R o c k y M o u n t ai n Re s e a r c h S ta ti o n , R e s e a r c h Wo r k U n i t 4 1 5 1 :
E c o l og y an d M an a g e me n t o f No r th e r n Ro c k y Mo u n t a i n Fo r e s t s
FACT SHEET: SIMPPLLE
L A N DS C A P E DYNAM I C S I M UL A T I O N SY S TE M
P L A N N E D A P P LI C AT I O N S
Information for this fact
sheet was provided by:
Jim Chew, Forester
All planned development activities depend on implementing
the complete design for SIMPPLLE. This design represents
not just vegetation, but also land
units, aquatic units, man-made
units, and the interactions between all types of landscape
units.
jchew@fs.fed.us
406-542-4171
Special points of interes t:
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Project Leader:
Elaine Kennedy Sutherland
Brief lyh ighlight your po int of in terest here.
Brief lyh ighlight your po int of in terest here.
esutherland@fs.fed.us
406-542-4169
US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, COLORADO PLATEAU:
We have been asked to participate with USGS in a project entitled “Integrating
Science with Resource Management through Collaborative Approaches and
Adaptive Modeling Systems.” The initial focus area for the project is PinyonJuniper ecosystems on the Colorado Plateau, Mesa Verde National Park.
SIMPPLLE will be expanded to incorporate “conceptual models” developed by
USGS scientists for the Colorado Plateau. SIMPPLLE will provide vegetation
change for USGS’s watershed models, and USGS’s models may provide a
“hydrologic response” component for SIMPPLLE to link changes in vegetation
with changes in aquatic units.
US FOREST SERVICE, REGION ONE, WATERSHED MODELING:
We will incorporate components of the Region’s “next generation” of watershed
assessment models into SIMPPLLE. Using vegetation and hydrologic data developed from the Tenderfoot Experimental Forest we will integrate vegetation
change and hydrologic response within SIMPPLLE.
March 2005
GRASSLAND ECOSYSTEMS: WILDLIFE CONSERVATION PLANS,
LONG-TERM MANAGEMENT OF PRIVATE LANDS:
We will develop versions of SIMPPLLE for Wyoming and South Dakota with
funding from the Ecosystem Management Research Institute, a nonprofit organization. In South Dakota SIMPPLLE will be used to help develop the state’s
Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan. In Wyoming it will be used to help
private property owners in the 931,000 acre Thunder Basin Grasslands Prairie Ecosystem Association develop a science-based approach to long-term management.
INVASIVE SPECIES—MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY:
We are collaborating with Montana State University on a project “Developing and Integrating Tools for
Assessing the Impacts of Invasive Plants for Prioritization of Management on Federal Lands”. This project
is funded by a grant from the Program of Research on the Economics of Invasive Species. Knowledge
generated by MSU’s research on the occurrence and spread of invasive species will be incorporated into
SIMPPLLE.
SWAN VALLEY — USE OF SIMPPLLE AS COMMUNICATIONS TOOL:
SIMPPLLE is being tested with a diverse group of stakeholders in the Swan Valley in western Montana as a
tool to help understand ecological concepts at landscape scales. The intent is to help identify management
goals and to facilitate collaborative planning at landscape scales. The Swan Valley Ecosystem Center, a
nonprofit organization, is a partner in this effort.
CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT / IMPROVEMENT OF SOFTWARE DESIGN AND USER
INTERFACE:
To respond to users’ needs to work with larger landscapes (millions of acres), we have to store simulation
results in databases while the simulation is running to reduce virtual memory requirements. The graphical
user interface needs to be expanded to give users more flexibility in creating the logic that determines the
probability of occurrence and spread of disturbance processes. The pathway interfaces have to be expanded to enable the user to build new pathways. Changes to the system will allow users to build all system knowledge for a new geographic area without system developers’ involvement. User interface screens
that capture system knowledge associated with the total system design, vegetation, land, aquatic and manmade units and the interactions between them is necessary as system development progresses. Continual
testing and evaluation of the efficiency of the software data structures and code is needed to insure we
maintain a management tool that can be used by a team in an interactive fashion.