DLCC.LCPD.ImplementationPlan.12-15-2014a.pdf

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Climate-Smart Landscape Conservation Planning & Design DRAFT Implementation Plan, 2014-2016 Version 1.1, December 15, 2014 ii

Contents Climate Change Committee ....................................................................................................... iii

Communications and Engagement ............................................................................................ iii

Background

What is this document?

What is climate-smart conservation?

What is landscape conservation planning and design?

Why is landscape conservation planning and design needed?

What is the Conservation Planning Atlas?

How will climate-smart landscape conservation planning and design help us?

Desert LCC Climate-Smart Landscape Conservation Planning & Design

What does success look like and how will we know when we get there?

Outline of Landscape Conservation Planning & Design Phases

APPENDIX A: Map of Project Area

APPENDIX B: Ecosystem Pressures and Stressors of Greatest Concern to the Desert LCC ... 3

APPENDIX C: Assessing Vulnerability to Climate Change for Climate-Smart Landscape Conservation Design

APPENDIX D: Resources to Consider in the Landscape Conservation Planning

APPENDIX E: Desert LCC Adaptation Strategies for Priority Resources Table

Figures Figure 1. Climate-Smart Conservation Framework and Desert LCC Groups and Activities Figure 2. Desert LCC Planning and Design for Climate-Smart Landscape Conservation Figure 3. Identifying shared goals, objectives, and targets for achieving collective impact with conservation efforts Figure 4. Using indicators to measure the success of conservation actions to address ecosystem pressures and stressors… iii

Landscape Conservation Planning & Design Working Group Landscape Ecologist / Project Manager (TBD through competitive funding opportunity)

Desert LCC Staff:

Aimee Roberson, Desert LCC Science Coordinator, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Genevieve Johnson, Desert LCC Coordinator, Bureau of Reclamation Sally Holl, Desert LCC Data Coordinator, U.S. Geological Survey

Claire DeVaughan, U.S. Geological Survey Armand Gonzales, California Department of Fish and Wildlife Sallie Hejl, National Park Service Joseph Lujan, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Louise Misztal, Sky Island Alliance Kelly Mott Lacroix, University of Arizona, Water Resources Research Center Ken Nowak, Bureau of Reclamation Duane Pool, Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory Esther Rubin, Arizona Game and Fish Department Jim Weigand, Bureau of Land Management Aaron Wilkerson, Bureau of Land Management Others?

Climate Change Committee Potential members could include people with expertise in:

Climate change (e.g., Southwest Climate Science Center, South Central Climate Science Center) Climate Change POCs from Desert LCC member organizations Human dimensions of conservation and climate change Others?

Communications and Engagement Communications Working Group Desert LCC Staff Project Manager Others?

Background “As a region that has experienced – within the relatively short time span of several decades – rapid increases in human population, significant alterations in land use and land cover, limits on the supplies of water, long-term drought, and other climatic changes, the Southwest can be considered to be one of the most ‘climate-challenged’ regions of North America” (Overpeck et al. 2013).

Given this reality, the Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) is focusing on developing a better understanding of the effects of climate change on natural resources and potential adaptation responses. Our mission is: Through collaborative partnerships provide scientific and technical support, coordination, and communication to resource managers and the broader Desert LCC community to address climate change and other landscape-scale ecosystem stressors. Our primary goal is to support, facilitate, promote and add value to landscape scale conservation to build resource resilience in the face of climate change and other ecosystem stressors. To achieve these, we have focused on solving climate challenges starting from critical management questions (CMQs) from natural resource and wildlife managers (www.usbr.gov/dlcc/resources/docs/DLCCCMQs.pdf).

We are also developing an ecosystem stewardship approach to landscape conservation planning and design, integrating ecological sustainability as a basis for biodiversity conservation and human well-being (Chapin et al.

2009). Working with a broad spectrum of organizations representing a diversity of perspectives and interests requires a well-paced, transparent process that will allow us to build the capacity and tools that enhance the ability of our participants make flexible, “no-regrets” decisions in keeping with a long-term perspective that incorporates landscape conservation design. Our approach emphasizes trans-disciplinary processes to help us achieve our mission and goals by defining the science and products we need to get us there (McAlpine et al.

2010; National Research Council 2009), including spatially explicit decision support tools (e.g., Desert LCC Conservation Planning Atlas; http://dlcc.databasin.org) and investing in landscape conservation planning and design strategies.

In June 2014, the Desert LCC was awarded $200,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of the Science Advisor to advance landscape conservation planning and design for the partnership. The Bureau of Land Management has decided to support this project by adding an additional $75,000 in funds. The project described in this document is focused on continuing to build the trust, relationships, processes, capacity, and tools necessary to create a foundation for planning that can lead to effective landscape conservation designs by using “integrative approaches that encourage knowledge exchange and solutions to emerge” (McAlpine 2010).

Within the Desert LCC region, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has completed two Rapid Ecoregional Assessments (REAs; Mojave Basin and Range, Sonoran Desert), will complete an additional in 2014 (Madrean Archipelago), and a fourth (Chihuahuan Desert) in 2015 (see map, Appendix A). The REAs examine ecological values, conditions, and trends. The Desert LCC, in partnership with BLM, is introducing the REAs to a wide variety of partners and integrating that information with other existing resources, tools, and methodologies to identify shared conservation priorities and associated goals and objectives.

The Desert LCC Steering Committee has decided to focus this project on three focal ecosystem types within our geographic area (see map, Appendix A): grasslands and shrublands; streams, including aquatic and riparian; and springs, including aquatic and riparian. The Steering Committee also agreed in August 2014, to follow the http://dlcc.databasin.org/ general steps to implementing this project as described in this document. This document adds specific tasks and timeline to those steps.

Overall, this project will bring together the information, tools, and methodologies available for landscape conservation design and the development of climate adaptation strategies. We will engage interested parties in determining design priorities, compiling and curating existing resources, determining what additional information, tools, or resources are needed, and developing plans for 2-3 pilot landscape conservation designs within the Desert LCC geographic area. Additional funding will be sought to develop those designs in 2017-2018.

What is this document?

This document is a Draft Implementation Plan intended to guide the first phases of the Desert LCC’s landscape conservation planning and design project. This document is a draft that incorporates feedback and input from the Desert LCC Steering Committee, working groups, and teams. Specifically, this version clarifies the roles and responsibilities of the Desert LCC Steering Committee, working groups, and teams. Other comments are summarized in Appendix F. In December 2015, the Desert LCC will be announcing a request for proposals for project management and additional capacity needs to implement this project. The Project Manager hired under that request for proposals will be responsible for leading efforts to finalize this implementation plan, including full consideration and integration of the comments summarized in Appendix F. It includes the basic process that has been agreed to by the Steering Committee for implementing landscape conservation planning and design and adds a draft timeline and list of tasks. It is expected that the implementation plan will be a dynamic document that will be refined as needed as the project proceeds. After input has been incorporated, Version 1.0 of this document will be used to develop a request for proposals for filling the capacity needs for implementing this project. We anticipate that the request for proposals will be announced in early November 2014.

What is climate-smart conservation?

In the face of current rapid climatic shifts, change is likely to be the only constant. Accordingly, as natural resource managers and conservation practitioners we need to learn how to respond to and manage inevitable changes rather than assume they can forever be resisted. Increasingly, we will be faced with managing system transformations; and we may need to focus our attention on sustaining functioning ecological systems rather than the historical assemblages of plants and animals within those systems. One of the best ways to facilitate successful implementation of strategies for adapting to changing conditions is through integrating, or “mainstreaming,” adaptation into our existing activities and way of life. By working together to incorporate adaptation into our existing natural resource management decision processes, we can have a collective impact on sustaining ecosystem function and services and conserving natural resources for people and wildlife across the landscape.

To guide conservation practitioners in developing strategies for adapting to climate change, the National Wildlife Federation led efforts to develop a guidebook called Climate-Smart Conservation: Putting Adaptation Principles into Practice (Stein et al. 2014; http://www.nwf.org/ClimateSmartGuide). This effort was funded by National Park Service, U.S. Geological Survey, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Forest Service, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Wildlife Conservation Society Climate Adaptation Fund, Kresge Foundation, and Faucett Catalyst Fund. The Desert LCC hosted a course in Tucson, Arizona, in May 2014, based on this guidebook and developed by NWF, the National Conservation Training Center, and others. This course inspired Desert LCC members to consider how the http://www.nwf.org/ClimateSmartGuide climate-smart conservation framework could be used within the context of our partnership to help us achieve our mission and goals.

The framework described in the climate-smart conservation guide was adopted by the Desert LCC Steering Committee in June 2014 as a way to organize our activities and to:

1) Help collectively identify possible solutions and prepare for changes on the landscape.

2) Clearly define our priority resources and associated conservation goals, objectives, targets, and indicators.

3) Ensure that the interests of our partners are inter-related to Desert LCC activities and goals to achieve collective impact.

4) Outline the connections between our working groups to ensure integrated effort and collective impact.

5) Create a clear framework to ensure our activities (including identification of science needs and pilot projects) fit into the Desert LCC vision, mission and goals.

The following set of key characteristics collectively defines a climate-smart approach to conservation (Stein et al.

2014):

• Link actions to climate impacts. Conservation strategies and actions are designed specifically to address the impact of climate change, in concert with other existing threats; actions are supported by an explicit scientific rationale.

• Embrace forward-looking goals. Conservation goals focus on future, rather than past, climatic and ecological conditions; strategies take a long view (decades to centuries) but account for near-term conservation challenges and needed transition strategies.

• Consider broader landscape context. On-the-ground actions are designed in the context of broader geographic scales to account for likely shifts in species distributions, to sustain ecological processes, and to promote collaboration.

• Adopt strategies robust to uncertainty. Strategies and actions ideally provide potential benefits across a range of possible future conditions to account for uncertainties in future climatic conditions and ecological and human responses to climate shifts.

• Deploy agile and informed management. The cycle of conservation planning and resource management should continuously incorporate new information and be dynamically adjusted to accommodate uncertainty, take advantage of new knowledge, and cope with rapid shifts in climatic, ecological, and socioeconomic conditions.

• Minimize carbon footprint. Strategies and projects minimize energy use and greenhouse gas emissions;

and sustain the natural ability of ecosystems to cycle, sequester, and store carbon.

• Account for climate influence on project success. Considers how foreseeable climate impacts may compromise project success; generally avoids investing in efforts likely to be undermined by climate-related changes unless part of an intentional strategy.

• Safeguard people and nature. Strategies and actions enhance the capacity of ecosystems to protect human communities from climate change impacts in ways that also sustain and benefit fish, wildlife, and plants.

• Avoid maladaptation. Actions taken to address climate change impacts on human communities or natural systems do not exacerbate other climate-related vulnerabilities or undermine conservation goals and broader ecosystem sustainability.

The climate-smart conservation framework consists of a step-wise, iterative process (figure 1, page 7):

Step 1. Define planning purpose and scope.

This includes: articulating the planning purpose; clarifying existing conservation goals; identifying conservation targets; specifying geographic scope and time frame; engaging key participants and partners; and determining resource needs and availability.

Step 2. Assess climate impacts and vulnerabilities. Understanding climate vulnerabilities is crucial for designing effective adaptation strategies, and the specific components of vulnerability—exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity—can provide a useful framework for linking actions to impacts. Identification of “key vulnerabilities” provides a means for targeting the development of strategies and actions in subsequent steps of the cycle.

Step 3. Review/revise conservation goals and objectives. Because goals serve as the basis for subsequent strategies and actions, they should be climate-informed and forward looking. Reevaluation of goals and objectives may either validate their continued relevance, or indicate a need for refinement or modification.

Step 4. Identify possible adaptation options. What are possible approaches for reducing key climate-related vulnerabilities or taking advantage of newly emerging opportunities? At this stage, a broad array of alternative strategies and actions should be identified, with particular attention to creative thinking in crafting possible management actions.

Step 5. Evaluate and select adaptation actions. The array of possible adaptation options can now be evaluated to determine which are likely to be most effective from an ecological perspective, and most feasible from social (e.g., cultural, economic, sustainability of ecosystem services), technical, and financial viewpoints.

Step 6. Implement priority adaptation actions. Successfully implementing adaptation requires individual leadership as well as institutional commitment and resources, and often depends on engaging diverse partners early on, and emphasizing benefits to multiple sectors of society.

Step 7. Track action effectiveness and ecological responses. Monitoring helps provide context for understanding climate-related impacts and vulnerabilities and for informing agile and adaptive management.

Monitoring approaches should be carefully designed to ensure they are capable of guiding needed adjustments in strategies and actions.

Figure 1. Climate-Smart Conservation Framework and Desert LCC Groups and Activities.

Figure 1 depicts the climate-smart framework, essentially an adaptive management cycle with inputs for climate change information, in orange. Blue and green boxes depict existing Desert LCC Steering Committee, working groups, and Critical Management Question (CMQ) teams and where they have inputs into the cycle. The dotted blue line encircles the steps that will be informed by the Desert LCC’s landscape conservation planning and design process and products. The brown diamond points to the implementation and monitoring activities of individual organizations participating in the Desert LCC.

What is landscape conservation planning and design?

From Minimum Standards for Conservation Design at Landscape-Scales (Landscape Conservation Design) (Landscape Conservation Design Minimum Standards Working Group 2014):

“Landscape Conservation [Planning and] Design is a process - to design - and a product - a design - that achieves partners’ missions, mandates, and goals while ensuring sustainability of ecosystem services for current and future generations of Americans. It is an integrated, collaborative, and holistic process that is grounded in the interdisciplinary science of landscape ecology, the mission-oriented science of conservation biology, and the art of design. The process results in a science-based, technologically-advanced, spatially-explicit product that identifies targets of interest to partners, articulates measurable objectives for those targets; assesses current and projected landscape patterns and processes; and identifies a desired future condition, conservation/development trade-offs, and implementation strategies. When delivered in a coordinated fashion, strategies derived from landscape conservation design processes can meet both societal values and needs while maintaining ecological integrity and biodiversity.”

One example of landscape conservation planning and design is the South Atlantic LCC’s Conservation Blueprint.

The South Atlantic LCC’s Coordinator and Science Coordinator gave a presentation on this during the Desert LCC’s December 2013, Steering Committee and Science Working Group meetings. More information can be found on the South Atlantic LCC website: http://www.southatlanticlcc.org/page/conservation-blueprint.

Why is landscape conservation planning and design needed?

The lands and waters of the desert Southwest are changing rapidly. Climate change, urban growth, and increasing human demands on resources are reshaping the landscape. While these forces cut across political and jurisdictional boundaries, the conservation community does not have a consistent cross-boundary, cross-organization plan for how to respond. The Desert LCC’s process for landscape conservation planning and design will help us coordinate data and landscape conservation activities using the Conservation Planning Atlas.

This project brings together the information, tools, and methodologies available for landscape conservation design and the development of climate adaptation strategies. Desert LCC members help determine design priorities, necessary information, tools, resources, and focal areas for future work.

What is the Conservation Planning Atlas?

The Desert LCC is developing a Conservation Planning Atlas (http://dlcc.databasin.org), which is a web mapping tool, to integrate spatial data associated with shared priorities, goals, and objectives to lay the foundation for integrated landscape conservation planning and design. This tool will allow us to view and share spatial information relevant to priority resources, on-going conservation activities, and climate change to help us identify areas where critical conservation actions are needed, where there are critical gaps in information or conservation actions, and where there are opportunities to collaborate. When we get to the design phase of this project, we will produce maps of the design that can be viewed in the Conservation Planning Atlas with information about climate adaptation strategies in support of an international network of functional landscapes.

http://www.southatlanticlcc.org/page/conservation-blueprint http://dlcc.databasin.org/

How will climate-smart landscape conservation planning and design help us?

The Desert LCC is developing the science, capacity, communications, network, and processes, to collectively engage in landscape conservation planning and design to help us achieve our mission, “through collaborative partnerships provide scientific and technical support, coordination, and communication to resource managers and the broader Desert LCC community to address climate change and other landscape-scale ecosystem stressors,” and our primary goal to “support, facilitate, promote and add value to landscape scale conservation to build resource resilience in the face of climate change and other ecosystem stressors.”

Through climate-smart landscape conservation planning and design we will address several key questions that will help us to achieve our mission and goals:

• What are our collective conservation priorities (ecosystem function and services, species, etc.) related to our focal ecosystems (grasslands and shrublands; streams, aquatic and riparian; springs, aquatic and riparian)?

• What are our individual and collective goals for our conservation priorities (i.e., how do we define success)?

• How can we measure success and our progress towards it (e.g., targets and their indicators)?

• Where are the focal ecosystems and related conservation priorities located?

• What is the current condition of focal ecosystems and related conservation priorities?

• What are the factors most limiting to achieving our collective goals?

• How can future pressures and stressors (e.g., climate change, urban growth, agricultural change, invasive species, and energy development) change habitats?

• How can conservation actions change improve the resiliency of focal ecosystems, priority resources and species, and sustainability of ecosystem services?

• What might focal ecosystems and priority resources look like based on future stressors and potential conservation actions?

• What conservation design will help the Desert LCC meet our goals?

Desert LCC Climate-Smart Landscape Conservation Planning & Design In 2014-2016, our primary objectives for this project are:

Objective 1: Integrate existing information, methodologies, and tools available for landscape conservation planning and design and development of climate adaptation strategies.

Objective 2: Leveraging the Desert LCC’s Conservation Planning Atlas, build an integrated landscape conservation planning, design, and delivery platform focused on Desert LCC priority resources. This will allow us to refine and better address critical management questions and uncertainties as a partnership, and to support individual participating entities to do the same.

Objective 3: Plan for 2-3 pilot landscape conservation designs related to our focal ecosystems that support the mission and goals of the Desert LCC, our participating organizations, and the LCC Network by creating a “roadmap” to guide collaborative conservation.

Objective 4: Communication to partners on landscape conservation planning processes, outcomes, and next steps.

This project will allow us to strengthen our conservation partnership and network, and advance planning and geospatial evaluation processes to enhance our individual and collective ability to:

• Identify shared priorities, goals, and objectives;

• Evaluate current and anticipate future pressures and stressors on ecosystem function and services (e.g., current and future condition classes) and species, with an emphasis understanding the impacts of climate change;

• Develop potential future management scenarios (e.g., triage, mitigation, and adaptation strategies);

• Monitor the effectiveness of management actions; and

• Enhance future ecological resilience and sustainability of ecosystem services for people and wildlife.

Our intent is to engage interested parties in a transparent process to:

• Train people how to use BLM’s Rapid Ecoregional Assessments and other resources for conservation planning and design;

• Determine design priorities:

o Conservation priorities o Critical pressures and stressors on ecosystems and species;

• Map focal ecosystems and priority resources, species, and related on-going conservation activities;

• Model or describe projected impacts from climate change and other pressures;

• Identify climate change adaptation strategies and critical conservation actions; and

• Identify opportunities for collaboration.

Figure 2 (page 9) depicts the basic elements and framework of this project.

Figure 2. Desert LCC Planning and Design for Climate-Smart Landscape Conservation.

What does success look like and how will we know when we get there?

While most organizations and partnerships have goals, objectives, and indicators of success very few have measurable targets for those indicators. The following definitions are adapted from the Climate-Smart Conservation guidebook and the South Atlantic LCC’s Conservation Blueprint (http://www.southatlanticlcc.org/page/conservation-blueprint).

Goals. Conservation goals, as used here, refer to the overarching vision for a conservation or management effort, and are an articulation of high-level aspirations. Generally, they describe a desired future condition and convey the underlying purpose of an effort but do not specify the means to achieve the desired outcome (Adamcik et al. 2004). Typically, desired conservation outcomes at the goal level are difficult to measure (e.g., ecological integrity of streams, springs, or grasslands).

Development of climate-smart conservation goals should include (or at least consider) the following:

• What (focal ecosystem or conservation priority)

• Why (intended outcomes or desired condition)

• Where (relevant geographic scope)

• When (relevant time frame)

• Be climate-Informed o Specifically consider climate change o Articulate acceptable future conditions o Forward-looking o Acknowledge potential trade-offs o Consider broader landscape context, including human communities o Flexible in the short term to be effective in the long term; not maladaptive

The DRAFT ecosystem level goals that were developed in August 2014, for the Desert LCC’s three focal ecosystem types are below. These will be refined by a larger group of interested parties as part of this project (for more about this process see Tasks and Timeline, pages 16-22):

Spring Ecosystems and Stream Ecosystems (including aquatic and riparian components):

Work together to understand, maintain, and enhance function and resilience of spring and stream ecosystems, including aquatic and riparian components. This includes ameliorating effects of critical pressures, considering adaptation to climate change, and sustaining and enhancing current distribution, function, biodiversity, and human use and enjoyment for future generations.

Note: Some objectives will apply more specifically to each ecosystem type or component (e.g., streams, springs, aquatic, riparian).

Grassland Ecosystems:

A desert landscape that sustains high-functioning grasslands that provide native species, ecological processes, and ecosystem services to support human cultures.

Objectives. Management objectives, in contrast to goals, refer to more specific outcomes in support of higher-level goals, and usually articulate a measurable standard, desired state, threshold value, amount of change, or trend.

Indicators. A metric that is designed to inform us easily and quickly about the conditions of a system (e.g., miles of fishable and swimmable streams). Indicators are used to measure progress toward a goal or objective.

http://www.southatlanticlcc.org/page/conservation-blueprint

Targets. A measurable endpoint for an indicator (e.g., reduce the number of impaired water bodies by 10%).

Targets are used to measure whether an indicator has reached the desired level.

Example (from South Atlantic LCC’s Conservation Blueprint):

• Maximize integrity of freshwater aquatic systems (objective) - % unimpaired waterbody segments as defined in EPA 303d list (indicator) - Reduce the number of impaired waterbodies by 10% (target)

As part of this project, we will engage Desert LCC members in a process to collate objectives, indicators, and targets related to our focal ecosystems from individual organizations. We can then assess which objectives, targets, and indicators we have in common or that are compatible and where there are opportunities to collaborate on achieving them (figure 3).

Figure 3. Identifying shared goals, objectives, indicators, and targets for achieving collective impact with conservation efforts.

Why are indicators needed?

Designing and evaluating the success of a shared design for landscape conservation actions in the Desert LCC geographic area will require some specific measures of what success would look like. Ecosystems are complex and indicators help simplify the modeling and monitoring of those systems. None of us have the capacity nor resources to measure everything all of the time. Indicators are designed to integrate many ecological functions and represent other components of the system that are either too expensive or time consuming to model and measure.

How will indicators be used?

Indicators will be used to help design landscape conservation actions that sustain natural and cultural resources.

This design will include an interactive map depicting the key places and actions needed to sustain those resources in the face of future change (e.g., urban growth, land conversion, climate change, and sea level rise).

Indicators and measurable targets for those indicators will be used to help design this interactive map and evaluate the effectiveness of actions based on it.

How will this affect me?

This process will help identify shared measures of conservation success for large landscapes. In turn, this will lead to a shared vision for conservation action. Members of the Desert LCC may decide to commit their resources in pursuit of the shared vision. It is not meant to replace what we each currently do but to help facilitate the connections and identify how our actions collectively shape the future of the region. Simply put, this work builds to an implementable plan that demonstrates places and actions where each partner can apply their respective tools and authorities to accomplish something bigger than we could individually. It builds on and works within existing efforts to make connections across habitats, resources, and jurisdictional boundaries. This process is also the first step in generating new funding from non-traditional sources for implementing conservation. Broadly shared metrics of success and the design they will help create will be powerful tools for bringing new funding from private companies, individuals, foundations, and other non-traditional funding sources to the region.

Figure 4. Using indicators to measure the success of conservation actions to address ecosystem pressures and stressors. See Appendix B for information about how the critical pressures and stressors were identified.

Outline of Landscape Conservation Planning & Design Phases This outline of landscape conservation planning and design phases is adapted from Minimum Standards for Conservation Design at Landscape-Scales (Landscape Conservation Design) (Landscape Conservation Design Minimum Standards Working Group 2014) and was approved as a general approach to this project by the Desert LCC Steering Committee in August 2014.

Phase 1: Kick-Off (2014)

Goal: To facilitate partners’ understanding, agreement, and support for implementation of landscape conservation design processes and products.

• Document an agreement between partners to engage in collaborative design processes leading to the development of a design product that addresses their specific needs.

o Desert LCC started this via multi-partner collaboration on the landscape conservation planning and design proposal in April-May 2014.

o Continued consensus-building at August 2014 annual planning meeting in Santa Fe, New

Mexico, including agreement to follow the basic phases and steps in this outline.

Phase 2: Pre-Assessment (2015) Goal: To facilitate partners' agreement on the technical aspects of the landscape conservation design’s assessment of current and projected landscape conditions prior to its development.

• 2.1 Assemble a multidisciplinary technical team.

o Desert LCC will develop a working group to guide this project

• 2.2 Identify and describe the Landscape Conservation Design’s:

o a) Geographic planning unit Desert LCC geography for planning foundation 2-3 sub-geographies for pilot designs o b) Priorities, targets (for monitoring), attributes, and measureable objectives (ecosystem processes, functions, services, species, etc.)

Focal ecosystems:

• Grasslands and shrublands

• Streams, including aquatic and riparian

• Springs, including aquatic and riparian

2015 workshops and webinars: Objectives, Targets, indicators, etc.: Collate existing from partners Invite a broad spectrum of managers and researchers One workshop for each of the 3 focal ecosystems (one in Mexico) o c) Direct pressures and limiting factors Focus on pressures/stressors identified by CMQ 2 team o d) Assumptions TBD & documented as project proceeds o e) Data availability/needs TBD by WGs & CMQ teams and during 2015 webinars and workshops

• 2.3 Agree on the principles, methods, and criteria to be used in development of the assessment of current and projected landscape conditions.

o LCD Landscape Ecologist/Project Manager will coordinate with WGs and CMQ teams to draft recommendations

Phase 3: Assessment (2016) Goal: To obtain an understanding of the relationship between targets and the direct pressures that cause or contribute to limiting factors.

• 3.1 Apply models to delineate, analyze, and assess the current state of the ecosystem.

o Landscape Ecologist/Project Manager will coordinate (with help from WGs, CMQ teams, staff, funded projects, etc.):

Collation and synthesis of existing information Identification of critical gaps and how to fill them

• 3.2 Apply projective scenarios to delineate, analyze, and assess pressures and their relationship to targets’ limiting factors under various spatial and temporal scenarios, including climate change.

o Landscape Ecologist/Project Manager with GIS Specialist o Assistance from Climate Science Centers and other partners?

• 3.3 Identify and document assumptions made in development and use of models.

o Landscape Ecologist/Project Manager with GIS Specialist

Phase 4: Post-Assessment (2016)(Note: additional resources may be needed to complete this phase) Goal: To facilitate partners’ understanding and obtain agreement on the assessment’s results and build support for continuation of the landscape conservation design process.

• 4.1 Create scenarios of future landscape condition.

o Round 2 workshops/webinars o Invite a broad spectrum of managers and researchers

• 4.2 Evaluate effectiveness/impact of assumptions made.

• 4.3 Identify data limitations and gaps to direct research and improve development of future assessments.

o Landscape Ecologist/Project Manager will coordinate (with help from WGs, CMQ teams, staff, funded projects, etc.)

• 4.4 Prepare plans for 2-3 pilot LCDs to be developed in 2017-2018 (i.e., implementation of phases 5-7) o Landscape Ecologist/Project Manager will coordinate (with help from WGs, CMQ teams, staff, funded projects, etc.)

NOTE: Phases 5-7 are not covered by funding that has been secured to date. Current funding will get us to this point and prepared for subsequent phases.

2017 Phase 5: Pre-Design

Goal: To facilitate partners' agreement on the technical aspects of the landscape conservation design product prior to its development.

• 5.1 Agree on a collaboratively-defined desired future condition.

• 5.2 Assess and articulate the conservation deficit: the difference between the current/projected condition and the desired future condition.

• 5.3 Agree on design principles, methods and evaluation criteria for identifying priority areas.

2017+ Phase 6: Design

Goal: To develop 2-3 pilot landscape conservation design products for priority areas within our 3 focal ecosystem types that addresses the conservation deficit and achieves the desired future condition.

• 6.1 Identify, evaluate, and select a portfolio of prioritized areas.

• 6.2 Identify, evaluate, and select a suite of implementation strategies.

• 6.3 Develop a preliminary implementation agreement.

• 6.4 Compile information and products generated during the design process; document the results for peer review.

2018+ Phase 7: Post-Design Goal: To ensure the landscape conservation design product is appropriately finalized, implemented, evaluated, and revised.

• 7.1 Conduct peer review and revise as appropriate.

• 7.2 Finalize the landscape conservation design including implementation agreement.

• 7.3 Revise the landscape conservation design based on new information (including results derived from research and monitoring).

o Establish a regular cycle of reviewing assumptions for consideration of new threats and information at various spatial and temporal scales.

Tasks & Timeline, 2014-2016

DRAFT Tasks & Timeline, 2014

WHEN WHAT PRIMARY INPUT PRODUCT STEERING COMMITTEE ROLE

August/ September

Working Groups and CMQ Teams contribute to concepts for Climate-Smart Landscape Conservation Planning & Design.

Desert LCC Coordinators WGs + CMQ teams

Draft Implementation Plan for Climate-Smart Landscape Conservation Planning & Design

Steering Committee gave input, approved concepts, volunteered for LCPD WG, and contributed to implementation plan

October/ November

Review and refine LCD steps and timeline.

Desert LCC webinar w/ WGs and CMQ teams to flesh out LCD steps and timeline (October 9).

Desert LCC Coordinators WGs + CMQ teams Steering Committee Additional partners via Meeting Sphere Session

Implementation plan, version 1.0.

Provide input on implementation plan.

December

Announce request for proposals for filling capacity needs: Project Manager/Landscape Ecologist; GIS specialist; workshop planning and logistics, etc. (early November).

FWS Project Manager, GIS Specialist, logistical planning and implementation of webinars and workshops

DRAFT Tasks & Timeline, 2015

WHEN WHAT WHO PRODUCT STEERING COMMITTEE ROLE

January – February

Data discovery related to BLM’s REAs and other potentially useful data (e.g., see Appendix D).

GIS Specialist

GIS WG

BLM staff

Committee of Data Stewards/Owners to be responsible for their respective organization’s data in the CPA.

List of data sources.

Suggest additional data and staff for data stewards/owners

Work with BLM staff to develop trainings related to the use of REAs in landscape conservation planning and design for BLM staff and other Desert LCC members (trainings to be added to this timeline in the final version of the Implementation Plan).

Project Manager GIS Specialist + GIS WG BLM staff Desert LCC Coordinators

Training on use of REAs Lessons learned

Establish and kick-off Landscape Conservation Planning and Design (LCPD) Working Group and Climate Science Advisory Committee; determine roles associated with tasks and timeline.

Draft data management best practices and plan, including compilation and curation of data (continued in January) and considering (for example):

a) determine where source data will be staged, how it will be accessed and by whom

b) determine which ISO metadata fields

Project Manager

LCPD WG

GIS Specialist GIS Coordinator + GIS WG

Design (LCPD) Working Group Climate Science Advisory Committee

Draft data management recommendations

Finalized LCPD timeline and implementation plan

Approve roles and develop guidance for LCPD working group and Climate Science Advisory Committee

Provide input into data management recommendations

Approve final implementation product.

will be required

c) compile metadata and create it if necessary

d) determine spatial extent and projection for project

e) project and subset data as necessary

f) symbolize data and create layer packages

g) Load metadata and layer packages into CPA

h) U.S. & Mexico peer & impact reviews of loaded geospatial data

Plan 2015 webinars / workshops. Project Manager Desert LCC Coordinators

LCPD WG

Workshop hosts (TBD) Communications WG Climate Advisory Committee

Questionnaire for natural resource managers to inform development of this project, including process (webinars, workshops) and products.

Provide input and suggestions

Considering pressures and stressors of highest concern, discuss level of analysis and process for assessing key vulnerabilities at ecosystem level and compile recommendations to be reviewed and finalized at 2015 workshops.

CMQ 2 team CMQ 1,3,5 teams Climate Advisory Committee

Recommendations Review and approve draft recommendations

February

Identify existing baseline information relevant to 3 focal ecosystem types (streams+riparian, springs+riparian, grasslands/shrublands) for integration into Conservation Planning Atlas

• Baseline condition assessments or inventories

Project Manager Desert LCC Coordinators GIS Specialist + GIS WG CMQ 1,3,5 teams

List of pertinent data sources

Review

• On-going or completed conservation actions: who is doing what where?

• What are existing objectives, indicators (e.g., species, ecosystem processes or services), and targets of Desert LCC member organizations?

To extent possible, for each of 3 focal ecosystems:

• ID greatest pressures and stressors (starting with list developed by CMQ

2) and develop problem statements focused on key vulnerabilities.

• Complete climate-smart tables within the landscape/high level context.

CMQ 1,3,5 teams Recommendations for problem statements & updated climate-smart tables

Review; provide guidance

Broad outreach to potentially interested parties

Project Manager Desert LCC Coordinators Steering Committee Communications WG

Assist with outreach

Kick-off / introduction webinar for all potentially interested parties (review purpose, steps, timeline, etc.; gage interest from various parties, refine landscape level ecosystem goals and objectives for 3 focal ecosystems types)

Project Manager Desert LCC Coordinators

LCPD WG

Webinar participants: Desert LCC members and other stakeholders

Webinar Assist with outreach to partners

Develop DRAFT criteria for prioritizing focal areas within 3 focal ecosystem types for further planning and design

CMQ 1,3,5 teams

LCPD WG

Steering Committee Local Governments WG Mexico WG

Recommendations for priority area criteria

Tribal WG

March

Prepare for workshop 1: Springs + Riparian

● Integrate data into Conservation

Planning Atlas

● Workshop logistics

● Ecosystem-specific webinar (Meeting

Sphere webinar)

○ Refine landscape level goals and objectives

○ Review + add to climate-smart tables within the landscape/high level context

○ Refine criteria for prioritizing areas within 3 focal ecosystem types for further planning and design

Project Manager Facilitators GIS Specialist + GIS WG Desert LCC Coordinators

LCPD WG

CMQs 1,5 Webinar participants: Desert LCC members and other stakeholders

Webinar Recommendations for landscape level goals and objectives; climate-smart tables to date; and criteria for prioritizing areas within 3 focal ecosystem types

Review recommendations and provide guidelines; input

April

Workshop 1: Springs + Riparian (Arizona)

● Review Information in Conservation

Planning Atlas

● Review initial results of Climate-

Smart tables within the landscape/high level context. Refine:

○ ID greatest pressures and stressors

○ ID key vulnerabilities

● Review and refine recommendations on level of analysis and process for assessing key vulnerabilities for focal areas

● Review and refine criteria for prioritizing areas for further planning and design

● ID information gaps

Project Manager Facilitators Desert LCC Coordinators CMQs 1,5 Workshop participants:

Desert LCC members and other stakeholders

“Final” Recommendations Approve:

landscape level goals and objectives;

climate-smart tables to date;

criteria for prioritizing areas within springs/riparian ecosystem type Prioritize information gaps

May

Prepare for workshop 2:

Grasslands/shrublands

● Integrate data into Conservation Planning Atlas

● Workshop logistics

● Ecosystem-specific webinar (Meeting

Sphere)

○ Refine landscape level goals and objectives

○ Review + add to climate-smart tables within the landscape/high level context

○ Refine criteria for prioritizing areas within 3 focal ecosystem types for further planning and design

Project Manager Facilitators GIS Specialist + GIS WG Desert LCC Coordinators

LCPD WG

CMQ 3

Webinar participants: Desert LCC members and other stakeholders

Webinar Recommendations for landscape level goals and objectives;

climate-smart tables to date;

criteria for prioritizing areas within 3 focal ecosystem types

Review recommendations and provide guidelines; input

June

Workshop 2: Grassland/Shrubland Workshop (Aguascalientes, Mexico)

● Review Information in Conservation Planning Atlas

● Review initial results of Climate- Smart tables within the landscape/high level context. Refine:

○ ID greatest pressures and stressors

○ ID key vulnerabilities

● Review and refine recommendations on level of analysis and process for assessing key vulnerabilities for focal areas

● Review and refine criteria for prioritizing areas for further planning and design

● ID information gaps

Project Manager Facilitators Desert LCC Coordinators

CMQ 3

Workshop participants:

Desert LCC members and other stakeholders

“Final” recommendations Approve:

landscape level goals and objectives;

climate-smart tables to date;

criteria for prioritizing areas within grasslands/shrublands ecosystem type

Compile and share materials and outcomes from workshop

July

Prepare for workshop 3: Streams + riparian

● Integrate data into Conservation

Planning Atlas

● Workshop logistics

● Ecosystem-specific webinar (Meeting

Sphere)

○ Refine landscape level goals and objectives

○ Review + add to climate-smart tables within the landscape/high level context

○ Refine criteria for prioritizing areas within 3 focal ecosystem types for further planning and design

Project Manager Facilitators GIS Specialist + GIS WG Desert LCC Coordinators

LCPD WG

CMQs 1,5 Webinar participants: Desert LCC members and other stakeholders

Webinar Recommendations for landscape level goals and objectives;

climate-smart tables to date;

criteria for prioritizing areas within 3 focal ecosystem types

Review recommendations and provide guidelines; input

August

Workshop 3: Streams + Riparian Workshop (New Mexico or Texas?)

● Review Information in Conservation Planning Atlas

● Review initial results of Climate- Smart tables within the landscape/high level context. Refine:

○ ID greatest pressures and stressors

○ ID key vulnerabilities

● Review and refine recommendations on level of analysis and process for assessing key vulnerabilities for focal areas

● Review and refine criteria for prioritizing areas for further planning

Project Manager Facilitators Desert LCC Coordinators CMQs 1,5 Workshop participants:

Desert LCC members and other stakeholders

“Final” recommendations Approve:

landscape level goals and objectives; climate-smart tables to date; criteria for prioritizing areas within streams/riparian ecosystem type and design

● ID information gaps

Compile and share materials and outcomes from workshop

September

Webinars for each of 3 focal ecosystem types:

● Use criteria developed in workshop to determine focal areas (using a watershed approach)

● Define ecosystem integrity

Facilitators Desert LCC Coordinators

LCPD WG

Participants: Desert LCC members and other stakeholders

Recommendations for focal areas

Prioritize and approve focal areas

October

Webinars for each of 3 focal ecosystem type:

● ID key vulnerabilities for focal areas

● Develop problem statements focused on key vulnerabilities

Project Manager Facilitators Desert LCC Coordinators

LCPD WG

CMQ 6

Participants: Desert LCC members and other stakeholders

Recommendations for key vulnerabilities of focal areas

Approve

November – December

Integrate information from Desert LCC partners on existing conservation objectives and targets related to focal areas and key vulnerabilities into Conservation Planning Atlas.

Project Manager GIS Specialist GIS Coordinator + GIS WG

Updated Conservation Planning Atlas

Review

December

Webinars for each of 3 focal ecosystem types: Develop site-specific goals and objectives based on DLCC member organizations’ existing priorities, goals, and

Project Manager Facilitators Desert LCC Coordinators

LCPD WG

Recommendations on site-specific goals & objectives

Approval objectives. Participants: Desert LCC members and other stakeholders

DRAFT Tasks & Timeline, 2016

January

Work with the South Central and Southwest Climate Science Centers to apply models to delineate, analyze, and assess the current state of focal areas associated with focal ecosystem types and conservation targets.

Project Manager GIS Specialist Climate Advisory Committee

Models Review

February

Work with the South Central and Southwest Climate Science Centers to apply climate models to delineate, analyze, and assess pressures and their relationship to targets’ limiting factors under various spatial and temporal scenarios.

Project Manager GIS Specialist Climate Advisory Committee

Models Review

March

Springs + Riparian priority areas: Climate projection and scenario development workshop

• Review and discuss results of climate projections

• Discuss how to use this information and ways to address uncertainty

• Where great uncertainty exists, develop scenarios to delineate,…