U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey COAST Toolkit: The Forested Land Management decision support tool Cassandra Ladino, U.S. Geological Survey On Behalf of the COAST Development Team 10/05/11 Forest Conservation Demo

Outline  Chesapeake Online Adaptive Support Toolkit (COAST) What is COAST Adaptive Management concepts  Forested Land Management Mapper Demo PowerPoint slide overview Live demo with Q/A  Discussion and Next Steps

The Chesapeake Online Adaptive Support Toolkit (COAST)  Science based Decision- support tool WWW based Integrated framework of models and information Adaptive management  Implement and assess actions Chesapeake Action Plan Executive Order Water quality Watersheds (forest management)  User groups State, federal, local, NGO’s

Adaptive Management  A specific kind of structured decision making  Learning by doing and adapting to what is learned  Improves both the operation of restoration programs and meeting restoration goals

Executive Order Strategy

Decision Support Tools Amongst Partners COAST ChesapeakeStat Bay Barometer Environmental Measures Accountability stating process for measuring progress toward program goals Spatial selection of priority areas for resource management through the use of scientific information and data

Representing Adaptive Management The Toolkit provides web map applications to support adaptive management steps.

Data Characteristics:  Data list determined by COAST working group subject experts Vulnerability to Conversion Economic Importance Forest Hub Size Soil Productivity Stream Order Stream Density Soil Moisture Adjacent Land Cover Slope Impaired Streams $ ! Site Index (Avg Tree Height) FLM Data

Forested Land Management Tool (FLM)

Data Characteristics:  Analysis by HUC, County, or State  Analysis Unit = NHDplus catchment $ ! Site Index (Avg Tree Height) FLM Data

LAYERSOURCEYEARCELL SIZEVALUE RANGE Vulnerability to ConversionRLA meter1 - 4 Economic ImportanceRLA meter Forest Hub SizeRLA meter acres Soil ProductivitySSURGO.Site_Index_r meter years Stream OrderNHDplus HUCStrahler Order 1 -7 Stream DensityNHDplus HUC Soil MoistureSSURGO.Soimoistdept_r meter meters Adjacent LandcoverCBLC meterLand cover classes SlopeNHDplus meter % Impaired StreamsEPA HUCYes (1) or No (0)

LayersData Scale Parameter43210 Vulnerability to conversionHighModerateLow 0= not forest Large Blocks (Forest Hub Size) (acres) < = 200 0= not forest Soils Productivity ( Forest Suitability)Highly suitable = 90-80Mod. Suitable= 79-75Low Suitability=74-64Very poor suitability=63-10= not forest Stream order/HUC1 st order/12 digit2 nd order/11 digit3 rd order> 3 rd order/8 digit HUCNA Stream Density/ HUC> NA Importance to economyVery valuableHigh valueMod valueLow value0= not forest Soil Moisture<1 meter1 - 2 meters2 - 5 meters meters0= >10 Adjacent Land CoverAgricultural LandsOpen SpaceUrbanForested0= not forest Slope>25%15-25%5-15%0-5%0= not forest Impaired Streams Yes0= No FLM Data

FLM Interface Highlights  Online Public Access  User creates prioritization  Source data are accessible  View other related datasets  * Under development this year *

FLM DEMO – Select an area of interest Frederick County

FLM DEMO – Select layers for analysis In this scenario:  We are prioritizing layers based on Preservation potential.  Vulnerability to Conversion and Forest Hub Size were of equal and highest importance to us.  Stream Order and Stream Density were of equal and lowest importance.  Soil Productivity is three times as important as Stream Density and Stream Order.  Economic Importance is two times as important as Stream Density and Stream Order.

FLM DEMO – Map the data

FLM DEMO – Investigate the results

Live Demo with Q/A Go to: Lets create a scenario...  Objective?  State/ County?  Which Layers?

Next Steps  Next Steps Release the COAST Forested Land Management decision support tool Continue presentations and demonstration to key user groups

Questions and Contacts COAST Website URL:   Keywords: USGS COAST U.S. Geological Survey Contacts:  Cassandra Ladino,  Paul Hearn – Apps Team Leader  Scott Phillips – COAST Project Manager