Great Basin
Landscape Conservation Cooperative
Matt Germino
Professor of Plant Ecology, Idaho State
University
Soon to be:
GBLCC Research Ecologist with
USGS FRESC
*MANY SLIDES HERE BORROWED FROM GBLCC,
FROM M PELLANT, P MABIE, A MUTH, and others.
Background on LCCs
 Established 2009 by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to
better integrate science and management to address
climate change and other landscape-scale issues
 Self-directed science and
management partnerships
within geographically
defined area
 Better inform coordinated
resource management
actions within and across
landscapes
National Network of 21 LCCs
What Are LCCs?
•
Public-private science and management partnerships
formed to support landscape-scale conservation
•
Link science and conservation delivery
•
Include groups that agree to work together on common
interests and issues
LCCs are not:
 Funding sources for conservation delivery
 Replacements for existing partnerships
 Regulatory authorities
Eight Climate Science Centers (CSCs)
CSCs will deliver basic climate-change-impact science to LCCs
within their respective regions, including physical and biological
research, ecological forecasting, and multi-scale modeling
In the Great Basin:
•
Bureau of Land Management, with US Fish & Wildlife
Service, was tasked with initiating the Great Basin
Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC)
•
U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution
(USIECR) neutrally convening process
•
USIECR contracted EnviroIssues
Great Basin LCC
Great Basin Land Ownership
72% federal management
Acres
Percentage
Tribal
1,382,365
0.95%
Bureau of Land Management
78,499,886
53.93%
Bureau of Reclamation
38,321
0.03%
Department of Defense
3,570,405
2.45%
Department of Energy
670,169
0.46%
Local
358,390
0.25%
Federal (Miscellaneous)
132,831
0.09%
National Park Service
919,144
0.63%
Private
32,385,413
22.25%
State
3,716,394
2.55%
Unknown
7,296
0.01%
U.S. Forest Service
20,343,170
13.98%
U.S. Forest Service / BLM
191,902
0.13%
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1,319,074
0.91%
Water
2,011,978
1.38%
Total 145,546,736
100.00%
Draft Organizational Structure
2011 Available Resources
 Steering committee, established. Stakeholder
groups mostly identified
 BLM LCC Coordinator – search is on
 USGS Research Ecologist - Matt Germino
 USFWS Science Coordinator – search is on?
Organizing Committee Members
Laurie Averill-Murray
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Sara O’Brien
Defenders of Wildlife
Doug Neighbor
National Park Service
Duane Petite
The Nature Conservancy
Joe Tague
Bureau of Land Management
Kim Townsend
Duckwater Shoshone Tribe
Laura Richards
Nevada Department of Wildlife
Mike Pellant
Bureau of Land Management
Nat Frazer
Utah State University, Great Basin Research and
Management Partnership
Randy Sharp
U.S. Forest Service
Rang Narayanan
University of Nevada, Reno, Great Basin
Environmental Program
Rory Reynolds
Utah Department of Natural Resources
Activities up to now
May
June
July
August
Informational
meetings in
Reno, Salt
Lake City
Organizing
and Boise
Committee
meeting in
Boise
September
October
Informational
webinar
Basin-wide
meeting in
Reno
November
December
Basin-wide
webinar
Stakeholder
forum, Feb 2011
Draft Mission Statement
The Great Basin Landscape Conservation Cooperative
enhances understanding of the effects of changing
climate and other natural and human impacts across the
region and promotes the coordination of science-based
actions to enable human and natural communities to
respond and/or adapt to those conditions.
Great Basin LCC Goals
 Provide leadership and a framework linking science and
management to address shared ecological, climate, and
socio-economic issues across the basin.
 Focus science and management actions to sustain natural
resources in the context of changing environmental
conditions.
 Enhance collaboration to integrate science and
management among Great Basin LCC partners
particularly as related to climate change and other
landscape scale change agents.
 Promote communication and education.
Landscape-scale Issues in the Great Basin
(issue vetting on 17Feb11…and 22Mar11)
 Fire
 Invasive species
 Loss of habitat
 Water
 Development
 Climate change
Issues in the Great Basin
• Urbanization and
Changing Land Use
• Public Perceptions of
Land Management
• Water Resources
• Energy Development
• Climate Change
• Abnormal Wildfire
Regimes
• Invasive Plant Species
 Wildlife Concerns
 Insect Outbreaks
 Riparian and Aquatic
Ecosystems
 Plant Communities
(emphasizing
sagebrush, aspen and
sensitive plant
communities)
Developing the Great Basin LCC work
plan
Table discussions:
What can the Great Basin LCC do that is different
than what is already ongoing to address previously
identified prioritized problems? Identify proposed
actions.
•Functional applications
(e.g., ecological planning units and appropriate
scale)
•Areas of emphasis (i.e., terrestrial, aquatic, avian, landscape, etc.)
•Priority Land use and land management activities (i.e., fire,
urbanization, etc.)
•Science applications and disciplines (i.e., population modeling, GIS,
etc.)
Partnering with the Great Basin LCC
Opportunities to contribute exist in:
• Sharing this information with your networks
• Telling the LCC who else we need to be including, talking
to, consulting with
• Thinking about how the LCC could provide value to your
organization
• Providing LCC with any other additional input and contacts
Contacts
Mike Pellant, BLM
208-373-3823
Mike_Pellant@blm.gov
Rick Kearney, US Fish & Wildlife Service
916-978-6160
Richard_Kearney@fws.gov
Penny Mabie, EnviroIssues
206-269-5041
info@greatbasinlcc.org
What does MJG bring into the GBLCC?
•Core training in biophysical and physiological plant ecology
•Applications to population, community, and ecosystem ecology;
landscape perspective, all on uplands.
•Forest boundaries, soil and plant communities in sagebrush steppe.
•Fire, invasives, wind erosion, ecohydrology
•Involved in Great Basin Research and Management Partnership
•USDA Bromus Research, Extension, and Education Network
•Bromus-climate USDA NIFA proposal development
-Abiotic and biotic factors affecting cheatgrass and analog species
-Observing climate responses in common gardens, distributed broadly
-Experimental climate manipulations, Species distribution modeling
-Decision support tool
•New LCC needs
LCC from the native plant materials perspective….some suggestions
for discussion:
1) How are restoration and planting activities for a site affected by
the surrounding landscape?
ie. How do plantings on one site affect ecological condition of
surrounding sites? How is restoration success on a site affected
by the surrounding landscape?
2) How can restoration of native plants be enhanced by climate
modeling and prediction (timing of efforts, selection of appropriate
species & genotypes)? How well do we understand climate of
remote locations where restoration or rehabilitation is occurring?
3) Seed zones, a key part of cooperative landscape conservation
Website:
www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/more/Great_Basin_LCC.htm
The End