Since 2007, the Redlands Institute has been working with the USFWS Desert Tortoise Recovery Office (DTRO) to create a threats-based spatial decision support system to help the DTRO coordinate species recovery activities such as research, monitoring and management actions. At its core the system uses spatial characterizations of existing threats combined with a weighted threat-stress conceptual model to estimate changes in stresses for tortoise populations due to specific recovery actions.
V3 2011-2012
For the current, 3rd iteration of the SDS, the team is being supported by the California Energy Commission to further improve the system’s ability to calculate the impacts of proposed solar facilities on the desert tortoise population in California. Supported by the DTRO, the team is simultaneously creating a user friendly front end to the SDS system that can be used directly by managers to explore threats data and the corresponding stress change analyses, and rank recovery
actions in their own areas. By the end of 2011, when this 3rd iteration is scheduled to be completed, the DT SDS will include an implementation and monitoring support system for managers, a habitat connectivity model, and an initial demographic model for the desert tortoise population.
Key New Features
• Integration of a full demographic model for stresses to population change
• Development of an ArcGIS desktop application to design recovery actions
• Scenario management for alternative energy installations and offsetting recovery actions
• Web-based Implementation and Effectiveness monitoring application integrated with Conceptual Model Manager
• Integrated Sensitivity analysis module
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