Abstract
State, federal, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are investing significant resources to conduct landscape-scale assessments of the location, condition, and vulnerability of renewable natural resources. These assessments provide critical information on contiguous landscapes (e.g., ecoregions, watersheds, habitats, communities) that can be vital to a range of partners in developing landscape-scale management strategies and plans. They also provide important perspectives for subsequent finer scale management, assessment, and monitoring. A lack of awareness and coordination across these efforts reduces efficiency and diminishes the benefit of these individual assessments.
A multi-stakeholder group recognized the need for and value of collaboration among the authors of these assessments to enhance efficiency and utility and reduce duplication of efforts. This group, called the Crosswalk Team, is collaborating to develop information resources on landscape-scale renewable natural resource assessments. The team’s purpose is to facilitate greater coordination and integration across assessments and improve access to data, which greatly benefits many landscape-scale efforts [e.g. Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) and Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Projects].
The Field Guide to Landscape Assessments of the United States represents the culmination of the first phase of the crosswalk process. By design, this Field Guide is limited in scope to allow for quick and easy reference. It provides a snapshot of a small sampling of current assessments and uses a common format to improve understanding of similarities and differences in areas of interest, objectives, and resources assessed. The Field Guide does not provide an in-depth analysis of assessments and associated issues, nor does it answer all questions for each audience. It serves, however, as a collaborative tool for understanding existing assessments and as a foundation for future work. Contingent on funding and participation, the Crosswalk Team will build upon the existing Field Guide framework and further engage assessment practitioners to identify other information that would be of value for possible next phases of the crosswalk process, such as developing an interactive map of the assessments, peer-reviewed papers, and expanding the reach to Hawaii and Alaska.
Contents
Northwest
• Columbia Plateau Ecoregional Assessment (The Nature Conservancy)
• Klamath Mountains Ecoregional Assessment (The Nature Conservancy)
• Mill Creek Community Wildfire Protection Plan (City of Walla Walla, Washington)
• Pacific Northwest Coast Ecoregional Assessment (The Nature Conservancy)
• From the Mountains to the Sea – Applying the Yale Framework in Western Washington (EcoAdapt)
• Sheldon-Hart Mountain National Wildlife Refuge Complex Vulnerability Assessment (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)
• Pacific Northwest Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment (University of Washington)
• Priority Habitats and Species Program (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife)
Southwest
• Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program (Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program)
• Central Basin and Range Rapid Ecoregional Assessment (Bureau of Land Management)
North Central
• Aquatic, Riparian, and Wetland Assessment: Bighorn National Forest (USDA Forest Service)
• Ocean of Grass: Ecoregional assessment of the U.S. Northern Great Plains (World Wildlife Fund)
Northeast
• New York Habitat Vulnerability Assessment (Manomet Center for Conservation Sciences)
• Climate Change Response Framework Ecosystem Vulnerability Assessments (USDA Forest Service)
Southeast
• Southern Forest Futures Project (USDA Forest Service)
South Central
• Regional Ecological Assessment Protocol (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
National
• West-Wide Climate Risk Assessment (Bureau of Reclamation)
• Natural Resource Condition Assessment (National Park Service)
• Rapid Ecoregional Assessments (Bureau of Land Management)
• The State of Climate Change Adaptation (EcoAdapt)
• Western Governors’ Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool (Western Governors’ Association)
• The National Aquatic Resource Assessment (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)
• The Nature Conservancy Ecoregional Assessments (The Nature Conservancy)
