The Florida Longleaf Pine

Ecosystem Geodatabase

A Cooperative Project betweenthe Florida Forest Service

and Florida Natural Areas Inventory

LPEGDB Purpose

Design and populate a spatial database to

serve as central repository for

information on the distribution and

condition of LPEs in Florida

3. Goals, Objectives, and Strategies

Goal 1: Reliable and accurate inventories and assessments of Longleaf Pine Ecosystems (LPE) on public and private land exist in accessible databases.

Objective 1.1: Develop central and accessible repositories of data on LPE collected with standardized methods to facilitate communication and coordination of efforts, to frame the scope of the issue, and to identify sites where land managers and landowners can observe restoration projects at various stages and interact with practitioners to develop realistic expectations for restoration efforts and site potential.

LPEGDB Objectives

• Accessibility to county foresters & land managers

• Compatibility with regional LPE mapping & other statewide natural resource databases

• Inform conservation, protection and management priorities for LPEs

LPEGDB Project Overview

• Mar 2012 – Dec 2013; Updates through 2015

• 4 Major Tasks Compile existing LPE data & identify data

gaps

Collect LPE field data via Rapid Assessment

Integrate existing and new data into LPEGDB

Summarize LPE conditions and prioritiesLPEGDB

Existing Data

Rapid Assessment

LPE DistributionConditionPriorities

• FNAI Natural Community Mapping: 2003 – 2012

• Florida Forest Service Longleaf Management Project

• FNAI Element Occurrence Data

• FNAI Other Survey Data (rare species, exotics, etc)

• Red-cockaded Woodpecker Data

• Florida Cooperative Land Cover

• USFS Stands

LPEGDB Methods

Existing Data Initial Data Sources

Initial Data Sources

• Natural Community Mapping & Ecol. Assessment

• >60,000 ground-truth points on managed lands

• > 2 million acres mapped

Initial Data Sources

Florida Cooperative Land Cover Map

• Compiled best available local and regional sources

• Aerial review of critical natural communities: scrub, sandhill, dry prairie, pine rockland, rockland hammock

LPEGDB Methods

Existing Data

Tier 1A – Longleaf Confirmed with Existing Ecological Condition Data

Tier 1 – Longleaf Confirmed – High Confidence

Tier 2 – Longleaf Confirmed – Moderate Confidence

Tier 3 – Longleaf Likely but not Confirmed

Tier 4 – Longleaf Possible but not Confirmed

Confidence Tier

Approx. 8 million acres included as potential LPEs

LPEGDB Methods

Rapid Assessment

1.8 million acres deployed for Rapid Assessment

Focus on presumed intact natural LPE sites

Potential LPE Deployed for Rapid Assessment

Other Potential LPE

Reason Excluded from Rapid Assessment

Other Data (Tier 1A)

FFS Compiled Longleaf Stands or Other Manager Data

Plantation

< 40 Acre Group

LPEGDB Methods

Rapid Assessment

• Assessment design by FNAI & FFS

• Training by FNAI & FFS

• Conducted by County Foresters

Rapid Field Assessment of Ecological Condition

Results: Rapid Assessment Areas

LPE Occurrence in Rapid Assessment Areas

Confirmed LPE 843,940 acres

Not LPE 496,571 acres

Unknown 570,874 acres

79% of confirmed LPE on private lands

LPE Occurrence in Rapid Assessment Areas

LPEGDB Methods

Integration of Rapid Assessment with Existing

Data

LPEGDB

Existing Data

Rapid Assessment

LPE Condition

LPE Occurrence

LPE Priorities

Methods: LPE Condition

• Attributes differed among sources

• Ecological condition crosswalk

• Management Levels (America’s longleaf 2010)

Acres to maintain

Acres to improve

Acres to restore

Integration of Rapid Assessment with Existing

Data

LPEGDB

Results: LPE Occurrence

Occurrence of Longleaf Pine Ecosystems in Florida

~2.5 million acres

Confirmed or Assumed LPE

LPE Confirmed: ecological condition data available

LPE Confirmed: ecological condition undetermined

LPE Assumed: sandhill, upland pine

LPE Unknown: flatwoods, plantation, other

Evidence Not LPE

Results: LPE Occurrence

4.8 million acres – LPE still unknown

• Mostly pine plantation

• Merits further assessment

v.2 Recent Updates

• Added condition data for many conservation lands

• Compare LPEGDB with other projects: FRA, CSFIAS

• Held Longleaf Partners Meeting for guidance on future of LPEGDB

• Integrate data into statewide conservation planning efforts

LPEGDB v.2 Summary

• LPEs confirmed on 2.2 million acres in Florida

• 76% with ecological condition data

• 40% on private lands

• An additional 300,000 acres of Longleaf natural communities identified from aerial photos

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Questions