ABSTRACT: Planning tool software informs decisions about conservation actions for biodiversity and other natural values, such as scenery or ecosystem services, and identifies either (a) sets of complementary sites needed to achieve quantitative targets for biodiversity features or (b) the complementary contribution that individual sites make to biodiversity conservation within a region (Sarkar et al. 2006). These types of tools also inform decisions relative to identifying and the prioritizing working lands.
This rapid assessment was conducted to (a) describe the suite of web-based conservation and working lands planning tools available and (b) inform a suite of recommendations to advance LCD implementation efforts. Although the focus of this assessment was on tools used in Oregon and Washington, this document includes software developed and used in other locations that could inform PNW LCD efforts.
Any tools used for landscape-scale planning should address key regional and community needs, facilitate identifying priorities to inform landscape-level planning, incorporate climate change considerations with other goals, have attainable data requirements, have attainable capacity requirements and costs, operate at useful temporal and spatial scales, provide actionable-level information, have been validated, and have guidance for appropriate use (Crist et al. 2014). Desirable value-added attributes of tools used for landscape-scale planning include spatial display of information, validation in local ecosystems, and the ability to work across ecosystems, reflect dynamic environments, incorporate uncertainty and risk, and integrate traditional ecological knowledge and western science (Crist et al. 2014). Numerous conservation planning tools have been developed to meet specific elements of conservation planning processes, from identifying key wildlife corridors and species distributions to evaluating existing and emerging key threats and stressors. The majority of these tools are open-source.
AWARD ID: PR 40407824
START DATE: 08/30/2018
END DATE: 12/31/2019
SOURCE: Region 1 Science Applications
AMOUNT: $15,000
PI: Lisa A. DeBruyckere
CONTACT INFO: Lisa A. DeBruyckere, President; 6159 Rosemeadow Lane NE
Salem, OR 97317; (503) 371-5939; Mobile: (503) 704-2884
lisad@createstrat.com | http://www.createstrat.com
LEAD ORG: Creative Resource Strategies
FWS PO: Tom Miewald, thomas_miewald@fws.gov
