A landsea toolkit: NatureServe Vista, CommunityViz, and NSPECT Track A Land Sea Session CoastalMarin

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A land-sea toolkit NatureServe Vista,
CommunityViz, and N-SPECTTrack A Land Sea
Session Coastal-Marine Ecosystem-Based
Management Tools Training for South Pacific
Practitioners

• Patrick J. Crist, Lynn Scharf (NatureServe)
• Ken Dutton, Sally Morehead, Kiersten Madden
  (MANERR)
• Dave Eslinger (NOAA)
• Doug Walker (Placeways)

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Land-sea Integration Challenges

• Problem 1 Land use resource management
  planning/policy are not typically integrated.
• Problem 2 conservation planning is typically
  segregated by ecosystem divisions (terrestrial,
  freshwater, marine)
• Results in
• (At best) inefficiency by failing to leverage
  conservation actions that can serve multiple
  objectives
• (Typically) failure to identify threats outside
  the ecosystem and continuing habitat loss

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The Vision

• A planner (land use, infrastructure,
  conservation, etc.) proposes a future scenario
  and readily obtains
• An assessment of the ramifications on
  terrestrial, freshwater, and marine
  ecosystems/biodiversity, allowing
• Directed scenario modification/mitigation that
  maximizes/leverages conservation impact at least
  cost across ecosystems

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Project Concepts

• Three tools can be operated in support of
  specific sectoral missions (land use,
  conservation, water quality)
• But they can be interoperated to facilitate
  integrated planning
• Which can assist cooperative planning
  partnerships

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Project Objectives

• Demonstrate the linkage of 3 EBM tools to address
  integrated land-sea planning
• Create a documented methodology for the
  integration and interoperability of these tools
• Assist Aransas County with analyses to
  demonstrate the need for increased land use
  planning authority

Study area 217,211 ha
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The Tools
C

• Integration through interoperation of three
  tools
• CommunityViz land use planning tool and
  integrator of tool indicators
• NatureServe Vista conservation planning
  ecological indicators tool
• N-SPECT water quality modeling assessment tool

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Step 1 Map Land Use Scenarios w/CommunityViz

• CommunityViz is used to map, visualize, and
  characterize indicators in a variety of scenarios
  for land use planning purposes
• Model trends in scenarios
• Guide development of alternative future scenarios

MANERR Integrated Land Sea Planning
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Step 2 Define Scenarios for Assessment

• Scenarios are imported from CViz and augmented
  with other data in Vista
• Scenarios are used to assess conservation goal
  achievement
• Scenarios can be
• Current situation
• Plan/policy based future scenario
• Trend future scenario
• Alternative plans, proposals, mitigations

MANERR Integrated Land Sea Planning
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Step 3 Map Characterize Conservation Elements

• Element information in Vista is comprised of
  spatial occurrence data, expert-derived
  parameters, and values such as importance weights

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Step 4 Evaluate Scenarios with Vista

• Evaluations quantify and map impacts relative to
  element goal achievement
• Compatibility conflict maps shows locations and
  richness of elements that have not met retention
  goals are in conflict with the scenario

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Vista scenario evaluation terrestrial

• Reports quantify goal achievement, new and
  cumulative impacts, and effects on viability

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Step 5 Incorporate Water Quality using N-SPECT
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N-SPECT Outputs

• Water quality outputs from N-SPECT comparing
  baseline traditional scenarios

Sediment concentration
Accumulated sediment
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Step 6 Water Quality Ecological Assessment

• N-SPECT freshwater outputs are imported into the
  Vista scenario definition.
• Estuary sedimentation levels modeled in ArcView
  (under development)
• Compatibility or condition-based evaluation can
  be conducted

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Step 7 Scenario Evaluation with Aquatic Impacts

• Land based threats (sedimentation) can then be
  assessed for impact on aquatic resources (e.g.,
  sea grass beds)

• Growth model predicts improved quality (as a
  factor of mitigating agricultural runoff) but big
  impacts on terrestrial biodiversity

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Step 8 Assessing Results, Identifying
Opportunities

• Site Explorer (Vista) provides context for site
  to determine mitigation need and opportunity
• But need to mentally connect aquatic features to
  terrestrial impacts

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Step 9 Creating Alternative Scenarios Site
Mitigations
Predicted increase in goal achievement w/land use
change

• Specify alternative uses for the site view
  immediate results. Save results to create
  alternative scenario

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Step 10 Integrate and Re-analyze in CommunityViz

• Site mitigation from Vista in new CommunityViz
  scenario with indicators.

Area of mitigated land use from Vista mitigation
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Step 11 Integrate Re-Analyze in N-SPECT
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Step 12 Re-Analyze in Vista
Traditional Development Conflicts
Mitigated Scenario Conflicts
Conflicts partially mitigated
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Thoughts on Implementation

• We demonstrated that one GIS analyst can learn
  and interoperate the tools
• However, what they do with each tool is often
  specific to different institutions missions
• This suggests different partnership models
• First where each institution operates the
  appropriate tools under agreements of overriding
  goals and information exchange
• Second where institutions jointly support a
  center of analyses that manages data and operates
  the tools on their behalf

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Implementation Continued

• Regardless of partnership structure, this type of
  planning must be dynamic
• Periodic updates wont work as the sectors will
  evolve on independent timeframes
• A strong partnership to ensure dynamic
  information exchange and real-time analyses and
  adaptive planning is required
• Permanent working groups especially with
  scientific participation is very useful

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Questions?Acknowledgments

• David Lucille Packard Foundation for MANERR
  Project Funding
• EBM Tools Program for Conference Support