technical support to Greenpeace Canada and AV Terrace Bay as they work together to maintain the ecological integrity of the Kenogami-Ogoki Forests in Ontario, Canada while providing a sustainable wood supply to the AV Terrace Bay mill and protecting cultural values of First Nations peoples.

There are two major, interrelated components of the project. First, CBI is examining a series of important aspects of woodland caribou conservation in the region, which has been a major focus throughout boreal Canada for a number of years as ongoing development is continually eroding woodland caribou habitat resulting in serious declines in some populations. Using data provided by the Ontario government, CBI is attempting to identify key caribou activity areas, regional movement patterns, and crucial habitat.

CBI is also creating a series of risk-based protected areas scenarios by defining areas of high landscape value and high biological value. High biological value is determined by considering representation of native ecosystems, overall forest values, concentrations of rare species, wetlands, and vital woodland caribou habitat.

Upon development of the scenarios, CBI will facilitate a discussion to review the trade-offs of the different scenarios between AV Terrace Bay and Greenpeace Canada, using Data Basin to support the discussion given the spatially explicit nature of the effort. In the end, the hope is to forge a land management agreement between the two parties that will allow for sustained economic development of the forest resources while protecting the ecological integrity of the region (including woodland caribou viability) and cultural values of the local First Nations peoples.

CBI is working with Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) and The Bureau of Land Management to develop decision support models to inform current conservation initiatives in Utah and throughout the Colorado Plateau ecoregion. Based on previous REA (Rapid Ecoregional Assessment) work, CBI is updating the existing terrestrial landscape and aquatic intactness models for the Colorado Plateau ecoregion as well as updating habitat profiles for a number of identified conservation elements of interest (largely native species and communities). CBI is extending the models to cover the entire state of Utah as well as fine-tuning the models to be more effective at answering different management questions over smaller geographic areas.

CBI is also updating a previously created climate stress logic model with the most recent climate data from the 5^th Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report as well as carryout some new analyses. For example, mapping potential climate refugia – areas where plants and animals may find shelter from changes in climatic conditions. CBI is also examining past and future climate variability to model climate velocity, which is the speed along the Earth’s surface needed to maintain constant climate conditions with the rationale being that species survival may depend as much on keeping pace with moving climate as the climate’s ultimate persistence. Results of the climate modeling will illustrate at the landscape level the degree to which locations in the landscape will be impacted by climate stress over the next century and help estimate the likelihood that certain species will survive shifting suitable habitat conditions.

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The Conservation Biology Institute, in collaboration with Ted Weller (USFS – Pacific Southwest Research Station) is expanding the functionality of Data Basin to create a clearinghouse for migratory bat detection data.  This new functionality will allow users to: (1) import location-aware spreadsheet data into Data Basin; (2) dynamically visualize these locations and their attributes (such as number of bats of a particular species) within the interactive map; and, (3) explore charts of time series records across one or more locations. Additional tools under development will allow aggregation into a single master dataset, support form-based imports to more easily capture site and detector information from researchers during upload, and support export of records into spatial and non-spatial outputs.

More information about the exciting implications of this project can be found within an article on The Wildlife Society website.

Working as a subcontractor to Dynamac Corporation, the Conservation Biology Institute provided the scientific leadership and technical support for two BLM Rapid Ecoregional Assessment (REAs).  The Sonoran Desert ecoregion was completed in the spring of 2012.  A series of conservation elements were chosen for the eocregion and over 40 management questions addressed.  Most questions pertained to a listed set of change agents, including urban and agriculture development, energy (including renewables), fire, invasive species, recreation, and climate change.  For each conservation element, conceptual models were created and, for each specific management question, an accompanying GIS-based process model was created that outlined the data and steps necessary to generate an answer to the question.  Part of the project required an exhaustive acquisition and review of available spatial data – hundreds the ecoregion.  Extensive and sophisticated modeling had to be applied to multiple topics including target species habitat, natural ecological systems, climate change, invasive species, wildfire, and landscape integrity.  Also, some custom analytical software had to be generated throughout the course of the project.

Project review was conducted using Data Basin and final results reside in a private group space on this web-based data management and mapping system.  To inquire about access to the data and map-based results, please contact Karen Prentice at BLM Headquarters (kprentice@blm.gov).

To download the report and find out more information, Click Here.

Working as a subcontractor to Dynamac Corporation, the Conservation Biology Institute provided the scientific leadership and technical support for two BLM Rapid Ecoregional Assessment (REAs).  The Colorado Plateau ecoregion was completed in the spring of 2012.  A series of conservation elements were chosen for the eocregion and over 40 management questions addressed.  Most questions pertained to a listed set of change agents, including urban and agriculture development, energy (including renewables), fire, invasive species, recreation, and climate change.  For each conservation element, conceptual models were created and, for each specific management question, an accompanying GIS-based process model was created that outlined the data and steps necessary to generate an answer to the question.  Part of the project required an exhaustive acquisition and review of available spatial data – hundreds the ecoregion.  Extensive and sophisticated modeling had to be applied to multiple topics including target species habitat, natural ecological systems, climate change, invasive species, wildfire, and landscape integrity.  Also, some custom analytical software had to be generated throughout the course of the project.

Project review was conducted using Data Basin and final results reside in a private group space on this web-based data management and mapping system.  To inquire about access to the data and map-based results, please contact Karen Prentice at BLM Headquarters (kprentice@blm.gov).

To download the full report and find our more information on the Colorado Plateau REA, click here.

The purpose of this project was to create a GIS-based model that identifies specific focal areas throughout the range of the redwoods. Focal areas were defined as zones that offer the best conservation opportunities for long-term protection and maintenance of the redwood ecosystem based on current conditions. GIS was utilized because of its spatially explicit architecture and advanced analytical capability.

This model was produced for Save-the-Redwoods League as part of their overall Master Plan – an organizational blueprint for protecting the redwood ecosystem. More specifically, this model was intended to help the League target their future proactive conservation planning efforts more effectively as part of their overall conservation mission while supplying a broader organizational tool that could be shared with its conservation partners in the region.

Island foxes (Urocyon littoralis) inhabit the six largest Channel Islands off the coast of southern California, with a separate subspecies recognized on each island: San Miguel Island fox (U. l. littoralis), San Nicolas Island fox (U. l. dickeyi), San Clemente Island fox (U. l. clementae), Santa Catalina Island fox (U. l. catalinae), Santa Rosa Island fox (U. l. santarosae), and Santa Cruz Island fox (U. l. santacruzae). Due to their limited geographic distribution and small population sizes, foxes on all six islands have been listed as Threatened by the State of California, and all subspecies except those on San Nicolas and San Clemente have been listed as Endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service due to recent precipitous population declines and high risk of extinction.

Due to the persistent high risk of this island species, robust monitoring of fox populations and their threats is a key component of recovery and long-term management. In response to a request from the Recovery Coordination Group of the Island Fox Integrated Recovery Team, the Conservation Biology Institute was commissioned by The Nature Conservancy, with additional funding from the Catalina Island Conservancy, to develop a monitoring framework for five subspecies of island fox on San Miguel, San Nicolas, Santa Catalina, Santa Rosa, and Santa Cruz islands. A monitoring framework previously developed for the U.S. Navy for San Clemente Island foxes (Framework Monitoring Plan for the San Clemente Island Fox, 2006), in addition to years of monitoring and research on all six islands, provided the foundation for the current multi-island monitoring framework. This document thus represents the first comprehensive synthesis of monitoring data, objectives, and protocols across multiple Channel Islands with foxes.

This report describes the considerations and approaches used to identify specific monitoring objectives, determine parameters to address these objectives, and develop protocols to measure these parameters. It presents illustrative island-specific examples of monitoring scenarios designed to address current monitoring objectives, but with different levels of effort and resulting precision. Recommendations are offered as guidelines with some built-in flexibility to account for on-the-ground feasibility. It is expected that island managers will tailor and adapt protocols for on-the-ground use, based on their resources and priorities, understanding that there is generally a trade-off between monitoring intensity and information value, and that future advances in our knowledge of fox ecology and in the development of field and analytical techniques may result in adaptation of this framework monitoring protocol.

CBI led the development of a science-based adaptive habitat management plan for the approximately 3,000-acre Ramona Grasslands Open Space Preserve in central San Diego County.  The Ramona Grasslands are a regionally important conservation area, supporting a variety of target resources, including vernal pools and rare vernal pool species, Stephens’ kangaroo rat, wintering and breeding raptors, riparian habitats and arroyo southwestern toads, and native grasslands.  The Ramona Grasslands are grazed by cattle, which maintain habitat suitability for some species but adversely affect other natural resources.  CBI initially partnered with The Nature Conservancy to develop a Framework Management Plan for the Grasslands, which laid out a scientific basis for implementing management activities, describe experimental manipulations to increase our understanding of the dynamics of the system, and to develop a biological monitoring program to assess changes in resource states.

CBI then worked with the County of San Diego Department of Parks and Recreation and their contractors to develop a detailed description of baseline conditions in the Ramona Grasslands and specific management and monitoring recommendations (Area Specific Management Directives) that were derived from the Framework Management Plan.  Development of the management plan was preceded by a 2-year baseline field monitoring program that was coordinated by CBI.  The Area Specific Management Directives proposed an adaptive grazing strategy to balance resource needs and optimize habitat quality across the preserve.  Monitoring activities proposed by the management plan included surveys of grassland, vernal pool, and riparian plants; characterization of stream channel geomorphology and water quality; and avian, small mammal, amphibian, and fairy shrimp surveys.

1. Protected areas form one of the main pillars of biodiversity conservation throughout the world. Only 1.2 percent of the Alberta Foothills is currently protected, which is woefully inadequate by any scientific standard.

2. Protecting the full array of native biodiversity (representation) is an extremely important consideration in a regional protected areas strategy.

3. Approximately 75 percent of the natural variability present in the Alberta Foothills (measured as enduring features) is not adequately represented in a network of protected areas.

4. Approximately 82 percent of the region is comprised of logging tenures and much of this same area is subjected to intensive oil and gas development.

5. Change detection analysis has shown that nearly 9 percent of the ecoregion (~640,000 ha) has been impacted by activities visible from space since 1990 and much of this has been either by a growing network of oil and gas infrastructure or as clusters of clearcut logging. Impact on some species (e.g., woodland caribou) far exceeds this area.

6. The region contains over 36,000 wells, numerous pipelines, and thousands of kilometers of seismic exploration.

7. The Alberta Foothills no longer possesses large intact forest landscapes (undisturbed blocks >50,000 ha), but approximately 1/3 of the region is comprised of smaller forest remnants (over 2,100 with mean size of 1,500 ha) which forms the natural backbone of the region and form one of the major building blocks for protecting the many ecological values identified in the region.

8. Biodiversity values evaluated in the endangered forest mapping included: (1) rare forest types (old growth and less fragmented forests), (2) locations of rare and endangered species and their special habitats, (3) woodland caribou, (4) grizzly bear, (5) freshwater species such as bull trout and arctic grayling, and (6) forest and water-dependent bird species. Many of these values are being seriously degraded and some threatened with local extinction.

9. Decision support mapping results highlight areas within the Alberta Foothills that still contain high values and some of these values are of global or national significance. The highest scoring areas should be considered as candidates for an expanded protected areas network for the region. Recommended starting target should be approximately 16 percent of the ecoregion including existing and new protected areas. Failure to act will result in numerous species extirpations and significant loss of overall ecological integrity, including the degradation of several important ecosystem services.

10. In addition to new protected areas, landscape connectivity along waterways and over land should remain as an important consideration in an overall regional conservation strategy.

11. To be effective, an expanded protected area network alone will not be enough to maintain the conservation values present in the region today. New protected areas should be established strategically in the context of a region under dramatic pressure from development and extractive use. Management and even restoration in some areas should also be considered in an overall plan to achieve ecological sustainability.

12. The combination of Neatweaver®, EMDS®, and ArcMap® provides a powerful decision support planning tool set that can successfully address the topic of High Conservation Value and Endangered Forests.

In November 2002, two science-based conservation organizations, the Conservation Biology Institute (Corvallis, Oregon) and World Wildlife Fund (Ashland, Oregon), conducted an ecological assessment of the mid and lower reaches of the Klamath, including its tributaries and the Upper Sacramento River that flows into the mid Klamath.

Ecosystem health was assessed using computer mapping (Geographic Information Systems – GIS) and satellite interpretation technologies across 870 watersheds; 655 within the mid and lower Klamath and 215 within the Upper Sacramento River. We used a series of indicators or surrogates to assess watershed condition on a relative basis, including road density, stream-road intersections, logging in the basin over a three-decade period, and mining activities.

Because this is the first subbasin assessment of relative ecological condition of the mid and lower Klamath River, this executive summary will focus mainly on the Klamath findings as they are particularly relevant to policy and legislative efforts to manage water uses and restore ecosystem health throughout the Klamath River. In addition, according to monitoring stations of the United States Geological Service, the Klamath is in worse shape today than it was in 2002, the year that 34,000 to 68,000 salmon and trout died from disease in the lower Klamath River due primarily to low water flows and high water temperatures.