The Planning Process

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The Planning Process
I. Identify the problem
II. Conduct a needs assessment and
identify the issues
III. Find solutions
IV. Implement the plan
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The Valley Grasslands Ecosystem Management Plan

• Presented by
• Ecosystem Management Class
• (NRC 549)
• Spring 2006

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Purpose and Need

• There are growing concerns over the decline of
  grasslands in the Connecticut River Valley
• Decline of plant animal grassland species
• Loss of rural character

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Purpose and Need

• Loss of grasslands is driven by urban sprawl and
  anthropogenic disruption of natural disturbance
  processes

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Purpose and Need

• Some organizations have recognized the importance
  of grassland conservation and have begun to
  independently protect individual parcels
• These efforts have been fragmented, poorly
  coordinated, and opportunistic in nature

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Purpose and Need

• To facilitate more effective grassland
  conservation in the Valley, we developed a
  comprehensive strategic regional plan for
  grassland conservation based on the principles of
  ecosystem management.

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Project Area
Connecticut River Valley Ecoregion The Valley
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Project Area

• 141,040 ha (1,410 km2)
• Intersects 3 counties
• (Franklin, Hampshire,
• Hampden)

• Intersects 33 towns
• 6,542 km of roads

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Project Area

• Forested uplands (36)
• Residential (23)
• Agriculture/grasslands (21)
• Wetlands and aquatic (11)
• Urban (9)
• Non-forested uplands (1)

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Project Area

• Agriculture (orange)
• 22,436 ha (16)
• 1966 Patches
• 11.4 ha mean (1-1,375 ha)

• Cultural Grasslands (green)
• 3,880 ha (3)
• 855 patches
• 4.5 ha mean (1-708 ha)

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Guiding Philosophy

• The primary goal of ecosystem management is to
  bring the human social and economic needs into
  closer agreement with the ecological capabilities
  to ensure the sustainability of ecological and
  socioeconomic systems.
• This goal rests on a set of premises about
  ecosystems which serve as the guiding principles
  for our Valley Grasslands Management Plan.

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Guiding Philosophy

• Ecosystems must be sustained for the long-term
  well-
• being of both humans and other forms of life.

• Ecosystems naturally contain redundancy which
  ensures resilience following disturbance and
  stress.

• The maintenance of ecosystem and disturbance
  processes are important to ecological viability.

• The maintenance of the natural range of
  variability of ecosystems is critical to the
  promotion of biodiversity and ecological function.

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Overall Goal

• Our overall goal is to develop a long-term (100
  year) adaptive management plan for promoting the
  ecological integrity of Valley grasslands while
  meeting the socioeconomic needs of the principle
  stakeholders.

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The Planning Process
I. Identify the problem
II. Conduct a needs assessment and
identify the issues
III. Find solutions
IV. Implement the plan
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Principal Stakeholders
Identifying and Prioritizing Stakeholders

• Brainstormed a list of stakeholders
• Prioritized by the class

1. Farmers 2. Mass Wildlife 3. US Fish
Wildlife Service 4. Land trusts 5.
Residential land owners 6. Viewing/hiking 7.
Mass Audubon 8. Westover AFB 9. State elected
representatives 10. Fishing/hunting 11. Real
estate developers 12. Local businesses 13.
Department of Conservation Recreation 14. Local
planning board
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Stakeholder Input A Summary

• Important Issues
• Development and habitat fragmentation
• Maintaining rural character
• Declining grassland species
• Loss of land and water quality
• Economic integrity
• Existence of agriculture to preserve open spaces

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Valley Grasslands
What are Valley Grasslands?
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Valley Grasslands
Summit Balds
Cultural Grasslands
Sandplain Grasslands
Hydrologic Grasslands
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Cultural Grasslands

• Human created and maintained
• typically through mowing
• - pastures
• - hayfields
• Nutrient rich soils

• Composed of 90 non-
• native plant species
• - sheep fescue
• - sweet vernal grass
• - spotted knapweed
• Native species include
• - little bluestem
• - poverty grass

Little Bluestem
Sheep Fescue
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Cultural Grasslands
Grasshopper Sparrow

• State-listed species
• - Grasshopper sparrow
• - Vesper sparrow
• - Upland sandpiper
• - Pine streak
• - Unexpected cyncia

Upland Sandpiper
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Cultural Grasslands

• 3,887 ha total area
• 333 ha protected

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Sandplain Grasslands

• Sandy, nutrient poor soil
• Frequent drought conditions
• Highly flammable plant species
• Fire as main disturbance

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Sandplain Grasslands
Short Eared Owl

• Example species
• - Pitch pine
• - Scrub oak
• - Little bluestem
• - Poverty grass
• - Short-eared owl
• - Grasshopper sparrow

Pitch Pine
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Sandplain Grasslands

• 1,117 ha total area
• 767 ha protected

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Key Issues

• Loss and fragmentation of grassland due to
  development
• Degradation of grassland due to pollution and
  non-native species
• Disruption of the ecological disturbance
  processes
• Loss of grassland-dependent species
• Lack of legal protection for grasslands
• Lack of clear and consistent definition of
  grasslands
• Loss of rural character due to development
• Lack of balance of different grassland types
• Lack of comprehensive inventory of grasslands
• Lack of assurance that grasslands will be around
  for generations
• Loss of economic benefits derived from grasslands

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Vision
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Vision

• The Connecticut River valley grasslands will
  contribute to the sustainability of the economic
  and social systems maintain diverse, healthy and
  resilient grasslands and provide for the
  long-term maintenance and restoration of
  ecological conditions. Within the bounds of
  socio-economic sustainability, there will be a
  diverse and abundant mixture of grassland types
  that support viable populations of associated
  fish and wildlife, with an emphasis on threatened
  and endangered species and migratory birds.
  Valley grasslands will be known and appreciated
  among regional and local communities. The Valley
  Grasslands Plan will be a showcase for ecosystem
  management techniques designed to preserve and
  enhance a diverse set of grassland habitats and
  associated flora and fauna.

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Goals-Objectives-Strategies
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The Planning Process
I. Identify the problem
II. Conduct a needs assessment and
identify the issues
III. Find solutions
IV. Implement the plan
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Ecological Goal

• Grasslands have high ecological integrity (e.g.,
  support viable populations of grassland-dependent
  species and are free of invasive, non-native
  species), are well-distributed throughout the
  Valley, and exist in a landscape context that
  promotes critical ecological flows (e.g.,
  dispersal and gene flow).

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Ecological Objectives Strategies

• 3. By 2020, for each Valley grassland type,
  permanently protect from development all lands
  within several large, well-distributed Grassland
  Conservation Areas (GCAs) possessing high
  ecological integrity.

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Grassland Conservation Strategy

• Network of Grassland
• Conservation Areas
• (GCAs)
• - Ecological focus
• (by grassland type)
• - Cultural focus
• Supporting landscape

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Grassland Conservation Areas
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Educational Goal

• Public understands and appreciates the importance
  of protected grasslands in the Valley to both
  grassland-dependent species and human communities
  and they understand and appreciate the publics
  role in conserving grassland habitats.

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Education Objectives Strategies

• 1. By 2010, 25 of the public demonstrates an
  understanding and appreciation of the importance
  of protected grasslands in the Valley to both
  natural and human communities.
• Example strategies
• Web sites
• Quarterly newsletter
• School programs
• Environmental center programs

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The Planning Process
I. Identify the problem
II. Conduct a needs assessment and
identify the issues
III. Find solutions
IV. Implement the plan
50
Timeline

• Year 1
• Form the Valley Grasslands Partnership
• Hire director and assistants, set-up office
• Form Natural Resource/Ecology Advisory Team
• Conduct cultural inventory of Valley grasslands
• Monitor visitation of cultural grasslands

• Year 2-5
• Complete ecological inventory of grasslands
• Help create recovery plans for threatened and
  endangered species
• Establish website, publish newsletter, hire
  education director
• Monitor property values
• Solicit monetary contributions

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Timeline

• Years 5 10
• Create grassland educational programs
• Focus on land purchase and transfer of property
  development rights for GCAs, supporting
  landscape, and cultural lands
• Begin site-specific management actions

• Years 10 20
• Continue land acquisition and purchase of
  development rights efforts in GCAs and supporting
  landscape
• Continue site-specific management actions

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20 Year Ballpark Budget Proposal

• Valley Grasslands Partnership
• Salaries 2,800,000
• Office 700,000
• Total 3,500,000
• Land protection
• GCA (4488 ha) 27,700,000
• Supporting Landscape (2468 ha) 15,200,000
• Total 42,900,000
• Ecological Actions
• Species inventory 30,000
• Recovery plans 10,000
• Habitat actions 2,200,000
• Total 2,240,000

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20 Year Ballpark Budget Proposal

• Socioeconomic Actions
• Inventory/survey 16,000
• Land value monitoring 20,000
• Total 36,000
• Education Actions
• Website, newsletter 80,000
• Public programs 100,000
• Student grants 200,000
• Total 380,000
• Grand Total ? 50,000,000

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The Planning Process
I. Identify the problem
II. Conduct a needs assessment and
identify the issues
III. Find solutions
IV. Implement the plan