North Slope Rapid Ecoregional Assessment A Bureau of Land Management Project

1. North SlopeRapid Ecoregional Assessment A Bureau of Land Management Project North Slope Borough Planning Commission Barrow September 26, 2013

2. Contents of this presentation • Who we are • What we propose to do • Who is guiding and assisting us • Our community engagement strategy • Your role • Our future plan

3. Project Team • University of Alaska • Alaska Natural Heritage Program (AKNHP - UAA) • Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER - UAA) • Scenarios Network for Alaska & Arctic Planning (SNAP - UAF) • Margaret J. King & Associates • community engagement and facilitation

4. BLM’s Landscape Approach Rapid & Other Ecoregional Assessments Landscape-scale & otherInventories AIM-Monitoring at multiple scales Science Integration Project-level Monitoringfor Adaptive Management Ecoregional Direction Local-scale assessment, inventory, and monitoring Field Implementation

5. What is an REA? • Broadly speaking, REAs try to… • Identify things of value in the environment and how they are changing over time, and what may be causing that change • Focus on large areas and look at the really big picture instead of a particular lake or river

6. Identify Focal Areas

7. Identify Risks & Opportunities

9. What does an REA provide? • REAs do not make decisions or allocate resources • They provide information and tools for land managers • Current status of things of value in the environment • Future status (25, 50 years out) • Identify data gaps and science needs • Suggestions for land managers on how they might use this information

10. North Slope Ecoregion Assessment Area

11. Who is guiding and assisting us? Assessment Management Team (AMT) - A team of land managers and experts in land management from various federal and state agencies that guide the project Technical Team (Tech Team) - Experts in various relevant science fields that evaluate and advise on the technical aspects

12. Assessment Components • Management Questions (MQs) • Conservation Elements (CEs) • Change Agents (CAs)

13. Management Question Selection • Identified the most relevant outstanding questions from previous research • AMT voted three times and identified the 20 most important questions • Examples: • AF 1. What are baseline characteristics and trends in fish habitat (lakes and streams), fish distribution, and fish movements? • AT 2. What potential impacts will oil/gas exploration and development have on CE habitat? • TC 4. What are the expected changes to habitat as a result of coastal erosion and coastal salinization? • TF 2. What are caribou preferences for vegetation communities? Where do these vegetation communities exist?

14. Conservation elements (CEs) These are the things of value in the environment . They can be:

15. Land Cover CEs Tidal marsh - high bird use Marine beach/beach meadow Coastal Plain - High-centered polygons Coastal Plain - Fresh water marsh

16. Land Species CEs Important as consumers but also as prey (including carcasses) for the large and medium-sized predators. Important subsistence resources. Caribou Nearctic collared lemming Arctic Fox Lapland Longspur Raptor concentration areas Willow ptarmigan Spectacled Eider

17. Aquatic Cover CEs • Classes based on winter water availability and connection to stream network • Deep connected lakes • Shallow connected lakes • Disconnected lakes • Classes based on differences in origin • Glacial rivers • Clear water rivers • Coastal plain rivers • Mountain streams • Coastal plain streams • Estuaries

18. Aquatic Species CEs Broad whitefish Arctic grayling Lake trout (or burbot) Dolly Varden

19. Change agents • They change the status of the conservation elements • Five primary agents of change: • Human uses • Climate change • Fire • Permafrost • Invasive species

20. Human Uses • Any use of land by humans or associated activities • Subsistence • Natural resource extraction • Transportation and communication • Recreation • Energy development

21. Climate Change Impacts at regional and local level Multiple aspects of climate change (e.g. mean temperature & precipitation, extremes, seasonal timing) Drives multiple types of change

22. Fire • Changing fire dynamics impact • landscape • Land cover • Permafrost • Frequency of fires change

23. Invasive Species • Non-native species that causes economic or environmental harm or harm to human health (Executive Order 13112)

24. Invasive Species • They harmeconomic or environmental conditions andhuman health Non-Native Plant Occurrences in North Slope

25. How it all works • REAs collect and compile data, and estimate these impacts Change Agent Conservation Element Management Question • Land managers, at all levels, can use this information in their decisions

26. Example of CA effects on CEs The effects of wildfire on caribou range Caribou herd range map Fire history

27. Example of CA effects on CEs

28. Community Engagement • News letters for all interested stakeholders • Community meetings to inform and get feedback • North Slope Borough Planning Commission • Is representative • Makes decisions on land use • Approves land use plans • Often may have need for information on possible future situations

29. What we request from you • Encourage dialogue in your communities • Follow our newsletters and keep yourself informed • Feel free to contact us with your ideas • Encourage others to contact us with their ideas • We will come back after some progress in early Spring 2014

30. Review Questions? Observations? Comments?