Conservation Effects Assessment Project
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Conservation Effects Assessment Project Missouri Pilot Using NatureServe Information to Assess Farm Bill Practice Effects on At-risk Species and Habitats Final Report February 11, 2007 CEAP NatureServe is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing the scientific knowledge that forms the basis for effective conservation action. This study was funded by USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service under agreement # 68- 3A75-5-146. Citation: Comer, P., D. Diamond, S. Sowa, K. Goodin, D. Purcell, D. Butler, E. Cook, C. Hamilton, G. Hammerson, L. Master, T. Nigh, M. Ormes, D. True, and B. White. 2007. Using NatureServe Information to Assess Farm Bill Practice Effects on At-risk Species and Habitats. Report to the Natural Resource Conservation Service, Washington DC. 53pp. plus appendices Front cover: Waterfowl over a re-flooded crop field enhancement practice in Scott County, Missouri. Photo by: Bill Holmes NatureServe 1101 Wilson Boulevard, 15th Floor Arlington, VA 22209 703 908-1800 www.natureserve.org ii Conservation Effects Assessment Project Missouri Pilot Using NatureServe Information to Assess Farm Bill Practice Effects on At-risk Species and Habitats NatureServe Missouri Resource Assessment Partnership Missouri Department of Conservation Patrick Comer David Diamond Scott Sowa Kathleen Goodin Dyanna Purcell Dorothy Butler Elizabeth Cook Chris Hamilton Geoff Hammerson Larry Master Tim Nigh Margaret Ormes Diane True Bill White February 11, 2007 CEAP iii Acknowledgements This study was funded by USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service under agreement # 68- 3A75-5-146. We would like to acknowledge the following individuals whose contributions were essential to the success of this project: Charlie Rewa, Doug Helmers, Harold Deckerd, Kevin Dacey, Patrick Crist, Amanda Morris, Lindsay Elder, Jason McNees, and Leslie Honey. iv Table of Contents List of Figures.............................................................................................................................6 List of Tables ..............................................................................................................................6 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................7 Introduction ................................................................................................................................9 Background.................................................................................................................................9 Evaluating At-Risk Wildlife and Habitat Responses to NRCS Conservation Practices...............11 At-Risk Species and Habitats ................................................................................................11 Conservation Practices ..........................................................................................................11 Wildlife/Practice Matrix........................................................................................................12 Spatial Data Analysis and Reporting .........................................................................................24 GIS Data Acquisition ............................................................................................................30 Conservation Practices......................................................................................................30 At-risk Species Locations...................................................................................................30 Missouri Natural Heritage Data........................................................................................30 NRCS Modified Heritage Data (“Buffered Heritage”).......................................................31 GAP Species Distribution Models......................................................................................32 Buffered Heritage Occurrences Intersected with Gap Species Models ...............................33 Freshwater Aquatic Species Distributions .........................................................................34 Combining Wildlife Distributions with Mapped Conservation Practices................................35 Conservation Land Units Including Practice #512.............................................................35 Tabular Reporting.............................................................................................................37 Exploring Uncertainty with Overlain Spatial Data.................................................................38 Differences in Representation of Practices ........................................................................38 Differences in Representation of Wildlife Distributions......................................................40 Recommendations for Analysis and Reporting ..........................................................................42 Criteria for Wildlife Selection ...............................................................................................42 Species Selection ...............................................................................................................42 Habitat Selection...............................................................................................................43 Wildlife Distributions............................................................................................................44 At-Risk Freshwater Aquatic Species ..................................................................................44 Very Rare Terrestrial Species with Small Home Ranges ....................................................44 Other At-Risk Terrestrial Species with Small Home Ranges...............................................44 Other At-Risk Terrestrial Species with Larger Home Ranges.............................................45 More Common Terrestrial Species with Larger Home Ranges...........................................45 Conservation Practices ..........................................................................................................45 Conservation Effects Matrices...............................................................................................46 Spatial Analysis Units ...........................................................................................................47 Summary Units for Reporting ............................................................................................48 Recommendations for Conservation Effects Assessment at Regional and National Scales.........49 Assessing Impacts of Past and Current Practices ...................................................................49 Assessing Potential Impacts of Proposed Conservation Practices...........................................51 References ................................................................................................................................52 Appendix 1. NatureServe Conservation Status Assessment Methodology..................................53 Appendix 2 Missouri T&E Species Planning Matrix (2005) .....................................................59 v Appendix 3 Status of At-Risk Species Occurrence Data by State...............................................73 Table A3.1 Status of At-Risk Species Occurrence by State....................................................77 Appendices Provided Electronically Only Appendix 4 Draft Conservation Effects Matrix for Terrestrial Species Groups Appendix 5. Draft Conservation Effects Matrix for Aquatic Species Groups Appendix 6 Conservation Status Ranks by State Appendix 7 Species Occurrence Data Status By State List of Figures Figure 1. Study Area Locator Map ............................................................................................25 Figure 2. Buffered Heritage Occurrences of the Black-tailed Jackrabbit in the Spring River watershed ......................................................................................................................32 Figure 3. GAP distribution of the Black-tailed Jackrabbit in the Spring River watershed. .........33 Figure 4. GAP-Modified Buffered Heritage Occurrences of the Black-tailed Jackrabbit in the Spring River watershed..................................................................................................34 Figure 5. Segmentsheds and steam segments resulting from intersecting 512 CLUs with segmentsheds in the Spring River watershed, MO. ....................................................................36 Figure 7. Spreadsheet showing acreage of species affected by practice #512 per 14-digit HU....38 Figure 8. Total area (acres) of selected species affected by practices by CLUs & by 1 mile stream lengths ...............................................................................................................39 Figure 9 (a, b, c). Practice #512 overlapping (in red) with distributions of black-tailed jackrabbit (a) NRCS buffered Heritage polygons, (b) GAP distribution, and (c) GAP-modified NRCS buffered Heritage polygons.................................................................................41 List of Tables Table 1. Species groups used for analysis of practice effects on at-risk wildlife........................14 Table 2. Terrestrial Species Group (n=13) Responses to Conservation Practice Groups (n=71) 15 Table 3. Aquatic Species Group (n=22) Responses to Conservation Practice Groups (n=49).....20 Table 4. Acreage Affected By Conservation Practices That Have Strongly