Presentations from the
8th Annual Meeting of the Organization of
Fish and Wildlife Information Managers
Rapid City, South Dakota
September 25th-29th, 2003

SESSION 2 - Afternoon Presentations
Friday - September 26, 2003

• Minnesota Wildlife Management Area GIS Program (Steve Benson)
• GIS Analysis of Spatial Pattern of Skylark Territories in an Organic Farmland Landscape
  (Nan Hong, Ariena H.C. Van Bruggen, John Stuiver, and Frans W. Smeding)
• Focus Group I: Overview of Terrestrial Habitat Classification Systems
  (Becky Wajda, Don Schrupp, and Dave Morton)
• Federal Aid Involvement in Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plans (Mike Sweet)
• How to Write Federal Aid Documents - Questions & Answer Session (Mike Sweet)
  
• SESSION 1 - Morning OFWIM 2003 Presentations - Morning Session - Thursday - September 25th
  
• SESSION 1 - Afternoon OFWIM 2003 Presentations - Afternoon Session - Thursday - September 25th
  
• SESSION 2 - Morning OFWIM 2003 Presentations - Morning Session - Friday - September 26th
  
• SESSION 3 - Morning OFWIM 2003 Prestentations - Morning Session - Sunday - September 28th
  
• SESSION 3 - Afternoon OFWIM 2003 Presentations - Afternoon Session - Sunday - September 28th
  

Minnesota Wildlife Management Area GIS Program (Steve Benson)

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Wildlife Division administers 1.1 million acres of public lands within the Wildlife Management Area (WMA) system. These areas are managed to provide high quality wildlife habitat and access to public recreation, and are extensively used by hunters, hikers, birders and other nature enthusiasts. WMAs are spread across all of Minnesota's 87 counties, but are most prevalent in farmland areas.

The Division of Wildlife has long had a need for mapping and managing data on WMAs, both for use in management planning and for public information. The WMAGIS project was begun to address these data needs.

The features being mapped statewide include unit boundaries, facilities and vegetation. Applications developed within the DNR are being used to assist field staff in mapping and populating various databases. These databases are further being used to assess habitat needs, aid work planning and detailed cost projections.

While this data generation assists wildlife managers in their work, it also provides information to build a comprehensive web site for the public to access information on WMAs. This talk will cover the successes and pitfalls in the project, and how resource managers and the public are using and will use the system.

GIS Analysis of Spatial Pattern of Skylark Territories in an Organic Farmland Landscape (Nan Hong, Ariena H.C. Van Bruggen, John Stuiver, and Frans W. Smeding)

The spatial pattern of breeding skylark (Alauda arvensis) territories was studied using GIS in an organic farmland landscape in the province Flevoland in the Netherlands. The skylark territory distribution exhibited a non-random, clustered spatial pattern during the whole breeding season. The shortest distances from the center of each skylark territory to the crop border, semi-natural strips, field center, treeline or hedgerow, farmyard boundary, early- and late-mowed canals were compared. At the field-scale, skylarks tended to hold territories towards the field border. Skylarks showed a preference for crop-to-crop borders as opposed to borders with semi-natural strips. The sequence of avoidance of skylark territories was farmyard > tree line or hedgerow > farm road or street. Skylarks preferred ley pasture where the highest territory densities were located. The lowest territory density was in permanent pasture suggesting that skylarks avoided this habitat. Weak preference was found for cereals and weak avoidance for vegetables and root crops. Within farms, skylark territory density was negatively correlated with the length of semi-natural strips with and without treeline or hedgerow. The establishment of semi-natural grassy strips did not improve skylark territory density within farms, confirming that skylarks have affinities for crop vegetation over semi-natural strips.

This presentation available as:
PowerPoint presentation: (Hong_OFWIM_2003.ppt): http://www.ofwim.org/docs/2003/PPT/Hong_OFWIM_2003.ppt
Adobe Acrobat Reader file: (Hong_OFWIM_2003.pdf): http://www.ofwim.org/docs/2003/PDF/Hong_OFWIM_2003.pdf

Focus Group I: Overview of Terrestrial Habitat Classification Systems (Becky Wajda, Don Schrupp, and Dave Morton)

Under the Wildlife Conservation and Restoration and State Wildlife Grants Programs, state wildlife agencies are required to address a number of issues related to the distribution and condition of wildlife and habitats in their respective states through the development of a Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan/Strategy. Specifically, after identifying species of greatest conservation need, the plans should identify ?the extent and condition of wildlife habitats and community types essential to [the] conservation of [these] species.? This element may be addressed using one or more of a variety of habitat classification systems. When evaluating these options, managers should clearly understand the characteristics of a good classification scheme, appropriate scales of use, and other considerations, such as relationship to existing species-habitat associations. A thorough evaluation should also include an assessment of the specific purposes and intended uses of each classification system, the extent and availability of geospatial data, and the currency of the data.

The Colorado Division of Wildlife anticipates adapting tools developed previously for the identification of wildlife habitat resources targeted for protection under earlier land use planning efforts, environmental impact review and natural resource management programs. Wildlife habitat affinities from the Colorado Wildlife Species Database were refined for the initial Colorado Gap Analysis Program and are undergoing further refinement for Southwest Regional Gap Analysis efforts, but need to be linked via crosswalks for use with developmental land cover datasets to project habitat / species distributions. While the Colorado Vegetation Classification Project scheme has evolved though land manager involvement, Division staffs are also likely to consider potential natural vegetation aspects as presented by the (U.S.) National Vegetation Classification Scheme alliance-based classification and the companion Ecological Systems work supported by NatureServe, being fostered through NatureServe for the National Gap Analysis Program. The Division is developing regionally generalized ecological models, but is considering options to make them locally explicit to geographical sub-regions. Weighting values for some spatial modeling efforts may benefit from metrics provided through the Colorado Vertebrate Ranking System.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is taking a generally similar approach, evaluating the tabular wildlife habitat relationships information compiled in the Virginia Fish and Wildlife Information System and habitat classifications available through digital national and regional habitat coverages, and developing appropriate crosswalks. The assessment of the condition of current habitats will be based on a variety of factors modeling changes over time.

This presentation available as:
PowerPoint presentation: (WajdaSchrupp_OFWIM_2003.ppt): http://www.ofwim.org/docs/2003/PPT/WajdaSchrupp_OFWIM_2003.ppt
Adobe Acrobat Reader file: (WajdaSchrupp_OFWIM_2003.pdf): http://www.ofwim.org/docs/2003/PDF/WajdaSchrupp_OFWIM_2003.pdf

Virginia CWCP Habitat Analysis (Dave Morton)

For habitat classification efforts related to Virginia Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan VA-DGIF is planning on using Bailey's Ecoregions as a framework to model habitats for 'Species of Greatest Conservation Need'. 'Mappablility' has been assessed for 11 avian species, 8 mammals, 3 reptiles, 7 amphibian, 66 terrestrial insects and 6 terrestrial invertebrates. The most important GIS layers for modeling will be caves, vegetation, land cover, landform, soils, geology, elevation and moisture. Qualitative information will have to be provided for 'unmappable' habitat features (e.g., rare communities and fine scale features [e.g. vernal ponds]). Some efforts may be made to generate landscape metrics for species, such as patch area, distance to edge, and types of edge. Additionally, spatial information may be developed relative to trends and threats.

This presentation available as:
PowerPoint presentation: (Morton_OFWIM_2003.ppt): http://www.ofwim.org/docs/2003/PPT/Morton_OFWIM_2003.ppt
Adobe Acrobat Reader file: (Morton_OFWIM_2003.pdf): http://www.ofwim.org/docs/2003/PDF/Morton_OFWIM_2003.pdf

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Federal Aid & Conservation Planning (Mike Sweet)

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Division of Federal Aid has a unique role in the development of Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plans. It does not prepare the Plans nor does it identify priorities for actions or species that should be considered in greatest need for conservation actions. However, it has provided leadership in developing administrative regulations for managing the grant programs which may fund development of the plans and is responsible for ensuring compliance with various regulations and laws. It has also provided advice, counsel, staff support, funding and coordination while states organize, plan for and develop their Plans.

The Division administers the two grant programs that were authorized to fund development of the Plans and related wildlife conservation efforts. Regulations and various forms of written guidance and training are available to assist with the development of grant proposals. Sources of information and general guidelines for developing a grant proposal will be provided as well as an opportunity to discuss ideas and questions.

This presentation available as:
PowerPoint presentation: (Sweet_OFWIM_2003.ppt): http://www.ofwim.org/docs/2003/PPT/Sweet_OFWIM_2003.ppt
Adobe Acrobat Reader file: (Sweet_OFWIM_2003.pdf): http://www.ofwim.org/docs/2003/PDF/Sweet_OFWIM_2003.pdf

• SESSION 1 - Morning OFWIM 2003 Presentations - Morning Session - Thursday - September 25th
• SESSION 1 - Afternoon OFWIM 2003 Presentations - Afternoon Session - Thursday - September 25th
• SESSION 2 - Morning OFWIM 2003 Presentations - Morning Session - Friday - September 26th
• SESSION 3 - Morning OFWIM 2003 Presentations - Morning Session - Sunday - September 28th
• SESSION 3 - Afternoon OFWIM 2003 Presentations - Afternoon Session - Sunday - September 28th