Skip to main content
Advanced Search

Filters: Tags: planningCadastre (X) > partyWithName: Great Basin Landscape Conservation Cooperative (X)

27 results (10ms)   

View Results as: JSON ATOM CSV
Knowing where a species is found or may be found in the future is critical to developing a successful habitat conservation plan. This quick guide reviews correlation-based and process-based species distribution models and their uses in the context of HCPs. It also addresses considerations for evaluating species distribution models, using multiple models, and working with model uncertainty. Examples are provided.
The goal of the Northwest Basin and Range (NWBR) Synthesis project is to synthesize existing landscape planning and science and develop a shared conservation vision for stakeholders in the region. This webinar provides an overview of the NWBR Synthesis’ work to identify shared conservation priorities, including: - The Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation framework - How the NWBR is using the framework to synthesize current landscape planning and science - How experts will vet this process
This presentation aired as part of the Great Basin LCC webinar series on October 11, 2017. Speakers included Erica Fleishman, U.C. Davis, and Jimi Gragg, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.Description: As the distribution and abundance of non-native cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) in the Great Basin has increased, the extent and frequency of fire in the region has increased by as much as 200%. These changes in fire regimes are associated with loss of the sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) and native grasses and forbs in which many native animals, including Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), breed and feed. Managers have suggested changes in fire regimes, fuels treatments and post-fire restoration with...
With HCPs, reserves are created as one means of mitigating take. This means they are designed to provide a target level of benefits for a particular species or set of species. This quick guide reviews approaches for designing and implementing reserves that address climate change impacts, vulnerabilities, and uncertainty. Examples are provided.
Land managers in the Great Basin are working to maintain or restore sagebrush ecosystems as climate change exacerbates existing threats. Web applications delivering climate change and climate impacts information have the potential to assist their efforts. Although many web applications containing climate information currently exist, few have been co-produced with land managers or have incorporated information specifically focused on land managers’ needs. Through surveys and interviews, we gathered detailed feedback from federal, state, and tribal sagebrush land managers in the Great Basin on climate information web applications targeting land management. We found that a) managers are searching for weather and climate...
Incorporating climate change into conservation and resource management planning is rapidly becoming a standard of practice, both because of mandates from above (e.g. court cases) and because planners and managers want to do a good job and avoid nasty surprises. There is much of guidance out there for climate smart conservation and planning, both generic and sector-specific. This quick guide is not intended to replicate those, nor to provide everything you need to do a climate smart HCP. The intent is to help users to:1. Understand why it’s important to “ask the climate question” when it comes to HCPs.2. Make users informed consumers of climate change information and expertise. 3. Provide a logic users can follow...
The goal of the NWBR Synthesis is to develop shared conservation priorities and implementation strategies across the region by synthesizing existing landscape planning and science. In this informational webinar we: -Provide a project update -Share an example from a similar regional effort, The Arid Lands Initiative -Introduce the project’s Team Structure, and the variety of ways you can get involved
Conservation Biology Institute (CBI) has been developing web applications to centralize and serve credible and usable information that allows natural resource managers, as well as the general public, to better understand the challenges posed by on-going environmental change. In particular CBI has designed a series of climate consoles that provide natural resource managers the most recent 5th Climate Model Intercomparison Program (CMIP5) climate projections, landscape intactness, and soil sensitivity for a series of reporting units over the western United States. The publically available web sites were refined based on feedback from a variety of users. In this paper, we describe each of the tools developed as open-source...
We integrated 250-m enhanced Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (eMODIS) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) with land cover, biogeophysical (e.g., soils, topography) and climate data into regression-tree software (Cubist®). We integrated this data to create a time series of spatially explicit predictions of herbaceous annual vegetation cover in sagebrush ecosystems, with an emphasis on annual grasses. Annual grass cover in sagebrush ecosystems is highly variable year-to-year because it is strongly dependent on highly variable weather patterns, particularly precipitation timing and totals. Annual grass cover also reflects past disturbances and management decisions. We produced 17 consecutive...
The objective of this preliminary modeling effort was to prepare a single HexSimPLE model for the Northern Basin Pygmy rabbit population within the geographic extent of the Northwest Basin and Range landscape (Figure 1, https://www.fws.gov/science/catalog range). Population parameters derived from the literature and reviewed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) refuges team were used to populate a simplified individual- based model (IBM) platform to develop a reasonable yet simplistic representation of pygmy rabbit movement, habitat use, and population dynamics in this landscape. This preliminary modeling effort was used to make qualitative comparisons among hypothetical land management scenarios. Results...
This report provides a strategic approach developed by a Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies interagency working group for conservation of sagebrush ecosystems, Greater sage-grouse, and Gunnison sage-grouse. It uses information on (1) factors that influence sagebrush ecosystem resilience to disturbance and resistance to nonnative invasive annual grasses and (2) distribution and relative abundance of sage-grouse populations to address persistent ecosystem threats, such as invasive annual grasses and wildfire, and land use and development threats, such as oil and gas development and cropland conversion, to develop effective management strategies. A sage-grouse habitat matrix links relative resilience...
Recent drought, change agents and the spectrum of greater management needs have highlighted the relative dearth of in situ weather and climate measurement stations in the Great Basin. Thus, interest has grown in supplementing or initiating atmospheric and hydrologic measurements. The purpose of this project was to review the existing station networks in the context of management needs by providing examples of how climate observation gaps can be assessed, and by providing some guidelines for the placement of new or augmented stations.The report shows how observation gaps can be discovered utilizing basic geospatial data. Three management applications is used: greater sage-grouse habitat, wildfire and grazing allotments....
We took a commonly-used template for HCPs and annotated it section-by-section with key climate considerations. These considerations were based on conversations with HCP practitioners (both applicants and USFWS staff), review of relevant scientific literature and guidance on climate-informed natural resource management, and review of existing HCPs for how if at all they had addressed climate change.
This quick guide gives a very brief introduction to the uses of climate-related information in habitat conservation planning, the different types of information available, and how to use conceptual models to help identify what variables are important. It also addresses working with uncertainty, and deciding whether downscaled models are necessary.
On June 27, 2016, speakers Dominique Bachelet, Conservation Biology Institute, and Dave Hopper, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, discussed the need for reliable, usable tools and data sources to meet climate change-related land management challenges. The combination of projected climate change and land use adds uncertainty to the long-term effectiveness of current management strategies. Managers need reliable information to adjust their strategies as population density increases. However they are currently overwhelmed by the diversity of available information and the multiplicity of sources. The Conservation Biology Institute (CBI) has been working to centralize and package the usable information for land managers...
This web site houses the quick guides, worksheets, and templates developed as part of a project focused on helping practitioners integrate climate change into Habitat Conservation Planning under the Endangered Species Act. It also includes a spreadsheet with information on existing HCPs that have addressed climate change. All guides and worksheets are freely downloadable.
On July 26, 2017, Bruce Wylie and Stephen Boyte, USGS, discussed their recent research mapping herbaceous annual cover in the Great Basin.The research team utilized regression tree algorithms combined with spectral and ancillary data (for elevation, soils, etc.) to achieve accuracy-focused maps. They used high-resolution satellite data (2m) to scale ground observations to levels compatible with moderate-resolution satellites (Landsat and MODIS). The speakers also discussed data access, selected journal publications and future plans during the webinar.
On September 26, Jeanne Chambers, U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, and Steve Hanser, U.S. Geological Survey, discussed the tools and methods developed as part of the Science Framework for the Conservation and Restoration Strategy of Sec. Order 3336.Co-hosted by the Great Basin, Great Northern, Plains and Prairie Potholes and Southern Rockies Landscape Conservation Cooperatives Department of the Interior Secretary Order 3336 called for the development of a comprehensive, science-based strategy to reduce the threat of large-scale rangeland fire to greater sage-grouse habitat and the sagebrush steppe ecosystem. The four Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) of the sagebrush steppe are pleased...
On August 24, 2016, Tim Brown and Greg McCurdy, Desert Research Institute, and Kathryn Dyer, BLM Nevada, presented a webinar about climate monitoring for land management applications in the Great Basin. Recent drought, change agents and the spectrum of greater management needs have highlighted the relative dearth of in situ weather and climate measurement stations in the Great Basin. Thus, interest has grown in supplementing or initiating atmospheric and hydrologic measurements. This presentation reviews the existing station networks in the context of management needs by providing examples of how climate observation gaps can be assessed, and by providing some guidelines for the placement of new or augmented stations....
The Northwestern Great Basin ecoregion is one of the most intact ecosystems in the west as well as a biological hotspot. However, altered fire regimes, invasive species, water scarcity, development and climate change threaten the integrity of this landscape. Several efforts are ongoing for individual species, specific threats or sub-geographies, and over 60 existing plans and assessments have been identified for the region. The Northwestern Basin and Range Landscape Conservation Project will pull the pieces together to create a holistic view of shared priorities on the landscape. In partnership with state and federal natural resource managers, tribes, and private landowners, this project will address landscape-scale...