Making Landscape Assessments More Useable for Local Aquatic Resource Management Brian Laub Wally Macfarlane Justin Jimenez Scott Miller Jeremy Jarnecke Ken Bradshaw Kevin Miller Phaedra Budy Joe Wheaton ERWP Meeting: Oct 13, 2016
Setting the Stage • The goal of this project is to make landscape products more usable to resources managers • Your involvement is critical for us to achieve this goal • We need your insights and feedback!
Project Timeline I. Early Fall - Kickoff Meeting II. Winter - REA/AIM/Other landscape analyses III. Early Spring I. Meetings to summarize landscape analyses II. Feedback from BLM/Partnership IV. Spring/Early Summer I. Incorporate feedback II. Compare/contrast landscape analyses III. Develop conceptual models/useable products V. Early Summer - Presentation of preliminary final recommendations I. Feedback from BLM/Partnership VI. Late Summer/Early Fall – Final Reports and Presentations
Presentation Outline I. Aquatic resources management challenges & threats II. The BLM’s landscape approach & landscape products I. COPL Rapid Ecoregion Assessment (REA) II. COPL REA aquatic intactness model & step-down analysis at sub-watershed scale III. Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) framework III. Our proposed project approach I. Additional analyses to improve the accessibility and usability of landscape level products IV. Discussion
Management Challenges • Public lands are increasingly threatened by environmental & socioeconomic challenges that transcend management boundaries.
Threats to Aquatic/Riparian Resources • Climate change, invasive species, livestock grazing, energy development and so on… From Rehydrating Nevada presentation, Carol Evans
2050 Predicted Water Supply Impacts Roy et al. (2010) Tetra Tech http://www.global-warming-forecasts.com/water-supply-shortage-water-scarcity-climate.php
BLM’s Landscape Approach • To address these management challenges & to ensure the sustainability of their multiple use mandate, the BLM has adopted a Landscape Approach .
BLM’s Landscape Approach • Uses broad ecological assessments to discern Assess ecological values, patterns problem of environmental change, Set Adjust Ecoregional and management Data, Direction Information, opportunities that may not Science be evident when managing Basis for smaller land areas. understanding the Create an status and condition of • Uses this information to Evaluate Operational public lands, LU Plan resources, and other inform and plan long-term values. conservation, restoration, Monitor Implement and development efforts. (AIM) the Plan IB 2012-058
BLM’s Landscape Approach • “REAs will aid in developing broad-level management Assess strategies of an ecoregion’s problem public lands.” Set Adjust Ecoregional • “At the local level, REAs will Data, Direction Information, enhance the quality of Science land-use planning and Basis for analysis … and will understanding the Create an status and condition of Evaluate Operational strengthen analyses of public lands, LU Plan resources, and other potential and cumulative values. effects of climate change Monitor Implement and other disturbances on (AIM) the Plan ecological values.”
Resource Condition and Threats • Multiple spatial data sources were assessed to evaluate landscape intactness (terrestrial and aquatic). – Areas of high and low resource integrity • Also looked at “change agents” – threats to intactness – E.g., climate change, wildland fire, oil and gas development • Used conservation elements to identify potentially important areas for conservation/restoration – E.g., sensitive species such as sage grouse and flannelmouth sucker
Example REA Output
Example REA Output
Example REA Output
COPL REA Timeline • Initiated 2010 • Completed 2012 – Aquatic intactness model unsatisfactory and at coarse scale (5 th level HUC) • 2015 – Revised aquatic intactness model and step-down analysis at sub-watershed scale – COPL and state of Utah – Data available through BLM • http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/Landscape_Approach/ dataportal.html
Aquatic Intactness Model https://databasin.org/maps
Aquatic Intactness: Escalante Very High High Moderately High Moderately Low Low Very Low https://databasin.org/maps
COPL REA Intactness Model
COPL REA Intactness Model
COPL REA Intactness Model
Project Approach Very High High • Perform detailed analysis of Escalante watershed aquatic Moderately High intactness model Moderately Low • Why did mapped sub-watersheds appear as low vs. high intactness? Low • What stressors were causing low intactness? Very Low • Were similar stressors acting across the watershed or were stressors unique between sub-watersheds? • Understand uncertainty in intactness rankings https://databasin.org/maps
BLM’s Landscape Approach • Uses broad ecological assessments to discern ecological values, Assess problem patterns of environmental Set change, and management Adjust Ecoregional Data, Direction opportunities that may Information, not be evident when Science managing smaller land Basis for understanding the Create an areas status and condition of Evaluate Operational public lands, LU Plan • Uses this information to resources, and other values. inform and plan long- term conservation, Monitor Implement (AIM) the Plan restoration, and development efforts. IB 2012-058
AIM Strategy Overview A national strategy designed to: • Promote integrated, cross-program resource inventory, assessment and monitoring at multiple scales of management AIM National Aquatic Monitoring Framework: Introducing the • Collecting consistent, comparable and Framework and Indicators for Lotic quantitative monitoring data to Systems understand renewable resource condition and trend and inform adaptive management Technical Reference 1735-1
AIM Methods: What is measured? Chemical Total Nitrogen Total Phosphorous Physical Conductivity Temperature pH Substrate Pool dimensions/freq. Biological Bankfull width/depth Macroinvertebrates Incision depth % Shade Bank angle/stability LWD 20 x Riparian veg. complexity BFW
AIM Results: Priority Stressors by District Percentage of stream km Percentage of stream km
AIM Results
Presentation Outline I. Aquatic resources management challenges & threats II. The BLM’s landscape approach & landscape products I. COPL Rapid Ecoregion Assessment (REA) II. COPL REA aquatic intactness model & step-down analysis at sub-watershed scale III. Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) framework III. Our proposed project approach I. Additional analyses to improve the accessibility and usability of landscape level products IV. Discussion
Project Approach: REA - AIM • Compare/contrast REA & AIM results • Are conditions and stressors consistent? • If not, what are the discrepancies and why? • Understand limitations of REA step-down products
Project Approach: Compare & Contrast Compare/contrast REA analyses with: • Riparian Condition Assessment Tools (RCAT) • Others (Trout Unlimited, Forest Service watershed rankings, local data – others we are missing?) • Are conditions and stressors consistent?
Project Approach: Compare with RVD • RVD is a stream network model that assesses riparian vegetation condition & is one of the R-CAT tools • How does the Riparian Vegetation Departure (RVD) model compare?
Project Approach: Compare RVD Graphical Abstract: –
RVD Inputs: LANDFIRE Existing Vegetation
RVD Inputs: LANDFIRE BpS
The Scale of RVD Data… • Riparian vegetation Note: The model can be departure calculated for run with higher every 30 m pixel within resolution inputs valley bottom • Then… summed up by reaches… for display at broader scales… 0 1
Utah-wide Riparian Vegetation Departure (RVD) From: Macfarlane et al. (Revisions in Review) – Journal of Environmental Management
But what is the cause of departure? Riparian Vegetation Conversion Type (RVCT)
Utah-wide Riparian Vegetation Conversion Type
R-CAT Development & Data • The R-CAT tools are automated and available as ArcGIS toolboxes (see https://bitbucket.org/jtgilbert/riparian-condition- assessment-tools) • Utah-wide data is available at: http://etal.joewheaton.org/rcat
R-CAT Publications
Project Approach: Can these be integrated? This map provides a sub-watershed level summary of condition but lacks the resolution needed for stream segment level management. AIM Site Data: Network Summary: Sub-Watershed Intactness: Can these assessment products be integrated or are the different scales of measurement incompatible?
It might help if we could transform… Site Data: Network Summary: This could be done with AIM data because of the probability-based (GRTS) design .
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