Title: Planning for Ecological Sustainability in Region 8
1Methods and Tools to Integrate Biodiversity into
Land Use Planning
Pat Comer Chief Terrestrial Ecologist
2Greater Yellowstone Area
Local Partner Bridger-Teton National
Forest Objective Support forest plan revision
and implementation
3Sustainability Vision
Economic
Ecological
Social
Clean Water
Biodiversity
Clean Air
Adapted from Hagan Whitman (2006) Biodiversity
Indicators for Sustainable Forestry. Journal of
Forestry, June 2006
4Criteria and Indicators for Sustainability B-T NF
Indicators Recreational Opportunities (road
access and roadless areas) Scenic
Integrity Educational Opportunities
Indicators Forest Productivity Carbon
Sequestration Livestock Grazing Energy
Production Commercial Recreation Water
Development
Indicators Ecosystem Diversity Species
Diversity Watershed Integrity (stream channel
function, soil productivity, water quality,
etc.) Air Quality
5Common Steps in Planning
- WHAT IS THE PLANNING AREA?
- WHICH INDICATORS REQUIRE CONSIDERATION?
- WHAT ARE REFERENCE CONDITIONS?
- WHAT ARE CURRENT CONDITIONS?
- WHAT ARE THE TRENDS AMONG THOSE CONDITIONS?
- WHAT ARE DESIRED CONDITIONS?
- WHAT STRATEGIES WILL MOVE US TOWARD DESIRED
CONDITIONS?
- WHAT ARE EXPECTED OUTCOMES FROM IMPLEMENTING
STRATEGIES?
- HOW WILL WE MONITOR AND EVALUATE OUR
IMPLEMENTATION?
6Conservation ElementsFocus for Ecological
Sustainability
- Species Diversity
- Species of Concern
- ESA proposed, candidates, petitioned
- G1-G3 (T1-T3) NatureServe status
- May include distinct populations
- Species of Interest
- S1-S2 NatureServe status
- Other T/E not captured above
- UAFWS birds of concern
- Regional/local concern
- Other public interest requiring plan components
- Ecosystem Diversity
- Representative ecosystem types
- Vegetation types and structural stages
7- Building Element Information
8Building Element Information
9Modeling LandscapeCondition
- Combines land use, road type, built
infrastructure, etc. - Model weights effects, adds distance effect
- Specified to element-groups
Greater Yellowstone Area
10Relative Compatibility with Land Uses
11Land Use Scenarios
1) Land Use Type
2) Special Designations
3) Regulation
4) Zoning/ Policy Type
12Scenario Evaluation
- Red areas indicate elements with incompatible
land use intent. - Darker shades indicate richness of elements in
conflict
13Vista Modules Interoperability
Economic Analysis Reporting
Conservation Scenario Optimization Tools MARXAN,
SPOT
Visualization Tools (e.g., Community
Viz)
Vista Framework Decision Support System
Predictive Range Mapping e.g., MAXEnt, GARP
Agency Regulatory Monitoring Tools
Land-use System Tools Transportation Sylviculture
Agriculture
Ecological Dynamic Simulation Tools e.g.,
Vegetation Dynamics Development Tool (VDDT)
Knowledge Engine Tools EMDS
14Stating Desired Conditions
- Establish measurable goals for representation
- Users may define multiple, potentially competing
goal sets representing different values, or
uncertainty - A single land-use scenario can be evaluated
against multiple goal sets - Goals based on of total area, of occurrences,
absolute amount of habitat, or absolute of
occurrences
15Analysis at Multiple Spatial Scales
- Regional-scale (e.g., Representation throughout
the Greater Yellowstone area)
- National Forest Plan (e.g., Relative emphasis
within the Bridger-Teton N.F.)
- Project Implementation (e.g., multiple
occurrences summarized by HUC 6 units of the
Greys River watershed)
- Individual Occurrence patch (e.g., one element of
conservation concern/interest)
16Generating Regional Allocation Scenarios using
Spatial Optimization
17(No Transcript)
18Data Expert Knowledge Inputs
Intermediate Processes Products
Outputs
Vista 2.0 Functions
19What Are We Aiming For?
- Common Planning Framework
- Common Library of Spatial Data and Ecological
Knowledge
- Functional Inter-operating Decision Support Tools