Wildlife Data for energy planning at multiple scales and stages

1. WECC Environmental Data Task Force Kickoff Workshop Sep 2, 2010 Patrick Crist Director of Conservation Planning Western Regional Office Wildlife Data for energy planning at multiple scales and stages

2. Wildlife Data Challenges • Incomplete • Lack of surveys: don’t know what species are in any particular location • Incomplete mapping: for what we do know is there, we lack detailed distribution maps • Lack information on condition/value of habitats • Inaccessible • Data scattered among agencies, NGOs, universities, museums • Often only available at very coarse resolution • Some is proprietary and not available at any cost

3. Planning Hierarchy & Info Needs • Regional scoping • What is in the region and roughly where? • How important, rare, protected is it? • Who has the data and expertise for those resources? • Corridor/area planning • What is there that must be avoided or mitigated? • Approximately where is it? • Alignment/site planning/design • What is there that must be avoided or mitigated? • Exactly where is it and in what condition? • Where offsite could it be mitigated?

4. Scale Matters to Wildlife Regional Regional Migratory Species Coarse 10,000 – 100,000 has Matrix-Forming Ecosystems Coarse Scaled Species Large Patch Ecosystems Intermediate 100 - 10,000 has Geographic Scale Intermediate Scaled Species Small Patch and Linear Ecosystems Local  100 has Local Scaled Species

5. Continental Scale From http://www.birdnature.com/flyways.html

6. National Mapping & Trend Assessment Sampling Wetland Conditions

7. Draft Circuitscape analysis of connectivity among 9 greater sage-grouse populations. Warmer colors indicate areas most important for connectivity. “Pinch points,” or areas where connectivity is tenuous, are shown in yellow. Work in progress by Brad McRae, Carlos Carroll, and Matthias Leu. Regional Scale Model of current sage grouse population connectivity across the west

8. Fine Scale Wildlife Data Natural Heritage occurrence data for rare and imperiled species • Locations of where observed & when nationwide • What condition it was in • Uncertainty about location Does not tell you where it is/might be that has not been surveyed

10. Flattening the hierarchy: SDMs High resolution, increasing accuracy & dependability, low cost applicable at multiple scales Species Distribution Model – Red points show known occurrences of the Bog Turtle Green above are Ecoregional subsections Species Distribution Model New York Natural Heritage Program

11. Applegatei’s milkvetch (Astragalus applegatei) G-1 globally critically imperiled Map 1 known occurrences (populations) from Biotics Map 2 modeled distribution in overlay Astragalus applegatei probability of occurrence 0.00.......0.25.......0.50.......0.75........1.00

12. Pulling It Together Combining wildlife data (mapped and modeled) with legal and imperilment status to proactively improve corridor routing.

13. Has the work already been done? Existing conservation priority areas

14. Summary of Data Needs & Sources • Ecosystems current distribution: http://www.natureserve.org/getData/USecologyData.jsp • Landscape integrity: contact NatureServe • Species distributions • Natural heritage element occurrences: www.natureserve.org • Distribution models: http://www.gap.uidaho.edu/landcoverviewer.html • Some heritage programs • A variety of other regional and local orgs • Already identified conservation priorities: www.conservationregistry.org. www.landscope.org • State Wildlife Action Plans • TNC Ecoregion Assessments • Audubon Important Bird Areas • Other regional and local conservation orgs and trusts

15. Thank youFor a copy of this presentation email patrick_crist@natureserve.org