NatureServe Camas NWR Ecological Integrity Assessment, Watershed Analysis and Habitat Vulnerability Climate Change Index Gwen Kittel, Don Faber-Langendoen and Pat Comer 12/11/2012 Left to right: Sagebrush Steppe, Wet Meadow and Riparian Shrubland habitats at Camas NWR. This project was made possible through a USFWS I&M grant # F11PX04463 This report is the second part of a vegetation mapping project for Camas NWR, the first report is: Miewald, Tom, G. Kittel and E. Stockenberg. 2012. Vegetation and Habitat Mapping: Lessons Learned from Camas National Wildlife Refuge. Internal Report to Region 1 USFWS Inventory and Monitoring Program. Acknowledgements: NatureServe would like to thank Tom Miewald and Erin Stockenberg for their comments of earlier manuscripts. Full citation: Kittel, G., Don Faber-Langendoen and Pat Comer. 2012. Camas NWR: Ecological Integrity Assessment, Watershed Analysis and Habitat Vulnerability Climate Change Index. Report to USFWS under contract # F11PX04463. Prepared by NatureServe, Boulder, CO. ii Table of Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 5 2 Ecological Integrity Assessment ............................................................................................................ 5 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 5 2.2 Rating Ecological Integrity ............................................................................................................. 7 2.3 Methods ........................................................................................................................................ 8 2.4 Level-2 Condition Metric Definitions and Score Criteria ............................................................ 10 2.5 Individual Site EIA Condition Score ............................................................................................. 10 2.6 Wetland Complex Ecological Integrity Assessment .................................................................... 10 2.7 Level-1 Landscape, Buffer & Hydrology Metrics ......................................................................... 12 2.8 Wetland Complex EIA Overall Score ........................................................................................... 12 2.9 Results and Discussion ................................................................................................................ 13 2.9.1 Individual Assessment Sites ................................................................................................ 13 2.9.1.1 Wetlands ......................................................................................................................... 13 2.9.1.2 Uplands ........................................................................................................................... 19 2.9.2 Wetland Complex Assessments -- Results and Discussion ................................................. 21 2.9.2.1 Camas Creek & Floodplain EIA Score and Discussion ..................................................... 23 2.9.2.2 Big Pond Wetland Complex EIA Score and Discussion .................................................... 25 2.9.2.3 Center Pond Wetland EIA Score and Discussion ............................................................. 27 2.9.2.4 Ray’s Lake Wetland Complex EIA Score and Discussion ................................................. 29 2.10 Summary EIA Findings ................................................................................................................. 31 3 Camas NWR Watershed Analysis ........................................................................................................ 32 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 32 3.2 Methods ...................................................................................................................................... 32 3.3 Results ......................................................................................................................................... 33 3.4 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 39 4 Habitat Climate Change Vulnerability ................................................................................................. 41 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 41 4.1.1 Defining Climate-Change Vulnerability and Adaptation Strategies .................................... 41 4.1.2 Climate change adaptation strategies ................................................................................ 42 4.1.3 Scales of Ecological Organization ........................................................................................ 43 iii 4.2 Overview of Methodology for Vulnerability Assessment ........................................................... 44 4.2.1 Index Framework ................................................................................................................ 45 4.2.1.1 Numerical and Categorical Summaries of Vulnerability ................................................. 45 4.2.1.2 Spatial and Temporal Dimensions for Documenting Vulnerability ................................. 47 4.2.2 Climate Exposure in the Snake River Plain Ecoregion ......................................................... 48 4.2.2.1 Describing Climate Stress and its Direct Effects.............................................................. 52 4.2.2.2 Climate Stress Index ........................................................................................................ 53 4.2.2.3 Dynamic Process Forecasts ............................................................................................. 53 4.2.3 Accounting for the Indirect Effects of Climate Stress ......................................................... 55 4.2.3.1 Landscape Condition ....................................................................................................... 56 4.2.3.2 Dynamic Process Alterations .......................................................................................... 59 4.2.4 Adaptive Capacity for Responding to Climate Stress .......................................................... 59 4.2.4.1 Diversity within characteristic functional groups ........................................................... 60 4.2.4.2 Characteristic Elevation Range ....................................................................................... 60 4.2.4.3 Dealing with Uncertainty ................................................................................................ 61 4.3 Results ......................................................................................................................................... 61 4.3.1 Habitat Vulnerability Climate Change Index for NVC Group G521 Vancouverian & Rocky Mountain Montane Wet Meadow Group aka “Wet Meadow Habitat” ............................................. 64 4.3.2 Habitat Vulnerability Climate Change Index for NVC Group G303 Intermountain Dry Tall Sagebrush Shrubland & Steppe Group aka “Sagebrush Steppe Habitat” ........................................... 70 4.3.3 Habitat Vulnerability Climate Change Index for NVC Group G518 Western North American Temperate Interior Freshwater Marsh Group aka “Marsh Habitat” .................................................. 75 4.3.4 Habitat Vulnerability Climate Change Index for NVC Group G526 Rocky Mountain & Great Basin Lowland & Foothill Riparian & Seep Shrubland Group aka “Riparian Shrubland Habitat” ....... 81 4.4 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 87 5 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................................... 88 6 Literature Cited ................................................................................................................................... 89 7 Appendix A. Crosswalk of NVC, NatureServe Ecological Systems and USFWS Habitat Types. ........... 97 8 Appendix B. Ecological Integrity Assessment Metric Definitions and Criteria.................................... 99 9 Appendix C. Example EIA Field Forms ................................................................................................. 99 10 Appendix D. Landscape Condition Model ........................................................................................... 99 iv List of Figures Figure 1. General conceptual model for Ecological Integrity Assessments (EIA). ........................................ 7 Figure 2. Camas 2009 and 2011 sample locations. ....................................................................................... 9 Figure 3. Map of Wetland Complex areas (A) and Landscape scale metrics (B)......................................... 11 Figure 4. Sample locations color coded to their EIA rank score. ............................................................... 14 Figure