Summary Report of Peer Review on Draft Technical Guidance
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FINAL SUMMARY REPORT Peer Review of Technical Guidance on Selecting Species for Landscape Scale Conservation REGION 6 OFFICE US FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE June 20, 2014 Prepared for: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Headquarters 4401 North Fairfax Drive Arlington, Virginia 22203 Prepared by: AMEC Environment & Infrastructure, Inc. 1819 Denver West Drive Suite 100 Golden, CO 80401 USFWS Order No. F13PB00113 AMEC Project No. 32106C003 Summary Report of Peer Review of Technical Guidance on Selecting Species This Page Intentionally Left Blank Summary Report of Peer Review of Technical Guidance on Selecting Species TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary .................................................................................................... 1 1.0 Background .......................................................................................................... 3 2.0 Peer Reviewers .................................................................................................... 3 3.0 Summary of Peer Reviewer Responses ............................................................... 4 Question 1 ............................................................................................................ 5 Question 2 ............................................................................................................ 6 Question 3 ............................................................................................................ 7 Question 4 ............................................................................................................ 8 Question 5 ............................................................................................................ 9 Question 6 .......................................................................................................... 10 Question 7 .......................................................................................................... 11 Question 8 .......................................................................................................... 15 Other Comments ................................................................................................ 16 4.0 Overall Summary for Each Reviewer .................................................................. 17 5.0 Conclusions and Recommendations ................................................................... 18 Appendix A: Complete Individual Responses, including Line Comments Summary and Comment Matrix Summarizing Responses to USFWS Requests for Clarification Appendix B: Reviewer’s Resumes Page i Summary Report of Peer Review of Technical Guidance on Selecting Species This Page Intentionally Left Blank Page ii Summary Report of Peer Review of Technical Guidance on Selecting Species Executive Summary In 2012, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) committed to using Strategic Habitat Conservation (SHC) as an approach to address the challenges of the 21st century. As part of implementing that commitment, the Service distributed a version of the draft Technical Guidance on Selecting Species for Design of Landscape Scale Conservation (Technical Guidance) as a practical step in the biological planning component of the SHC approach. Five external peer reviewers have completed a formal, independent, external scientific peer review of the latest draft Technical Guidance. The panel was tasked specifically to review the scientific information in the Technical Guidance and its practical application to conservation management. The external peer reviewers generally agreed that the Technical Guidance is missing key elements and does a poor job of providing scientific support for many of the statements made within it, although one reviewer was not as critical as the others. Generally, all reviewers recommended additional, more detailed discussion of the different types of surrogates (species and otherwise) and their uses, along with associated discussion of their advantages and disadvantages, evidence for success, and associated monitoring requirements. There was disagreement among the reviewers about whether or not climate change was well-integrated within the document. Every reviewer included specific recommendations and they were all generally along the same lines, although some reviewers recommended more significant revisions than other reviewers. The overall message from the external peer reviewers was that the document needs significant revision, including better organization, more focus, and better discussion and inclusion of the scientific literature. Page 1 of 18 Summary Report of Peer Review of Technical Guidance on Selecting Species This Page Intentionally Left Blank Page 2 of 18 Summary Report of Peer Review of Technical Guidance on Selecting Species 1.0 Background In July 2012, the Director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) sent a message to all employees discussing the Service’s commitment to Strategic Habitat Conservation (SHC) as an approach to address the challenges of the 21st century. In concert with that message, the Service distributed a version of the draft Technical Guidance on Selecting Species for Design of Landscape Scale Conservation (Technical Guidance) as a practical step in the biological planning component of the SHC approach. All employees were encouraged to submit comments on the Technical Guidance and attend discussion sessions throughout each region. There was a significant response and additional information and suggestions improved the draft Technical Guidance. States, tribes, and non-government organizations were also provided the draft Technical Guidance and their comments and suggestions were considered in subsequent revisions. Comments were received through March 2013, followed by further revisions to the draft Technical Guidance by a team composed of state fish and wildlife agency and Service representatives. Given the long-term conservation implications of the Technical Guidance, and its influential information, it required a formal, external, independent scientific peer review before implementation. If the Technical Guidance does not include the best science and analyses, any decisions or conservation actions based on this Technical Guidance may be less effective in the long-term conservation of fish, wildlife and plants at a landscape-scale. The purpose of this review is to provide a formal, independent, external scientific peer review of the Service’s draft Technical Guidance as part of the biological planning component of SHC. 2.0 Peer Reviewers Peer reviewers were tasked to review the scientific information in the Technical Guidance and its practical application to conservation management. The peer reviewers reviewed the scientific integrity of the recommended guidance, the validity of the arguments made for its application, the interpretation of the science cited in the guidance in support of using surrogate species, and its ability to enhance the design and success of landscape-scale conservation. The review was limited to the information and analysis in the Technical Guidance only, and did not include a review of the SHC policy, but did consider the Technical Guidance’s application within the framework of SHC. Additionally, the reviewers evaluated whether the surrogate species concepts described by the guidance document are supported by the scientific literature and are likely to provide the landscape-scale conservation objectives described. The selection of peer reviewers followed the guidance provided in the Office of Management and Budget’s Final Information Quality Bulletin on Peer Review (OMB Bulletin; December 16, 2004) to ensure scientific integrity of the peer review. Appropriate expertise and an appropriate balance of that expertise was identified for this peer review panel during the process of identifying potential reviewers. Panelists with expertise in large-scale conservation planning and landscape ecology were essential for this peer review. Additional expertise in zoology, botany, Page 3 of 18 Summary Report of Peer Review of Technical Guidance on Selecting Species aquatic systems, community ecology, paleoecology and/or evolutionary biology was also appropriate. All peer reviewers were provided the language from the OMB Bulletin (2004) with regard to independence and conflicts of interest and any potential issues were identified and evaluated during the selection of the panelists, both with respect to both the Service and the report under peer review. To maintain the independence and objectivity of the peer review, a number was randomly assigned to each peer reviewer and all references in this report are to that number. The five peer reviewers all have experience with large-scale conservation planning and/or landscape ecology and with peer reviews of scientific publications. The reviewers are all independent of the Service, have not taken an advocacy position with respect to this topic, and have no conflicts of interest. The resumes for the peer reviewers are presented in Appendix B and the reviewers consist of: . Stephanie Januchowski-Hartley, PhD from University of Wisconsin at Madison; . Joshua Lawler, PhD from University of Washington (Seattle); . Dennis Murphy, PhD from University of Nevada at Reno; . Maile Neel, PhD from University of Maryland; and . James Thorne, PhD from University of California at Davis. 3.0 Summary of Peer Reviewer Responses The peer reviewers considered and responded to the Charge to the Panel, a total of eight questions, provided by the Service. The following section summarizes