This proposal is to deliver the pilot component of a wetland tracking project initiated by the CIJV in 2010. The wetland trend project will deliver an assessment of wetland trends and develop an approach for tracking wetland trends into the future; this will have relevance to conservation planning throughout transboundary ecological planning units, including Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs) 9 and 10, and the Cold Deserts and Western Cordillera Ecoregions (Figure 2). The project is currently in a scoping stage, wherein high-level approaches are being developed for wetland tracking in 2-3 regional priority areas of the CIJV. Delivery of the pilot projects will support wider implementation of the tracking project as well as validating predictive modeling of the long-term effects of climate change throughout BCR 9 and 10 wetlands.
FY2011Objectives:
To undertake one or more of the pilot projects based on the methodology created by the scoping consultant. Pilot projects will involve combinations of spatial and temporal scales which satisfy key information requirements for project partners, and in consideration of this the consultant has been requested to design at least one pilot project involving the use of satellite imagery to track wetland distribution at the scale of an ecoregion or a priority wetland region.
We expect that the lessons to be learned re: costs, logistics, operational constraints, etc. will move us forward toward operationalizing the project for wider delivery throughout the CIJV and its adjacent JVs within the GNLCC. Assessments of wetland trends will inform conservation planning tools such as priority waterfowl and waterbird decision support models, and will help validate the predictions of the related climate change modelling project.
