The goal of this project is to advance toward completion of Landscape Conservation Design products for the Dos Rios LCD. We will work with the Desert LCC staff, steering committee and working groups as well as the Dos Rios Coordinating Team and interested partners to develop a holistic conservation design. Over this two-year project, we will develop Version 1.0 of a Landscape Conservation Design (“Conservation Blueprint”) for the Dos Rios that includes a shared conservation vision, new analyses to support management planning and approaches, and other components listed below. Methods for development include: work with a broad set of Dos Rios partners to finalize a vision statement; select of landscape-scale indicators; conduct data discovery to support spatial analysis of indicators; utilize climate scenarios and climate drivers (to be developed by SW CSC) to assess possible impacts of future scenarios on goals and resources; and develop and conduct spatial analysis of indicators to assess ecosystem condition and prioritize areas for conservation or restoration action.
Specific Project Objectives: 1. Finalize the vision statement, goals, and objectives for the Dos Rios LCD 2. Develop analysis parameters and inputs: Select indicators and key management questions to be addressed through spatial analysis and scenario planning.3. Develop a list of socio-ecological indicators and collect relevant data sources from various agencies/organizations. 4. Integrate USGS Southwest Climate Science Center (SW CSC) scenario planning efforts with Landscape Conservation Design. 5. Create a user-friendly “management toolbox” to inform future on-the-ground actions that will help achieve conservation goals ranging from wildlife conservation to supporting working ranches. 6. Develop a LCD to determine where specific on-the-ground actions should be prioritized to achieve maximum ecological and socio-ecological impacts.
