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SPATIAL INDICATORS OF ECOLOGICAL CONDITION IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES
Citation:
JONES, B., D. T. HEGGEM, D. W. EBERT, S. AUGUSTINE, A. SELLE, K. HERMANN, P. LEINENBACH, A. C. NEALE, T. G. WADE, AND R. D. VAN REMORTEL. SPATIAL INDICATORS OF ECOLOGICAL CONDITION IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES. Presented at Society of Rangeland Management Annual Meeting, Special Symposium: Linkages Between Sustainable Rangelands Roundtables (SRR) Criteria and Agency Rangeland Inventory, Monitoring, and Reporting Efforts, Fort Worth, TX, February 05 - 11, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
There are four basic objectives of the project:
Demonstrate the application of a comparative landscape assessment in analyzing the vulnerability of surface and coastal water conditions to declines based on landscape conditions (as estimated by landscape indicators as demonstrated in the mid-Atlantic landscape atlas) in western environments;
Develop and apply landscape assessment approaches relative to specific issues, including an ability to prioritize the vulnerability of areas relative to the Clean Water Act 303(d) designations; Quantify relationships between landscape conditions (as measured by landscape indicators) and surface and coastal waters in the west to reduce the uncertainty in comparative landscape assessments, and issue-specific, landscape assessments (e.g., Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDLs);
Complete a west-wide, comparative landscape assessment relative to surface and coastal water vulnerability;
Transfer landscape assessment technologies to Regional Offices so that they can conduct landscape assessments at many scales.
Description:
This presentation highlights the development of spatial and landscape indicators by the EPA's Western EMAP Landscape Working group. The presentation highlights work being conducted in EPA Regions 8, 9, and 10. The spatial indicators will be used by ORD, the EPA Regions, and 12 western States to evaluate ecological and watershed conditions, primarily with regards to water quality. The presentation also compares indicators developed by the working group with those recommended by the Sustainable Rangeland Roundtable.