Integrating Oceans into the Landscape Conservation Cooperative - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Integrating Oceans into the Landscape Conservation Cooperative Network lccnetwork.org

Legacy of Success

The conservation community has successfully responded to major conservation challenges in the past:

 Overfishing  Environmental Contaminants  Depletion of Wetlands

Our Challenges

 Sea Level Rise  Genetic isolation  Invasive species  Water scarcity  Energy development  Others…

All compounded by a rapidly changing climate

Temperature Change,° C 1958-2008

Vision: Landscapes & Seascapes Capable of Sustaining Natural and Cultural Resources for Current and Future Generations

4

Involvement in the LCCs

270+ Agencies and Organizations

 All 50 state natural resource agencies  States serve as Chairs (or Vice Chairs) on ~2/3 LCC Steering

Committees

 All major federal resource management and

conservation agencies

 FWS, BLM, BOR, NPS, USGS, BIA, BOEM  USFS, NRCS, FSA, NOAA, EPA, USACE, DOE, DOD, TVA  Tribes: 20+ individual and consolidated groups  NGOs, Partnerships (JVs, FHPs), Academic: 40+  CSCs, RISAs, Climate Hubs

LCC Network

LCC Council

• Coordination & Strategic Guidance
• Federal; State; Tribal; NGO; LCCs;

Major Partnerships; International

22 Individual LCCs

• Steering Committee
• Staff
• Technical Committees

LCC Network Operations

• LCC Coordinators Team
• Science Team
• Executive Committees
• Work Groups
• Staff

Identified the LCC Network as a forum “to define, design, and deliver sustainable landscapes at a regional scale” including the development of “landscape/seascape scale plans capable of sustaining fish, wildlife, and plants”

Strategic Goals

 A network of landscapes and seascapes adaptable

to global change

 Facilitated alignment of partnership needs and

resources

 Conservation of natural and cultural resources

guided by collaborative application of science, experience, and cultural and traditional ecological knowledge

 Advance the knowledge of, support for, and

engagement in landscape-scale conservation

LCC Network Strategic Plan

Strategic Goals

LCC Network Science Plan Themes

Climate Adaptation Conservation Planning Conservation Design Data Management,

Integration, and Sharing

Socioeconomic and

Cultural Values

Science Comms and

Delivery

Monitoring

LCC Coastal and Marine Examples

South Atlantic LCC Basics

• Over 89 million acres

(terrestrial, freshwater, marine)

• 92% private land
• 120% increase in

urban area by 2050

Steering Committee

US Fish & Wildlife Service US Forest Service SC Dept. of Natura Resources The Nature Conservancy South Atlantic Fishery Management Council NOAA EPA GA Dept. of Natural Resources National Park Service FL Fish & Wildlife CC USGS VA Dept. of Game & Inland Fisheries DOD NC Wildlife Resources Commission NC Dept. of Cultural Resources

South Atlantic LCC

Mission: Create a shared blueprint for landscape conservation actions that sustain natural and cultural resources

Integrating existing plans

• TNC ecoregional plan
• Atlantic Coast JV
• PARCAs (herps)
• NBCI (bobwhite quail)
• EPA priority

watersheds

• VA Natural Lands plan
• NC BWHA
• FL CLIP
• GA Priority Waters
• AL SHUs

Draft South Atlantic Blueprint 1.0 – http://salcc.databasin.org

Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy

Gulf of Mexico Upstream Issues

• Nutrient overloading in watershed
• Diminished water quality and habitats
• Hypoxia in Gulf of Mexico
• Long term efforts underway by Gulf Hypoxia

team

• 1. Plains & Prairie Potholes LCC

Rick Nelson

• 2. Upper Midwest & Great Lakes LCC

John Rogner, Brad Potter

• 3. Eastern Tallgrass Prairie & Big Rivers LCC - Glen Salmon, Gwen White
• 4. Great Plains LCC – Nicole Athearn, James Broska
• 5. Gulf Coastal Plains & Ozarks LCC –

Greg Wathen, Todd Jones-Farrand, John Tirpak

• 6. Appalachian LCC – Cal DuBrock, Jean Brennan
• 7. Gulf Coast Prairie LCC – Bill Bartush, Cynthia Edwards

22 LCCs -- 7 span the Mississippi Basin

What if we had a

Mutually Reinforcing Plan of Action?

Where is the highest value for aligning specific conservation

actions of multiple programs?

Map high priority agricultural conservation core areas and corridors in subwatersheds at the intersection of:

• Species and habitat distribution
• Nutrient export
• Social capacity for implementation
• Connectivity for climate adaptation

Gulf Hypoxia

Goals

• Identify key scientific uncertainties

associated with design & management

• f a sustainable ecosystem/floodplain

landscape

• Identify priority watersheds by mapping

the most cost-effective and receptive places for implementing practices with multiple benefits for agricultural productivity, water quality and wildlife conservation

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Gulf of Mexico LCCs: Vulnerability Assessment

Partners

• NOAA, Gulf LCCs and

Climate Science Centers, GoM Alliance, States Issue

• How to protect & restore

coastal habitats in the face

• f sea level rise and climate

change?

Network Example: Gulf Vulnerability Assessment

 Goal: Enhance conservation and restoration

planning by better understanding climate change, sea level rise and land use change

 Builds on existing Gulf of Mexico conservation

initiatives

Ongoing case study

 The Upper Midwest & Great Lakes Landscape

Conservation Cooperative restoring the connectivity between the Great Lakes and their tributaries

Challenge identification

 Upper Midwest & Great Lakes LCC steering

committee

 Issue – barrier removal vs. retention

 Challenge facing nearly all conservation organizations around

the Great Lakes basin

Science

 Where are the barriers?

 270,000+ potential barriers around the Great Lakes

basin

 Barrier attributes – are they passable?

 Assign passability ratings – 3 categories

 Removing which barriers provides the most benefit?

 Optimization model

Basin-wide County-by-county

5x

(Preliminary results)

Credit: Tom Neeson, Michael Ferris, Jesse O’Hanley, Stephanie Januchowski-Hartley, Patrick Doran, Matt Diebel, & Peter McIntyre

Technology

 Great Lakes Information Management & Delivery

system

 A place for the community to share and transfer

information and knowledge and identify and track conservation actions toward the attainment of established conservation objectives.

Credit: Scott Sowa, TNC & Paul Seelbach, USGS

Outcome: Site-specific sea-level rise models for tidal marshes Provides high-quality local data, downscaled models, and projected storm effects for National Wildlife Refuge and NOAA National Estuarine Reserve managers

Sea Level Rise Modeling for the Pacific Coast

Case Study

 Provide important baseline information and show decadal tidal marsh changes until 2110  8 on-site workshops conducted with partners

• Priority resources and

impacts identified

• Results to be incorporated

into local and coast-wide planning and adaptation strategies

Sea Level Rise Modeling for the Pacific Coast

Western Alaska: Changes in Coastal Storms and their Impacts

Partners

• Western Alaska LCC, CSC,

NOAA, Notre Dame Issues

• Diminished sea ice buffer
• Increased vulnerability
• More frequent inundation

“[This project] is a stellar example of how one project can catalyze others and multiply the LCC’s ability to assist this vulnerable region.” – Amy Holman, NOAA

Graphic from Aimee Fish

Western Alaska LCC

projects lead to advances beyond conservation

Provide Emergency Forecasting Predict Habitat change

• Inventory projects;

refine understanding; fill data gaps

• Improve ocean storm

model & inundation maps

• Forecast real-time

threats to communities

• Catalyze other related

projects

Marine Protected Areas

Summary

 LCCs are creating forums to bring partners together

to set shared conservation priorities across landscapes and seascapes and help fill science gaps critical to coastal and marine ecosystems

How to get involved/stay informed

 Sign up for LCC Network e-newsletter at

lccnetwork.org

 Connect with LCC Coordinators and Science

Coordinators in LCCs overlapping your MPA

 Participate in LCC Steering Committees to develop

shared goals and priorities

 Talk to Brady Phillips, NOAA LCC Coordinator and

to NOAA’s LCC Council representative Michael Weiss/Buck Sutter

Questions?

lccnetwork.org Elsa_Haubold@fws.gov 703/358-1953

Photo from