STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING Steering... · 2016-03-18 · October Science Team meeting: Winnie, TX •Focused primarily on advancing the coarse filter (habitat cover type centric)

www.gulfcoastprairielcc.org

STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING

January 12th – 14th

Lafayette, LA


Day 1 – January 12th

Wetlands and Aquatic Research Center

Welcome Ken Rice and Tom Doyle


Outcomes and Actions

•Steering Committee – leadership, strategic planning, responsibilities and governance •Facilitated session – Group Solutions

•Science Team – membership, project review and recommendations

•Regional and National Conservation •SECAS and NAS Report


The GCP LCC: Mission

“…to sustain, protect, and conserve natural

and cultural resources in the Gulf Coast

Prairie landscape/geography in the face of

such threats and stressors as climate change,

population growth, and urbanization…”


GCP LCC Coordinator

Admin Support GCP LCC Science

Coordinator Communication

Specialists

GIS, IT, Media Gulf Liaison

SECAS

Staff Structure


2016 Staff Status

Staff Capacity • Coordinator – Bill Bartush FWS (Lafayette)

• GCPO-GCP Shared Position – Cynthia Edwards (MS)

• Science Coordinator – Ben Kahler FWS (Lafayette) • GIS, Data Technical Capacity – Blair Tirpak (Lafayette)USGS

• Annual Report summary & accomplishment (brief)

• USFWS Funding overview (reduced)

• Seeking successional planning & shared capacity

• National & Regional Connections


Shared Leadership and Support

Strategic Capacity

• WARC – Blair Tirpak (CPA, Data Management, Geo-spatial)

• Steve Hartley, Craig Conzelmann, Heather Baldwin

• WMI – Chris Smith • Coordination & Communication

• CESU – Debbie Danford & Brian Hays • Administration, Extension, Website Platform, TAMU fire & private lands


Plans 2016

Develop Strategic Capacity • Annual Report

• Diversify Funding, shared positions • Leverage human, financial and scientific assets among partners

• Emphasis Area / Focal Species-landscape conservation design

• Extend/communicate Science through Partners

• Engage HD

• (SC CSC – Rio Grande & Red Rivers-MX & Private Lands)

• Region & Gulf Partnership (LCC liaison - NOAA & GOMA)


GCP LCC Funding Overview

Year 1410

FWS/Contract 1420

WMI/CESU/USGS Total

2011 $531k $761k $1,292k

2012 $438k $699k $1,137k

2013 $385k $341k $726k

2014 $435k $462k $897k

2015 $448k $461k $909k

2016 $289k $366k $655k

Total

mean

$2,237k

$447k

$2,724k

$545k

$4,961k

$992k


LCC Partners & Successional Planning

Strategic Capacity •Shared positions & Contributions

• Contributions, other funds for human resources • Annual Contributions Summary

•Communications (GCP, SECAS & R2)

•Leadership – Chair/V.Chair & EX-ADV

•Steering Committee Membership & Staff •Homework Questions

•Science Team – Future Technical Skills


LCC Council, NAS & Regional Strategy

LCC Council Membership • 6 Feds, 3 Tribes, 1 Indigenous

• 4 State agency directors

• 4 Non-governmental organization (NGO) participants

• 1 LCC, 2 "Major partnership" participants, 4 International 2 "At Large" participants

• NAS See Website = GCPO blog & questions

• SE CAS – SEAFWA Member State Directors • GCP Support since 2011

• RESTORE Act – LCC engagement

• Gulf LCCs letter of Support to Restore Council


2016 Calendar

• February 23-26: Oklahoma Natural Resources Conference - conservation LCD session (Quail, Aquatic meetings)

• June 14-17: GCP Steering Committee & GOMA Baton Rouge

• October 16-10: SEAFWA – SECAS 2016 Baton Rouge

• January 10-12 or 17-19, 2017: Oklahoma or Texas


SCIENCE


Outline

• October Science Team Meeting

• Progress on LCD and next steps

• Science Projects

• Science Team Updates

• Science Needs

• Work to Date

• Continual Improvement


Perspective


October Science Team meeting: Winnie, TX

• Focused primarily on advancing the coarse filter (habitat cover type centric) and fine filter (species centric) landscape conservation design (LCD) efforts that the Steering Committee approved in June 2015.

• Science Team members identified and discussed new science needs including suggestions for Climate Science Center to address, topics that are suitable for structured decision making approach, and capacity to complete the LCD tasks.


Landscape Conservation Design (LCD)

LCD is an iterative & collaborative process that moves a collection of conservation organizations (US), places, and actions towards an ecologically-connected network of lands and waters capable of sustaining natural and cultural resources for future generations.

Our two-stage approach to LCD includes

1. Coarse filter addressing broadly defined habitats

2. Fine filter ‘Pilot Study’ within a more restricted geography stretching from Edwards Plateau through the Colorado and Guadalupe River watersheds to the Gulf of Mexico.


Principles that guide our LCD efforts

• Use and not duplicate existing work

• Effective and sustained collaboration among partners through a bridging organization

• Science has a specific role in collaborative decision making with the intent to develop decision support tools

• Our role in decision making is dependent upon conservation design elements already in place

• As an ongoing, iterative process, focus on a rapid prototype that can be refined through time.


Coarse Filter LCD

Blair Tirpak, Cynthia Edwards, and Science Team

• Work to date

• Current tasks

• Next steps

• Timeline


Fine Filter LCD

Ben Kahler with Science Team and others as needed

• Work to date

• Current tasks

• Next steps:

• identify the narrow road in the pilot study area; close coordination with ongoing LCD efforts in the area not to duplicate rather to add value

• Timeline


Science Projects


Science Projects

• GCP-funded (Tier 1 focal species) • Technical review team membership

• Multi-LCC efforts • Gulf Hypoxia

• Least Tern

• Monarch

• Gulf Resiliency

http://gulfcoastprairielcc.org/science/science-projects/


Technical Review Team members • 1. Alligator Gar Project - WMI - Steve Magnelia, Amity Bass, Shannon

Brewer (OSU/USGS), David Buckmeier (TPWD), Yvonne Allen (GCPO)

• 2. American oyster - WMI - Cindy Loeffler, Woody Woodrow, Jorge Brenner, Amity Bass, Patrick Banks

• 3. Guadalupe Bass - WMI - Steve Magnelia, Dakus Geeslin (TPWD), Ryan Smith, Nate Smith (TPWD)

• 4. Mottled Duck - CESU - Mike Brasher, Jena Moon (FWS), Woody Woodrow, Barry Wilson

• 5. Northern Bobwhite - 2 projects: WMI and CESU - Jon Hayes (OPJV), Mark Howery, Chad Ellis, Blair Tirpak, Steve DeMaso, Ken Gee (OPJV)

• 6. Quadrula - WMI - Ryan Smith, Steve Magnelia, Amity Bass, Shannon Brewer (OSU/USGS), Dakus Geeslin (TPWD), Charrish Stevens (FWS), Mark Howery


Regional LCD Coordination

Our efforts add value to other efforts in the region through the alignment of LCD processes,

• Coarse filter LCD Ecological Indices Project, TPWD

• Fine filter LCD efforts in coastal Texas and Balcones, FWS I&M

and add value through the provision and hosting of • geospatial platform (CPA)

• spatial data

• decision support tool (GMIT)


Science Team


Science Team Members • Scott Alford, USDA-NRCS

• Amity Bass, LDWF

• Mike Brasher, DU & GCJV

• Jorge Brenner, TNC

• Chad Ellis, The Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation

• John Foret, NOAA

• Mark Howery, ODWC

• Cindy Loeffler, TPWD

• Andy Nyman, LSU Ag Center

• Mark Shafer, Oklahoma Climatological Survey

• Ryan Smith, TNC

• Don Wilhelm, USFWS


Science Team Membership

Member Vacancies: 3 current

Kyle Balkum, LDWF

Steve Magnelia, TPWD and SARP

Woody Woodrow, USFWS

1 vacancy soon (likely Spring 2016)

Amity Bass, LDWF


Science Team Membership

Capacity needed within the Science Team: LCD-focused • Risk and decision sciences

• Aquatic resource expertise

• Geospatial expertise

My recommendation:

• Steering Committee members to nominate potential Science Team members to fill vacancies who have any combination of the current capacity needs.


Science Needs [handout]

• Science Strategy

• Science Team member identified

• CSC identified and aligned


Our work together to date

• Forum for collaborative landscape conservation in the GCP

• Identification of a common landscape vision

• Focal species identified that represent broadly defined habitats

• Science Strategy with identified science needs

• Funding for and creation of science to bridge critical knowledge gaps for focal species and broadly defined habitats

• Regional and national alignment and efforts

• IMHO: All tremendous advances forward


Continual improvement

Strengthen our approach to science through • Direction and narrowing the road, driven by the Steering Committee

to the Science Team (Potential outcome of the Goals/Objectives discussion)

• Metrics for success (SIAS and NAS)

• Science strategy to be more explicit and give more detail and prioritization of science needs to achieve our landscape goals.

• Better availability and alignment of science needs

• Improve documentation of science funded through our partnership

• Science Base and Conservation Planning Atlas

• Convene and add value to landscape conservation design efforts across our LCC and with other LCCs (Emphasis areas, SECAS, EPIC).

• Refinement of grassland tools – I&M (G-MIT & GRIP)


TAMU GCP LCC Project Funding

Agreement

Number

Agreement

End Date

Amount

Funded1

Available for Science

Projects and Website

Support 2

F14AC00765

(Legacy) 9/30/2016 $ 622,825 $65,138

F14AC0661 9/30/2016 $ 258,733 $124,112

Total $189,250

1 Amounts do not include associated IDC of 17.5% and are pending end of

year account reconciliation

2 Note: Texas A&M AgriLife Research cannot enter into a sub-agreement with

a research partner that extends past the master agreement end date


WMI GCP LCC Project Funding

Agreement Number Amount

Funded Available for Science Projects 1

R2 LCC GCPLCC 1410 $173,108 $78,175

R2 LCC GCPLCC 1420 $289,360 $6,468

R2 LCC MOD #1 – 1410 $108,984 $108,984

R2 LCC MOD #1 - 1420 $245,000 $92,798

Total $816,452 $286,425

1 Amounts do not include associated IDC of 10% or $70,000 additional funds

set aside for LCD support that could be redirected.


GCP LCC Funding Overview

Year

1410

FWS/Contract

1420

WMI/CESU/USGS Total

2011 $531 $761 $1,292

2012 $438 $699 $1,137

2013 $385 $341 $726

2014 $435 $462 $897

2015 $448 $461 $909

2016 $289 $366 $655

Total $2,526 $3,090 $5,616

Average $421 $515 $936


Accomplishments

Executive Contributions 363,200 52%

Technical Contributions 181,000 26%

GCVA 18,900 3%

USGS 111,910 16%

TAMU 25,000 4%

TOTAL Non-FWS LCC 700,010


Accomplishments


Performance metrics [handout]

• SIAS progress • Told that SIAS is on hold for now following NAS review

• However, are there any changes to SIAS report from last year?


New Budget reporting format [handout]

Documents

STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING Steering... · 2016-03-18 · October Science Team meeting: Winnie, TX •Focused primarily on advancing the coarse filter (habitat cover type centric)