MANAGING AND MONITORING UTAH’S WILDLIFE: Strategies and Tools for Success THE HEINZ C ENTER Wildlife Conservation Program MANAGING AND MONITORING UTAH’S WILDLIFE: STRATEGIES AND TOOLS FOR SUCCESS REPORT AND WORKSHOP SUMMARY Prepared for: U.S. Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Prepared by: The H. John Heinz III Center for Science Economics and the Environment March 2011 Table of Contents 1.0 Report Overview ..................................................................................................................................... 4 2.0 Introduction to Monitoring and Assessment ......................................................................................... 4 2.1 Setting Performance Measures .......................................................................................................... 5 2.1.1 Monitoring Design ...................................................................................................................... 5 2.1.2 Types of Monitoring ................................................................................................................... 6 2.1.2.1 Monitoring for Environmental Change ................................................................................... 6 2.1.3 Choosing Indicators .................................................................................................................... 7 2.1.4 Indicators and Adaptive Management ....................................................................................... 8 3.0 A Stressor‐Based Approach to Wildlife Conservation and Wildlife Monitoring ..................................... 8 3.1 The Value of a Stressor‐based Approach............................................................................................ 9 3.2 Stressors and Threats in Utah ............................................................................................................. 9 3.2.1 Energy Development .................................................................................................................. 9 3.2.2 Invasive Species ........................................................................................................................ 10 3.2.3 Altered Fire Regimes ................................................................................................................. 10 3.2.4 Altered Hydrology ..................................................................................................................... 10 3.2.5 Improper Recreation Uses ........................................................................................................ 11 3.2.6 Other Stressors and Threats ..................................................................................................... 11 4.0 Shared Priorities for Conservation and Monitoring ............................................................................. 12 4.1 The Challenge of Multiple Conservation Targets ............................................................................. 12 4.2 Exercise: Identifying Shared Priorities and Targets in Utah ............................................................. 13 4.3 Exercise Results: Overview of Utah Target Ecosystems ................................................................... 14 4.3.1 Aspen ........................................................................................................................................ 14 4.3.2 Springs, Springbrooks, and Wetlands ....................................................................................... 15 4.3.3 Flowing Waters ......................................................................................................................... 15 4.3.4 Sage and Sagebrush Communities (including pinyon‐juniper conversion areas) .................... 16 4.3.5 Lowland Riparian Zones ............................................................................................................ 16 Page 1 of 50 5.0 Conceptual Modeling ........................................................................................................................... 17 5.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 17 5.2 Core Principles .................................................................................................................................. 18 5.3 Exercise: Conceptual Modeling in Utah ............................................................................................ 19 5.3.1 Model Components: Threats, Stressors and Conservation Actions ......................................... 19 5.3.2 Model Construction .................................................................................................................. 19 5.3.3 Desired Conditions for the Targets ........................................................................................... 20 5.4 Conceptual Models for Priority Ecosystems in Utah ........................................................................ 21 5.4.1 Aspen ........................................................................................................................................ 21 5.4.2 Springs, Springbrooks, and Wetlands ....................................................................................... 21 5.4.3 Flowing Waters ......................................................................................................................... 22 5.4.4 Sage and Sagebrush Communities ........................................................................................... 22 5.4.5 Lowland Riparian Zones ............................................................................................................ 23 6.0 Indicator Selection ................................................................................................................................ 23 6.1 Overview ........................................................................................................................................... 23 6.2 Purpose ............................................................................................................................................. 24 6.3 Process .............................................................................................................................................. 24 6.4 Exercise: Selecting Indicators in Utah ............................................................................................... 25 7.0 Towards an Integrated Sampling Design .............................................................................................. 26 7.1 Basic Building Blocks ......................................................................................................................... 27 7.2 Moving from Disparate Monitoring Efforts to Integrated Sampling ................................................ 28 7.2.1 Steps to Integrate Monitoring .................................................................................................. 28 7.2.2 Steps in Action .......................................................................................................................... 29 7.2.2.1 Mapping Existing Monitoring in Utah ................................................................................... 29 7.2.2.2 Identifying Areas of Overlap ................................................................................................. 29 7.2.2.3 Identifying Desired Spatial and Temporal Scales .................................................................. 30 7.3 Putting the Elements Together: Site‐specific Integrated Sampling Design for Multiple Taxa and Ecosystem Variables ..................................................................................................................................... 31 7.4 Strategies Towards More Robust Sampling ..................................................................................... 33 Page 2 of 50 8.0 Monitoring Programs ........................................................................................................................... 34 8.1 Review of Existing Monitoring Efforts in Utah ................................................................................. 35 8.1.1 Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (UDWR)............................................................................ 35 8.1.2 Utah Bureau of Land Management (UT BLM) .......................................................................... 38 8.1.3 USDA Forest Service ................................................................................................................. 39 8.1.4 HawkWatch International ......................................................................................................... 41 8.1.5 The Nature Conservancy (TNC)................................................................................................. 41 8.1.6 The Utah Watershed Restoration Initiative (UWRI) ................................................................. 41 8.2 Monitoring Efforts in Sage and Sagebrush Systems ......................................................................... 42 8.2.1 Utah Division of Wildlife Resources .......................................................................................... 42 8.2.2 Utah Bureau of Land Management (UT BLM) .......................................................................... 43