A mission of the Science Applications program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is to provide a partnership where the conservation community can guide more effective conservation actions in the face of resource threats amplified by a rapidly changing climate. To accomplish this mission, critical needs exist to 1) develop scientific information and tools for conservation prioritization and decision making and 2) facilitate delivery and adoption of these science products by partners operating at multiple spatial scales with varying approaches to conservation. Extending the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) Designing Sustainable Landscape (DSL) project (McGarigal et al. 2017) sponsored by Science Applications can play an important role in addressing both of these needs. Phases 1-4 of this project resulted in the development and application of the Landscape Change, Assessment and Design (LCAD) model to the Northeast Region. Importantly, the focus in phases 1-3 was to develop the overall modeling framework and develop regional products to demonstrate proof of concept and to provide conservation practitioners with some decision support. The focus in phase 4 was to develop and evaluate alternative regional landscape conservation designs for the Northeast. The work to date has resulted in the development of a thorough modeling framework and numerous datasets for the full Northeast region, including a significant component of Nature’s Network. There are many additional needs to advance the scope and utility of the DSL products, including fixing numerous data issues that were bypassed during the rapid development of the regional landscape conservation design in phases 3 and 4, and adding a much needed complimentary fine-filtered approach to the existing coarse-filtered ecological assessment and conservation design of the LCAD model.
The proposed objectives for this phase of the DSL project are as follows:
- Increase the credibility of the LCAD model and the derived products by fixing numerous data errors that were identified in previous phases but unattended to due to limited time and resources.
- Incorporate TNC's coastal resiliency product into the LCAD core area selection algorithm and rebuild Nature's Network cores and connectors.
- Expand the scope of the LCAD model by developing a prototype fine-filter assessment for two at-risk species: the spotted turtle and frosted elfin.
Award ID: F18AC00969 - 1
Funding Source: Science Applications
Amount: $253,129.80
