Web-Enabling State Wildlife Action Plans Business Processes and Technical Tools TM

Overview of this Presentation 1.CMP Open Standards & Adaptive Management 2.Applying the Open Standards to CA SWAP Revision 3.Biz Processes and IT Tools Required to Web Enable SWAP Revisions

About Foundations of Success Our Structure Non-profit organization Our Mission To improve the practice of conservation Our Strategy Work with practitioners of all kinds to improve the design, management, monitoring, and learning from conservation projects and programs We don’t implement conservation projects, we make our partners’ conservation projects better!

CMP The Conservation Measures Partnership: Leading Conservation Organizations

CMP Wildlife & Habitat Conservation Projects Come In All Shapes and Sizes 1.Managing a wildlife refuge 2.A State Wildlife Grant (SWG)-funded action 3.A range-wide management plan for the Reddish Egret 4.Revisions to a State Wildlife Action Plan

CMP Research On Over 220 Measures Systems in Different Fields

CMP Business & Management Family Tree

CMP Need to Integrate Measuring Effectiveness into an Iterative Project Cycle

CMP Status Question: How are Species and Ecosystems Doing? ?

CMP Effectiveness Question: Are Our Actions Leading to Desired Results? ?

CMP Similar Concepts, Different Words CMPAWFCITNCWCSWWF Biodiv Targets Focal Targets Conserv Outcomes Focal Conserv Targets Landscape Species Long- Term Goals Threats PressuresThreats ObjectivesMilestonesObjectivesTargetsProject Targets

CMP Conservation Measures Partnership’s Open Standards Developed by leading orgs & agencies Draws on many fields Open source & common language Used around the world Lakes Ontario & Huron State Wildlife Agencies Swedish National Parks Donor Funding Programs Academic Training

CMP The Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation

Overview of this Presentation 1.CMP Open Standards & Adaptive Management 2.Applying the Open Standards to CA SWAP Revision

California DFW Using Open Standards to Revise State Wildlife Action Plan

Define Project Scope: A Focus on Key Planning Units ~30 Terrestrial Ecoregions ~20 HUC 4s for Freshwater ~5 Marine Study Regions Step 1

Define Who is On Your Project Team SWAP Management Team Technical Team Terrestrial/Aquatic/Marine Teams (with outside stakeholders) Public Review

Step 1 Develop Conceptual Model Of Your System

Step 1 Develop Conceptual Model Of Your System

Step 1 Develop Conceptual Model Of Your System

Step 1 Develop Conceptual Model Of Your System

Step 1 Develop Conceptual Model Of Your System

Step 1 Develop Conceptual Model Of Your System

Step 1 Develop Conceptual Model Of Your System

Step 1 Need to Ensure Standard “Roll-Upable” Terms Across Units

Step 2 Plan Actions and Monitoring

Step 3 Implement Actions & Monitoring Just Do It!

Step 4 Analyze, Use, Adapt: Think About Key Questions Examples of Key Questions that CDFW Folks Have Identified: Search and Query - All projects that have mountain lion as a target Progress Reports - All projects that are behind schedule for monitoring Frequency Analyses - Logging is a high rated threat in 12 out of 20 ecoregions (60%) Descriptive & Comparative Stats - The average mountain lion pop is 30 ± 7 individuals Summative Analyses - See summary of objectives example

Step 5 Capture & Share Learning: Start with Desired End Report

Timeline for Overall Revision Process

Key Lessons from California SWAP Revision Process Training in Open Standards Required Find a few “power-users” to guide others Big decisions for SWAP (and database) Geographic units Targets (systems-level vs SGCN) Taxonomies (authority tables) Level of detail Needed to pilot test the process Need data systems to roll-up individual Miradi files and enforce standardization across units

Overview of this Presentation 1.CMP Open Standards & Adaptive Management 2.Applying the Open Standards to CA SWAP Revision 3.Biz Processes and IT Tools Required to Web Enable SWAP Revisions

What Processes and IT Tools Are Needed to Web Enable SWAP Revisions? + Common biz processes across key units

CMP Open Standards One Example of a Common Biz Process ~30 Terrestrial Ecoregions ~20 HUC 4s for Freshwater ~5 Marine Study Regions

+ Common biz processes across key units + Relevant training and outreach tools What Processes and IT Tools Are Needed to Web Enable SWAP Revisions?

Guidance and Training to Support the Open Standards

Training Courses & Coaches Conservation Coaches Network: 270 Coaches 59 Countries

+ Common biz processes across key units + Relevant training and outreach tools + Standard nomenclature & indicators What Processes and IT Tools Are Needed to Web Enable SWAP Revisions?

We Need Standard Terms to Describe Conservation Cows? Cattle? Livestock? Grazing? Ranching?

Two Independent Systems Have Now Been Unified IUCN Red List Authority Files CMP Taxonomies Unified Global Classifications

Classifications are Now “Peer Reviewed” Global Standard

Measuring the Effectiveness of State Wildlife Grants and Wildlife Action Plans

List of Actions 1.Land Protection 2.Data Collection/Surveys 3.Outreach to Key Resource Users 4.Species Restoration 5.Management Planning 6.Create New Habitat/Natural Processes 7.Conservation Area Designation 8.Training and Technical Assistance 9.Land Use Planning 10.Environmental Review 11.Direct Management

Species Restoration Definition of Action Examples “Generic” Results Chain Std Objectives Std Measures

CMP Species Restoration “Good” restoration plan completed Source population identified Species Restoration

CMP Species initially restored to site (short-term) Species breeding at sites : o ) Species Restoration

CMP No breeding at sites : o ( Species Restoration

CMP “Good” overall restoration plan for species Key stakeholders buy into plan Species Restoration

CMP Species Restoration

CMP Obj SP RST 5 – Sp Initially Restored By specified target date, the target number of units* have been introduced to Area(s) YYYY. Obj SP RST 6a – Sp Breeding Within xx years of introduction, the restored population is successfully breeding within the restoration site(s). Obj SP RST 2 – “Good” Plan Before implementation work starts, a "good" restoration plan has been developed for the specific project site(s). "Good" = … Species Restoration

CMP Ind SP RST 2 – Quality of Plan Presence of plan; assessment of plan against a priori quality criteria Ind SP RST 6 – Species Breeding Evidence of ongoing self reproduction of species within the site; Total units of species at the site Species Restoration

Crosswalk Table Result Objective Measures Questions

Measures Collection

CMP Final Report Available

+ Common biz processes across key units + Relevant training and outreach tools + Standard nomenclature & indicators + Software guidance & standard data collection What Processes and IT Tools Are Needed to Web Enable SWAP Revisions?

FOS, CMP & Benetech Create Miradi Desktop Software CMP The Conservation Measures Partnership TM Adaptive Management Software for Conservation Projects

TM “Turbo Tax” for Conservation

TM Step-by-Step Interview

TM Miradi Enables Standard Data Collection For Individual Projects

+ Common biz processes across key units + Relevant training and outreach tools + Standard nomenclature & indicators + Software guidance & standard data collection + Databases to find, analyze & roll-up project info What Processes and IT Tools Are Needed to Web Enable SWAP Revisions?

Definition of Conservation Project A defined group of practitioners working to achieve agreed upon conservation goals using one or more strategies.

Definition of Conservation Program A related group of sibling conservation projects designed to achieve overarching goals and objectives. A program is both a high level “project” in its own right and a parent to its child projects. Program Team Biodiversity Targets

Program Managers define building blocks to set program framework Project Managers use building blocks to define, manage and monitor individual projects within overall program Agency/Org Leaders analyze and review combined project data to drive adaptive mngmt Funders regularly receive consolidated reports showing investment results Miradi Share Miradi Projects Online Adaptive Management & Learning Across Conservation Programs Practitioners find similar projects and learn from them - -

How Can We Work Collaboratively On a Miradi File?

How Do We Standardize Data Across Projects In Our Program?? 1.Manual Code Books 2.Generic/Archetypal Chains 3.Template “Lego Set” Miradi Fields 4.Custom Authority Files/Validation Rules

How Do We Analyze Projects within a Program? Search and Query - All projects that have mountain lion as a component Progress Reports - All projects that are behind schedule for monitoring Frequency Analyses - Logging is a high rated threat in 12 out of 20 sites (60%) Descriptive & Comparative Stats - The average mountain lion pop is 30 ± 7 individuals Summative Analyses - See summary of objectives example

How Do We Analyze Projects within a Program?

Potential to Directly Interface with Wildlife TRACS’s Spatial Capabilities Projects and specific factors (e.g. targets, threats, strategies) can all have a spatial footprint to enable GIS analyses

Lower Level Project Data: Equal to 100 m Detailed View

Rolled Up Program Data Equal to 10,000 m View

Web-Enabling Info Also Bring in Potential for 2-Way Citizen Science Check out ebird for what could be!!

If We Create a Culture of Data Sharing… ? 

+ Common biz processes across key units + Relevant training and outreach tools + Standard nomenclature & indicators + Software guidance & standard data collection + Databases to find, analyze & roll-up project info = Ingredients for Web-Enabled SWAP Revisions... …and ultimately, more effective conservation What Processes and IT Tools Are Needed to Web Enable SWAP Revisions?

Straw Definition of Web-Enabling SWAPs Using web-based tools to more efficiently develop and communicate State Wildlife Action Plans.

Key Lessons for Web Enabling SWAPs Start with underlying biz processes Understand ultimate audiences and their info needs Define both project and program scales Invest in common structures/lexicons Technology must ultimately follow (but can inform) the underlying biz processes Use / bring together existing tech platforms Coaching, training, and management is critical Use the web to both collect and communicate our work This is hard – but we cannot afford not to do it!!

More Information FOSonline.org ConservationMeasures.org Miradi.org MiradiShare.org CMP Free Trial TM

What is Usability? Usability is a quality attribute relating to how easy something is to use. More specifically, it refers to how quickly people can learn to use something, how efficient they are while using it, how memorable it is, how error- prone it is, and how much users like using it. If people won’t use a feature, it might as well not exist (Nielsen & Loranger 2006).

Straw Definition of Web-Enabling SWAPs Definition: Using web-based tools to more efficiently develop and communicate State Wildlife Action Plans. Key Lessons Start with underlying biz processes Understand ultimate audiences and their info needs Define both project and program scales Invest in common structures/lexicons Technology must ultimately follow (but can inform) the underlying biz processes Use / bring together existing tech platforms Coaching, training, and management is critical Use the web to both collect and communicate our work This is hard – but we cannot afford not to do it!!

What Can We Collectively Do to Move Web-Enabling Forward? Brilliant idea #1 Brilliant idea #2 Crackpot idea #3

TM Miradi Enables Strong Standard Reporting Management Plan CAP workbook Annual workplans & budgets ?

TM Communicate Analyse, Adapt Implement Plan Conceptualise Finance System Miradi Enables Strong Standard Reporting

The “Burden of Proof” Depends on Risks, Costs, and Timeframe for Decision Making Generally Invest More in Measures When: Stakes are high (high cost of error or inaction) Potential to leverage learning Costs of measures are low relative to actions Marisla Foundation Packard Foundation

Conservation Needs to Keep Up With Other Priorities Conservation Worthy Cause A Worthy Cause B

The Power of Measuring Effectiveness The Bell Curve: Treating Cystic Fibrosis A Surprise – The Best Get Better It’s the centers in the top quartile that are improving fastest….they are at risk of breaking away. What the best may have, above all, is a capacity to learn and adapt – and to do so faster than everyone else. The Bell Curve Leads to Uncomfortable Questions Will being in the bottom half be used against doctors in lawsuits? Will we be expected to tell our patients how we score? Will our patients leave us? Will those at the bottom be paid less than those at the top? The answer to all these questions is likely yes. Poor Below Avg Above Avg Best Distribution of CF Treatment Center Success