2013, Nevada Wildlife Action Plan: .
Congress passed the State Wildlife Grants program (SWG) in 2001 in recognition of the need for funding of wildlife diversity programs. Congress mandated each state and territory to develop a Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (now named Wildlife Action Plans) by 2005 in order to continue to receive federal funds through the SWG program. Nevada’s Wildlife Action Plan (WAP) was completed and approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 2005. Nevada’s WAP has served as a plan of action for state wildlife conservation and funding by targeting the species of greatest conservation need and the key habitats on which they depend. To date, NDOW has received over $11 million in federal dollars through the SWG program. [...]
Congress passed the State Wildlife Grants program (SWG) in 2001 in recognition of the need for funding of wildlife diversity programs. Congress mandated each state and territory to develop a Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy (now named Wildlife Action Plans) by 2005 in order to continue to receive federal funds through the SWG program. Nevada’s Wildlife Action Plan (WAP) was completed and approved by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 2005. Nevada’s WAP has served as a plan of action for state wildlife conservation and funding by targeting the species of greatest conservation need and the key habitats on which they depend. To date, NDOW has received over $11 million in federal dollars through the SWG program.
NDOW has been coordinating and leading a conservation partner planning team to revise Nevada’s Wildlife Action Plan to incorporate the potential impacts of emerging and expanding stressors including climate change, accelerated energy development, invasive species, and disease on Nevada’s fish, wildlife, and habitats. NDOW partnered with the original Wildlife Action Plan team: The Nevada Natural Heritage Program, The Lahontan Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy, and also The Great Basin Bird Observatory to develop this revision to the plan.
Among the 50 states, Nevada ranks eleventh in overall biological diversity and is unfortunately ranked fifth in the number of species extinctions. Nevada’s diversity of life is derived from its geography; the many mountain ranges are effectively isolated from one another by arid and treeless basins. Nevada’s borders encompass about 71 million acres, making it the seventh largest state. The federal government administers 86% of the land base.
Nevada is uniquely challenged in approaching effective wildlife conservation in part because of its arid climate, geography and limited water resources, which has created a unique endemic biota easily subject to threats and stressors. Throughout Nevada, water is a scarce and valuable resource essential for both human needs and maintenance of wildlife and their habitats, thus the alteration of hydrologic resources is a significant source of stress to wildlife resources. Invasive, exotic and feral species are critical problems facing both terrestrial and aquatic species and habitats in Nevada.
NDOW has been coordinating with state, federal, and local agencies, and conservation organizations to gather pertinent information for the plan revision. Public scoping meetings were held the winter of 2012 in Elko, Las Vegas, and Reno. We have been working with multiple stakeholders to assess key habitats and species most likely to be affected by these stressors and have developed effective strategies for managing and mitigating impacts. By identifying key conservation actions, we will be in a stronger position to ensure ecosystem resiliency across the changing landscape for key habitats and species. A major project theme will be “keeping common species common” through the constant assessment of the status and needs of wildlife and their habitat and the initiation of responsive action before critical thresholds are crossed.
This Nevada Wildlife Action Plan Revision (2012) is organized into 11 major sections:
Introduction
An Overview of Nevada
Approach & Methods
Nevada’s Wildlife Heritage
Challenges in Wildlife Management
Identification of Species of Conservation Priority
Defining Nevada’s Landscape for Wildlife
The Conservation Strategies for Nevada’s 22 Key Habitats and Their Associated Wildlife
Key Partnerships and Implementation Mechanisms
Conservation Education and Watchable Wildlife
Species Accounts
The sections are intended to complement each other and work together to describe the overwhelming task of comprehensive wildlife conservation in Nevada, the partners expected to participate in its ultimate achievement, and the expectations and methods of implementation.
With the help of experts from all taxonomic fields, the WAP Team identified a total of 256 Species of Conservation Priority. The various ecological systems of the state were organized into 22 key habitat types. Multi-level strategies were devised for these 22 key habitats that integrate conservation needs for species assemblages as well as individual species. Each strategy describes the habitats, their values to wildlife, land uses within the habitat and problems facing the species and habitats. This information provides support to the goals, objectives and actions that follow. The objectives and actions are derived from existing conservation plans, where available, and feedback from multiple meetings with species experts and conservation partners during the revision of the WAP. Each strategy includes a list of key conservation partners, programs, and projects likely to fulfill the objectives for each key habitat, and identifies preliminary focal areas for action through a process that involved coordination with partners and concurrent planning processes.
As in the 2005 plan, it will be the task of Nevada’s wildlife conservation partnership to evaluate the 22 strategies, set priorities, design implementation plans, monitor progress and evaluate the results. The WAP describes work prioritization and quantifiable objectives, key partnerships and implementation mechanisms, including several proposed examples to achieve successful implementation of the WAP. During implementation of Nevada’s WAP, it is critical to recognize the importance of monitoring success and adjusting priorities and actions (adaptive management).
The Nevada Wildlife Action Plan (WAP) serves as a comprehensive, landscape level plan, identifying the species of greatest conservation need and the key habitats on which they depend, with the intent to prevent wildlife species from becoming threatened or endangered. The WAP contains conservation actions to provide guidance to successfully conserve Nevada’s key habitats and priority species. Many of the conservation actions within the WAP are strategies identified in other existing conservation plans. During WAP implementation, conservation actions developed at the state or local level would be used to provide guidance to address site-specific conditions as appropriate. Some of these actions may be applicable at the land use plan level, and some more appropriately applied at an activity plan or site-specific plan level.
The next step in the ongoing implementation phase will be to tier down possible actions identified in the WAP that will form the basis for prioritized work plans, site-specific decisions, and planned actions. Wildlife conservation partners and stakeholders will be encouraged to contribute to and review these implementation processes.