U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey
Integrated Landscape MonitoringGreat Basin PilotIntegrated Landscape MonitoringGreat Basin Pilot
Carol Schuler
Forest and Rangeland
Ecosystem Science Center
June 2007
2
•To inform about the Great Basin Integrated Landscape MonitoringProject (GBILM)
•To gain understanding of NPS landscape monitoring activities andneeds in the Great Basin
•To discuss how to make GBILM useful for the NPS
-Project approach and direction
-Ecosystem drivers
-Management and monitoring questions
-Example projects
-Complement ongoing NPS activities
Purpose and Desired OutcomesPurpose and Desired Outcomes
3
USGS Science ThrustUSGS Science Thrust
•Pilot new concepts or promote new program areas
•Integrated landscape monitoring
-Reconcile site-specific actions/events with landscape-scaleprocesses and functions
•4 pilots
-Lower Mississippi Valley
-Prairie Potholes
-Puget Sound
-Great Basin
4
Integrated Landscape MonitoringIntegrated Landscape Monitoring
•Goal:
-Reconcile site-specific actions/events withlandscape-scale processes and functions
-Address priority natural resource managementand policy issues at the landscape scale
•Integrated: among government agencies,stakeholders, scientific disciplines; andacross political and jurisdictional boundaries
•Landscape: spatial and temporal scales
•Monitoring: collection and analysis ofrepeated observations to evaluate change
5
Great Basin ILM GoalGreat Basin ILM Goal
•Develop and test integrated landscape-level monitoringthat addresses priority management issues and providescapabilities to detect and predict landscape change.
−Understand cumulative effects of local actions/events
−Understand change at landscape scale
−Develop predictive capability of landscape change
−Develop or refine monitoring strategies
−Prioritize actions such as mitigation and restoration
6
The Great BasinThe Great Basin
•Over 111 millionacres
•Five western states
•78% public lands
•N-S Mountain ranges
•Varied elevationalgradients
•Water drains inland
Blue boundary – GB boundary
Orange boundary – GB with 50 m buffer
7
Why Focus on The Great Basin?Why Focus on The Great Basin?
•Species of concern (e.g., sage-grouse, pygmy rabbit, Brewer’ssparrow, Virgin River chub)
•54% of remaining sagebrush
•Diverse & accelerating stressors
-Urban expansion
-Limited water supply
-Spread of invasive species
-Altered fire cycle
8
•Test approach to understanding change at the landscapescale
•Established interdisciplinary team
−USGS, NPS (Marie Denn, Angie Evenden, Debra Hughson),BLM, FWS, and EPA
•Develop project scope
–Limited resources
–Mine, evaluate, and analyze existing data
•Website (myUSGS.gov)
GBILM - Phased ApproachGBILM - Phased Approach
9
Phased ApproachPhased Approach
•Develop conceptual models
•Identify and prioritize ecosystem drivers
•Develop and prioritize management questions
•Develop pilot projects to address management questions
•Mine, compile, and analyze existing data
•Develop tools to analyze data
at multiple scales
•Identify data gaps
•Predict and monitor changes
10
Integration & Application Network
Conceptual Models: Tools for UnderstandingConceptual Models: Tools for Understanding
•Describes key ecological components and relationshipsbetween them
•Used for planning, communicating, and prioritizing
•GBILM Models:
−Characterize landscape function
−Identify ecological processes
−Develop/prioritize management issues
−Inform monitoring strategy development
−Identify gaps in understanding of ecosystem
function
11
Framework ModelFramework Model
SystemsModel: Dry SystemSystems Model: Dry System
Control Model: Sagebrush steppeControl Model: Sagebrush steppe
Stressor Model: Fire/Invasives InteractionsStressor Model: Fire/Invasives Interactions
Historic
Historic
Invasives:
Introduced annuals
and Rabbitbrush
Invasives:
Introduced annuals
and Rabbitbrush
12
Ecosystem DriversEcosystem Drivers
“Ecosystem drivers are any natural or human-induced factor that directly or indirectly causes achange in an ecosystem.”
Carpenter et al., 2006
Invasive species
Invasive species
Agriculture
Agriculture
Altered Flow Regime
Erosion
13
Drivers of ChangeDrivers of Change
14
Three Priority DriversThree Priority Drivers
•Water Extraction (Wet System)
•Fire and Invasive Species Interaction (Dry System)
•Land Treatments (Dry System)
15
Management QuestionsManagement Questions
•Why develop management questions?•Why develop management questions?
-Foundation for landscape monitoring program
-Reflect real-life needs of management partners
-Bring focus and relevance to our work
-Provide basis for evaluating interactions amongmanagement actions, environmental factors, andlandscape change
16
Project DevelopmentProject Development
•Develop focused projects to address questions
•Data mining and evaluation
•Identify data gaps
•Data analysis to assess status and trends, and predict change
•Identify and communicate how results can inform management
•Identify research needs
•Develop or refine monitoring strategies
17
Example 1: Water Extraction ProjectExample 1: Water Extraction Project
Management QuestionsManagement Questions
•How will increased water extraction impact phreatophytes?
•Can phreatophytic communities act as indicators of impactedgroundwater systems?
Pilot ProjectPilot Project
•Identify locations of phreatophytic communities and correlate withaquifer flow system conditions.
•Identify areas at risk from increased water withdrawals.
18
Water Extraction ProjectWater Extraction Project
Pilot Project TasksPilot Project Tasks
1.Map phreatophytic land cover by categorizing evapotranspiration as afunction of critical characteristics:
Geomorphology, vegetation species composition, elevation, hydrology
2.Map groundwater change over time
3.Evaluate change over time to phreatophytic land cover
Applicability to Management QuestionsApplicability to Management Questions
•Provides assessment of status and trends of groundwater
•Establishes dataset of phreatophyte coverage across Great Basin
•Identifies environmental areas of concern or sensitivity
•Addresses utility of phreatophytes as indicators of impacts to groundwatersystem
•Develop tools that help to predict and manage for the effectsof groundwater extraction across the Great Basin
19
Potential Phreatophytic Land CoverPotential Phreatophytic Land Cover
Potential phreatophytic land cover
Waterbodies
Agricultural land cover
Map scale is 1:1,500,000
20
Example 2: Fire and Invasive SpeciesExample 2: Fire and Invasive Species
Management QuestionsManagement Questions
•How should managers prioritize efforts to manage fire cycles with thegoal of retaining and restoring desired plant communities?
Pilot ProjectPilot Project
•Use spatial patterns of fire and landscape characteristics to evaluatehow invasive plants have altered fire regimes
•Create models and a sampling design to monitor and assesschanges in fire regimes and vegetation over time
21
Fire and Invasive SpeciesFire and Invasive Species
Pilot Project TasksPilot Project Tasks
1.Create maps of fire distributions over time in the Great Basin
2.Evaluate hypotheses on how invasive plants have altered fire regimes andhow these relationships may change in the future
3.Create models and a sampling design to monitor and assess changes in fireregimes and vegetation over time
Applicability to Management QuestionsApplicability to Management Questions
•Develop tools to monitor and predict fire regimes among major vegetationtypes
•Evaluates and predicts trends for altered fire regimes among majorvegetation types
•Assesses vegetation types at risk to altered fire regimes due to invasivespecies, landscape characteristics, and climate change scenarios
•Prioritizes major vegetation types for suppression and mitigation actionsdesigned to prevent the establishment of grass/fire cycles
22
Fire and Invasive SpeciesFire and Invasive Species
23
Example 3: Land TreatmentsExample 3: Land Treatments
Management QuestionsManagement Questions
•How are different land treatments influencing vegetation and wildlife habitats?
•How and where can land managers use land treatments to achieve multipleobjectives, including maintaining and restoring wildlife habitat?
Pilot ProjectPilot Project
•Synthesis of monitoring efforts in the Great Basin
•Assess and predict effects of land treatments at various scaleson wildlife habitat
•Initial focus on areas in Utah and the tri-states targeted forHLI funding
•Eventually expand to rest of Great Basin
24
Pilot Project TasksPilot Project Tasks
1.Create relational database of treatment information (1950 to present)
Treatment description, monitoring information, spatial data, referencephotos, etc.
2.Develop predictive models on effects of treatments on wildlife habitats
3.Evaluate which land treatments can be used to improve habitatconnectivity and where they can be placed (in a landscape context)
Management ApplicationManagement Application
•Establishes a common database and maps of land treatmentsacross Great Basin
•Provides predictive models that estimate effectsof land treatments onwildlife habitats, particularly sage grouse and other high profile species
•Provides information on treatment effectiveness
Land TreatmentsLand Treatments
25
Land Treatments DatabaseLand Treatments Database
Source: Five Mile Mountain Sagebrush Restoration Project EA
26
Krissy Bush
Krissy Bush
Long-term ValueLong-term Value
•Builds understanding of ecosystem processes
•Identifies priority management issues and ensures research isrelevant
•Can address additional management questions and drivers
•Fill data gaps and identify new research needs
•Informs management issues and practices at landscape scales
•Develops or refines long-term monitoring strategies
•Ultimately, provides a
predictive capability of
landscape change
27
•What are the collaboration opportunities between NPS and USGS?
•Focusing on most appropriate management questions?
•Addressing high priority monitoring needs?
•Making results more accessible and useful?
•Who should we communicate with to build buy-in and obtain input?
Discussion Topics – Seeking Your AdviceDiscussion Topics – Seeking Your Advice
28
•Amy Mathie
•amthie@usgs.gov; 775-887-7670
Water Extraction ProjectWater Extraction Project
•Matt Brooks
•mlbrooks@usgs.gov; 702-564-4615
Fire-Invasives ProjectFire-Invasives Project
•David Pilliod
•dpilliod@usgs.gov; 208-426-5202
Land Treatment ProjectLand Treatment Project
•Tom Owens
•tom_owens@usgs.gov; 303-202-4071
Motorized Vehicle Access ProjectMotorized Vehicle Access Project
•Carol Schuler carol_schuler@usgs.gov; (541) 750-1030
•Kate Kitchell kate_kitchell@usgs.gov; (541) 750-1033
Great Basin ILM Project ContactsGreat Basin ILM Project Contacts