Responding to the needs of natural resource managers through The NatureMapping Program

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Responding to the needs of natural resource
managers through The NatureMapping Program

• Karen M. Dvornich
• Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research
  Unit
• Co-founder National Director for The
  NatureMapping Program

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Mission Statement

• The goal of The NatureMapping Program is to
  facilitate the exchange of information on
  biodiversity between natural resource agencies,
  academia, land-use planners, local communities,
  and schools through public education and
  participation in data collection and analyses.

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The Evolution of NatureMapping

• 1992 Washington Gap Analysis Project asked
  Audubon members and retired natural resource
  professionals, to groundtruth and collect
  wildlife and habitat data

• 2001 Over 200,000 records (419 wildlife
  species) submitted for Washington State partners
  provide skill training materials regional
  training centers developed research training
  workshops developed 13 states interest/fund-raisi
  ng state program growth patterns emerge

• 2002 beyond - NM statewide databases for
  researchers, agencies and the general public
  integrated research, community, and school
  projects non-profit NatureMapping Applications
• Education is still the major focus

• 1993 The NatureMapping Program was created to
  involve schools and the public to collect
  wildlife habitat data. Education about Gap,
  data collection protocols material development
  was the main focus.

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Disseminating Gap data to the public includes

• Natural resource agencies - workshops how to
  understand the process and use of data
• Legislators how Gap datasets can be used for
  statewide biodiversity planning
• County planners and local jurisdictions how
  Gap datasets can be refined for use in countywide
  biodiversity planning
• Schools how student data can populate
  predicted range distribution maps query species
  predicted in their watershed, etc.

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Education precedes dissemination
... if you want Gap data used

• What is Gap Analysis?
• What are Gaps goals?
• What is GIS?
• What do these GIS datasets mean?
• How can I use Gap datasets for my project?
• How do I use GIS?

The education process takes a long time
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Arkansas Univ. of Arkansas Extension, Game
Fish Commission California Fresno State Univ,
Fresno City, CA FW Hawaii USGS BRD-Pacific
Island Ecosystems Research Center Indiana
USFWS Kentucky Jefferson County Public
Schools Massachusetts Boston Museum of Science
Technology Missouri Missouri Botanical
Gardens New York NYCFWU, Cornell Extension Ohio
USFS Oregon Portland State University Pennsylv
ania Philadelphia Zoo South Carolina South
Carolina Native Plant Society South Dakota
SDCFWU Vermont Vermont Institute of Natural
Science British Columbia Turtle Island Land
Trust
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Research Needs of Natural Resource Agencies

• Research Projects
• Adopt-a-Farmer
• Update WAGAP Short-horned lizard model
• Food preference abundance habitat use
• Project CAT (Cougars and Teaching)
• Cougar/prey movements, survival, proximity to
  people
• Mule Deer Project
• Nutrition study on does and fawns
• Vegetation analysis of congregation sites
• Coyote and cougar predation
• Pierce County Biodiversity Planning
• Biodiversity Network monitoring

Linked with communities, schools, and life-long
learners
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Adopt-a-farmer Project!
Graphing data on paper graphs
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Farmers and students checking and recording data
on charts, topographic maps, and computers
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Data Input Using Arcview
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Students create maps for their farmers
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lizards
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Future Plans

• On-site management of web site
• In-district sustainability for the project
• Increase farmer numbers
  
• Continue to develop student and teacher ability
  to use GIS software
• Radio tracking
• Create more farmer polygons
• Conduct queries

radio
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Introduction slide
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Project Mission
Project Mission To create a proactive
educational program for students and communities
that promotes living with cougars through
experiential curriculum, scientific exploration
and community empowerment.
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Key Project Elements
Incorporates

• Education
• Research
• Technology
• Nature
• Community Empowerment
• Inspiration

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Beneficial Outcomes
Beneficial Outcomes

• Experiential Learning Curriculums
• New Technologies
• Appreciation for Science
• Increased Human Safety
• Greater Sense of Community
• Balance Between Humans and Cougars

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Collaborators

• Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
• Cle Elum/Roslyn Schools
• University of Washington
• The NatureMapping Program
• Washington Cooperative Fish and Wildlife
  Research Unit
• Communications Department
• Biology Department
• Woodland Park Zoo
• Central Washington University
• Center for Spatial Information
• Wilderness Awareness School
• The Cle Elum and Neighboring Communities

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Washington State Fish and Wildlife ungulate
biologist asked NatureMapping students to collect
data
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by sampling identified mule deer usage areas
for nutritional analysis in helping to determine
the health of deer populations.
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Identifying usage areas required
capturing marking with a radio collar and
radio tracking movements.
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Field Training to provide for consistent data
collection
scat identification and collection
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Students visit 1-5 acre site within 10 days after
receiving GIS maps identifying where mule deer
are congregating with the knowledge of where
and what to sample.
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Students collect real data using the same
protocols used by professional researchers.
As NatureMappers, students design their own
research questions that complement the main
research question.
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Students inventory the entire area using
CyberTrackertm data collection software
technology integrated with a GPS unit to put
their research data into a spatial context.
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The NatureMapping Programs sequencea series
of icons to collect consistent field data.
A sequence with each states fish and wildlife
species and habitats will be developed.
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Biodiversity Planning in Pierce County, WA

• Sponsored by
• Pierce County Planning Land Services
• Metro Parks Tacoma
• Washington Department of Fish Wildlife
• UW, Cooperative Fish Wildlife Research Unit

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Simply put.... Biodiversity is the variety of
life that we depend on Karen Dvornich The
NatureMapping Program (1998)

• Biodiversity is the variety of life and its
  processes. It includes the variety of living
  organisms, the genetic differences among them,
  the communities and ecosystems in which they
  occur, and the ecological and evolutionary
  process that keep them functioning, yet ever
  changing and adapting.
• Reed F. Noss and Allen Y. Cooperrider
• Saving Natures Legacy (1994)

The inclusion of the Project is an attempt to
incorporate these admittedly unsupported and
potentially dangerous intellectual theories and
comments that evaluate (the previous definition).
The foregoing definition provided in the
Biodiversity Plan exemplifies the vagueness of
the information included in the document.
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Overview of the Washington Gap Analysis Project
Great blue heron Breeding Bird Atlas observed
blocks (1987-1996)
Great blue heron predicted breeding range
distribution

• The Washington State GAP Analysis Project (WAGAP)
  was established in 1991. The WAGAP process
  utilized satellite imagery to identify
  large-scale ecoregions and vegetation zones
  augmenting this with field inventory data for all
  the taxonomic groups of terrestrial vertebrates
  to create predicted distributions.

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Application of GAP at the County Level

• Analyzed Countys policies and regulations for
  capacity to protect habitat for terrestrial
  vertebrates and salmonids
• Recommended enhancements for policies and
  regulations to improve habitat protection within
  the County
• Enabled the integration of biodiversity habitat
  mapping into the Countys GIS system

WAGAP updated its maps using recent satellite
imagery, aerial photographs, other spatial
datasets to identify blocks of habitat predicted
to support a wide variety of vertebrate species
based on species richness and species
representation
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Funding Requests
Estimated Cost 150,000 (100,000 In-kind)
Education and Public Involvement ( 5 years)

• Objectives
• Empower citizen scientists through the use of
  NatureMapping
• Educate local jurisdictions, universities, and
  the public on biodiversity planning

• Personnel and Equipment
• Coordinators, software, workshop facilities,
  media

• Potential Contributors (in-kind)
• Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
• The NatureMapping Program, University of
  Washington
• Metro Parks Tacoma
• Pierce County

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Funding Requests
Estimated Cost 400,000 (______ In-kind)
Monitoring (lab field exercise 3 years)

• Objectives
• Collect data from citizen scientists using
  NatureMapping
• Provide a level of quality assurance through the
  use of experts
• Establish new surveys and monitoring programs
  where necessary

• Personnel and Equipment
• Coordinator, data handler, GIS technician, field
  technician, data sets, software, hardware, REI
  kits, per diem, staff services, media

• Potential Contributors (funding in-kind)
• Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
• The NatureMapping Program, University of
  Washington
• Local NGOs (Tahoma Audubon, Native Plant
  Society)
• Metro Parks Tacoma
• Tribes
• Pierce County
• Federal Agencies (USFWS, Ft. Lewis, McChord, Mt.
  Rainier)
• Private Organizations

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Permanent Protection of BMA NetworkLand
Acquisition and Conservation Actions
Pierce County Conservation Futures Program
Land Trust Acquisitions
Mitigation Sites
Land Acquisition and Conservation Actions
Local Jurisdictions and Park District Open
Space Acquisitions
Conservation Easements
Pierce County Floodplain Buyout Program
Core Area Designation