Development of a Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy for Georgia

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Development of a Comprehensive Wildlife
Conservation Strategy for Georgia

• Georgia Department of Natural Resources
• Wildlife Resources Division

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From the brow of the Appalachian Plateau
to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean
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Georgias Biological Diversity
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Georgias Biological DiversityNational Ranks

• 2nd in number of amphibians
• 3rd in number of freshwater fishes
• 3rd in number of crayfishes
• 7th in number of reptiles
• 7th in number of vascular plants

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Georgias Biological Diversity

• Ranked 6th nationally in the number of vascular
  plants, vertebrate animals, and selected
  invertebrates

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Threats to Georgias Biodiversity

• Habitat conversion or destruction
• Habitat fragmentation
• Invasive exotic species
• Acute environmental stressors
• Excessive predation, disease
• Accelerated climate change
• Poaching

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The primary threat to biological diversity?
Destruction or degradation of natural habitats.
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Planning for Effective Wildlife Conservation

• Identify conservation needs
• Evaluate effectiveness of existing programs
• Prioritize future efforts based on need and
  opportunity
• Develop new conservation methodologies
• Obtain resources for implementation

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Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy
(CWCS)

• Georgia DNR has committed to develop and begin
  implementation by October 1, 2005
• Current project will produce draft strategy by
  December 2004
• Funded under FY2002 State Wildlife Grant to
  Wildlife Resources Division
• Involves collaboration with all natural resource
  agencies and organizations operating in Georgia

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Project Goal

• To develop a statewide wildlife conservation plan
  that provides an objective assessment of the
  status and conservation needs of native wildlife
  and presents a prioritized set of strategies for
  protecting, restoring, and maintaining these
  species and their habitats

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Components of CWCS

• Rare species/natural community database
  development
• Identification of data gaps and survey needs
• Biological surveys of public and private lands
• State, federal, local government lands
• Lands of private cooperators

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Components of CWCS

• Assessment of distributions of species and
  natural communities and selection of high
  priority conservation targets
• Development of conservation lands sites
  databases
• Existing conservation lands
• High priority sites for protection

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Components of CWCS

• Cooperation with local governments on development
  of conservation plans
• Collaboration with state and federal agencies on
  habitat protection and restoration programs
• Providing technical support to private
  conservation organizations

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Components of CWCS

• Review of existing conservation laws, rules, and
  policies
• Review of land protection programs
• Public input and educational outreach

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Administrative Structure for CWCS Project
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CWCS Technical Teams

• Birds
• Mammals
• Amphibians and Reptiles
• Fishes and Freshwater Invertebrates
• Terrestrial Invertebrates
• Plants and Natural Communities
• Ecological Systems

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CWCS Technical Teams (cont.)

• Historic Vegetation Habitat Restoration
• Database Support/Enhancements
• GIS Support and Land Use/Land Cover
• Conservation Tools Regulations
• Environmental Education
• Outreach/Media Relations

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CWCS as a Complement to Other Conservation
Planning Efforts

• Georgia GAP/Aquatic GAP
• Ecoregion-based Conservation Planning
• Management plans for public lands
• State lands (WRD, PRHS, DOT)
• Federal lands (DOD, NPS, USFS, USFWS)
• Local governments (Parks, Greenspace)

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CWCS as a Complement to Other Conservation
Planning Efforts

• Management plans for private lands
• Forestry lands
• Private nature preserves
• Land trust holdings
• Habitat Conservation Plans for federally listed
  species
• Local/regional land use plans

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Assessment of Species of Greatest Conservation
Need

• Biological data from WRD databases provided to
  technical teams in Excel spreadsheet format
• Species subsets based on taxonomic group, rarity,
  special concern status
• Technical teams added/deleted species as needed

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Data Provided to Technical Teams

• Birds 49 species
• Mammals 36 species
• Amphibians Reptiles 63 species
• Fishes 130 species
• Aquatic Invertebrates 205 species
• Terrestrial Invertebrates 67 species
• Plants 997 species

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Special Concern Animal Species in Georgia
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Special Concern Plant Species in Georgia
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Factors Considered in Species Assessments

• Rarity (global and state)
• Endemism
• Distribution in Georgia (regions, habitats)
• Degree of imperilment, major threats
• Population/habitat trends
• Current level of protection
• Survey, research, and protection needs
• Potential contribution of Georgia efforts to
  global conservation

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Methodology for Technical Teams

• Categorical ranking factors allow sorting of
  species by rarity, threat, population trends,
  research needs, etc.
• Uncertainty ranks help document data gaps and
  field inventory needs
• Recommendations for changes in state rarity rank,
  legal status, or status as species of concern
  will be based on data provided in spreadsheets
  other supporting documents

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Occurrence Maps
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Georgia GAP/Aquatic GAP Data

• Land cover data 44 classes
• Potential range maps for 300 terrestrial
  vertebrates
• Terrestrial vertebrate habitat models
• Critical reaches for aquatic diversity in the
  Tallapoosa and Flint River basins

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Natural Communities/Ecosystems

• Identification of high-priority natural
  communities based on rarity, condition, species
  composition, etc.
• Revision of natural community classification for
  Georgia
• Identification of high-priority ecological
  systems based on species/natural community
  assemblages

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Prioritizing Species, Habitats, and Conservation
Sites

• Species
• Habitats/Ecosystems
• Conservation Sites

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Progress to Date

• Lists of high priority species have been
  developed and are being reviewed (300 animal
  species)
• Research and survey needs for high priority
  species have been identified by technical team
  leaders
• Key habitats are being identified and
  cross-walked to ecological systems in the
  National Vegetation Classification System

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Progress to Date

• GIS Support team has completed an initial survey
  of WRD staff to determine GIS data needs
• Georgia GAP land cover data is being assessed as
  a tool for broad-scale planning
• Habitat Restoration/Historic Vegetation team has
  identified key management issues and is working
  with UGA Institute of Ecology to develop a pilot
  project for mapping historic vegetation

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Progress to Date

• Draft assessment of conservation planning and
  implementation efforts in other states has been
  completed and is being reviewed
• Landowners Guide to Conservation Options has
  been revised and will soon be published
• GIS dataset of high-priority conservation sites
  is being developed, using data from DNR-TNC
  ecoregional planning projects as starting point

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Progress to Date

• GNHP staff members collaborating with a group of
  volunteers on a revision of Natural Environments
  of Georgia
• WRD Education Plan is being finalized. EEA has
  offered to help with implementation of CWCS
  environmental education goals.
• Database Support team is assessing needs for
  biodiversity data within WRD and in other
  agencies/organizations.

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Next Steps

• January-February 2004 - Workshops to gain input
  from WRD staff on conservation targets, threats,
  and goals
• April-May 2004 - Regional workshops with local
  stakeholder groups
• June 2004 - Complete first draft of wildlife
  conservation strategy

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Next Steps

• August-September 2004 Hold public meetings to
  solicit input on draft conservation strategy
• December 2004 Complete final draft of
  comprehensive wildlife conservation strategy