NatureServe’sDecision Support System

Project ALDO

NatureServe’s Mission

To develop, manage and

distribute authoritative

information critical to the

conservation of the world’s

biological diversity.

NatureServe

• Network of knowledge about the diversity of life

• More than 70 Natural Heritage Programs and Conservation Data Centers

• NatureServe Central Office: 90 staff advancing the network: data, analysis, tools for decision making

50 U.S. States

10 Canadian provinces

12 LAC Countries

US Virgin Islands

Puerto Rico

The Natural Heritage Network

NatureServe Data

• Data on the precise location of plants, animals,and ecological communities

• More than 100,000 data requests network-wide per year

Hot Spots of Species Richness and Rarity

DOT Office of Pipeline Safety element analysis tool.

Supporting Federal Programs

SupportingConservation Organizations

• NatureServe data, information, and tools enable conservation organizations to make better use of science in decision-making

Sonoran Desert Ecoregion

Information for the Public: NatureServe Explorer

• Increasing competition and conflict over public and private land use.

• Need to achieve multiple goals for same open lands.

• Moderate support for regulation but increasing commitment for open-space acquisition funds ($100-900 million/yr fed, $19.3 billion 1998-2001 state and local).

• Citizens want multiple values from open space:

• Community character & passive recreation

• Improved environmental health

• Farmland preservation

• “Nature” conservation

ALDO Planning Context

The Need

1) Organizations with a conservation mandate and resources lack the information and tools to act effectively

• Public agencies: federal, state, local, tribal and regional

• Private organizations: – Foundations

– Environmental NGO’s

– Land trusts

– National and international development institutions

The Need (cont.)

2) Land use planners lack information and tools to make informed decisions with a direct impact on biodiversity

• Public planning agencies: federal, regional, state, county, watershed, municipal

• Private consulting organizations that serve planners

3) Natural Heritage Programs and their information are often used at the end of the planning and design process rather than upfront during comprehensive planning.

Solutions are both political and technical

The OpportunityThe combination of:• Increasing community interest in the protection of biodiversity

• GIS technologies

• Data quality and availability

• Element distribution modeling techniques

• The Internet as a delivery platform

• NatureServe’s distributed network of expertise

Provides the opportunity to place biodiversity conservation on equal footing with other land use considerations through a service and software solution.

Technical Solutions:From Data to DSS

• Biodiversity data alone are not sufficient.

• The challenge: to integrate biological, physical, and socioeconomic data within the decision frameworks of the planning process.

• Powerful new decision support tools allow us to do this.

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ALDO Objectives• Deliver sufficient conservation information for action in an

interactive decision-making framework.• Empower communities to be forward looking and make

informed decisions about their quality of life and conservation of their natural heritage.

• Make conservation science and spatial data analyses available to the non-expert.

• Integrate biological, geophysical, and socioeconomic data, knowledge, and models.

• Deliver functionality in the form of a professional software application which is easily updated, maintained, supported, and interoperable with other relevant tools.

ALDO: A Preview• A decision support system to help inform land use and

conservation planning.

• Designed to help avoid conflict by bringing conservation considerations into the early stages of the land use planning process.

• Being developed by NatureServe in collaboration with the University of California, Santa Barbara, USGS, ESRI, the Florida and Wyoming Heritage Programs and others.

• Initial funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Nature Conservancy.

• Guided by an advisory panel representing state, county, city, NGO, and other perspectives.

From Data to DSS

• Biodiversity data alone are not sufficient

• The challenge: to integrate biological, physical, and socioeconomic data and transform it into useful information and knowledge

• Powerful new decision support tools allow us to do this

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Data Standards Critical to DSS

Many tool usersOne data model Many custom DBs

Desktop DSSUser

Desktop DSSUser

Desktop DSSUser

Desktop DSSUser

Desktop DSSUser

Biodiversity Resources Database

Custom data

basesCustom

data bases

Custom data

basesCustom

data bases

Custom data

bases

Data from Everywhere

NatureServe/NHPUSGS/NatlState/Local

Filter-Labor-Time-$

Analysis Process

Biodiversity Database

Element selection &

ranking/goals

Biodiversity exploration &

education

Reporting visualization and export to

external decision process

Guidance:goals met or how to

meet

Biodiversity

Economic

Scenario Evaluation

Conservation suitability

Conservation Scenario

Land use change

scenarios

Prototype Scenario

• User interface prototype was developed to explore and illustrate concepts

• The client: Land Trust of Napa County

• The need: develop the 10 year strategic plan to protect critical biological and ecological resources within the large planning context

Verify/Add Data Sources

• Verify biodiversity and geographic data sources

• Override defaults• Provide additions, e.g.

Vernal Pools

Important role for FGDC

Select Biodiversity Elements of Importance

• Biodiversity Elements:– Species (plant, animal)

– Ecological Community

– Biophysical habitat

• Select Elements by Category, e.g.– Legally protected

– Conservation importance

• Or individually (custom selection)

Complete Setup

• Provide project goals (e.g. comprehensive plan for the county) and contact information

• User will be notified when custom-built biodiversity database is available for download

ALDO System

ALDO End User Tool:Explore, Integrate, Evaluate

ALDO Consulting Services

ALDO Internal Tools:Assemble DB

Best AvailableData Sources

Land UsePlanner

Browser

Internet

Request

CustomBiod DB

CustomBiod. DB

Request

Other LocalExperts

ALDOWeb Server

Tools side Services side

Custom Biodiversity Database

For each selected element, database provides• Description of the element (e.g. viability

requirements) • Predicted range map over the jurisdiction

– Conservation value (range-wide context)– Confidence index

Aggregate into a composite “Biodiversity Value” map

Information Sources

User InputTargetsValuesPoliciesScenariosPlaces

NatureServeDefault targetsDefault valuesElement occurrenceElement statusElement requirementsModeled distributions

Local ExpertsMapped distributionsLocal conditions/statusLocal requirements

Extant SourcesBiological distributionsGeophysical dataSocioeconomic dataModeled distributionsRequirements/status

Heritage Data for Napa County:CA Natural Diversity Database

• Distribution of rare and sensitive plants and animals in Napa County

• Specific spatial and general habitat information

• Somewhat biased as some areas not been sampled

Other Sources of Conservation Targets:California Native Plant Society Records

• Source: Napa County Dept of Building and Planning with county botanists

• From mylar sheets sitting on top of topo maps

• Now digital linked with information on each record

• Totals nearly 900 species locations; 100 types of species

Other Sources of Conservation Targets

• Northern Spotted Owl data acquired from Fish and Game, 1999 data

– Includes attributes such as number of breeding pairs, number of adults, and subadults.

• Vernal pool data from Dr. Bob Holland and Jake Rugyt

• Frog data are red and yellow frogged distributions acquired from the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at UC Berkeley

Northern spotted owl

Red-Legged FrogVernal pool

Land Cover

• National Land Cover Database

• Napa in detail – Orange:

high residential areas – Yellow:

forest patches

• However, this is a national dataset so the classes for Napa might not be appropriate

Other Modeling/Analysis Inputs

• Elevation (dark green is lower), rivers and lakes• Geology• Roadlessness (dark blue is more intact)

Aggregated Biodiversity Value

• Spatial representation of Biodiversity Value across the entire planning area.

• Retains individual spatial importance values for each conservation target.

Biodiversity Value Layer

• High quality• Consistent and

Transparent• Appropriate scale• Drawn from local

knowledge and expertise (Heritage and others)

Deliver Result to Client

• With help from internal toolset• Consulting group assembles aggregate and detailed

biodiversity and conservation data • Delivered to client via

download from ALDO web site

ALDO End User Tool:Explore, Integrate, Evaluate

ALDO Consulting Services

ALDO Internal Tools:Assemble DBLand Use

Planner

Internet

CustomBiod DB

CustomBiod. DB

ALDOWeb Server

ALDO Feature Set• Explore My Biodiversity

– What do I have, where is it, what condition is it in?– What are the relationships between many or all element ranges?

• Conservation planning– Combine biodiversity value with other planning considerations– Understand conflict and opportunity– Create, analyze and compare scenarios

• Impact Analysis– Submit a land-use proposal or conservation plan– Understand implications for biodiversity

Explore My Biodiversity• ALDO application allows

client to explore the custom-built database interactively

• Build maps, queries and reports

• Intuitively conveys conservation priorities

• User can customize elements and element ranking then recalculate biodiversity value

Explore My Biodiversity

• Drill down from summary reports or maps.

• Down to detailed description of element information specific to Napa County.

• Understand range, confidence in range, protected range, etc.

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Conservation Planner

• Begins with biodiversity value

• Add other planning considerations

• Derive conservation suitability

• Set goals and thresholds• Derive conservation plan

Add Other Planning Considerations

Opportunities & constraints

• Proximity to existing protected lands

• Roadlessness

• Land-use adjacency effects

• Areas desired for development/infrastructure

• Land value

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Derive Conservation Suitability• Uses biodiversity value

and other specified considerations– Dark green = high

conservation suitability– Brown = low

conservation suitability

• Shows areas of – Conflict (e.g. high

biodiversity value with high economic value)

– Opportunity (e.g. high biodiversity value with low economic value)

Establish Goals for Conservation Plan

• User can accept expert-defined goals– E.g. “Protect all high quality

known occurrences for all G2 elements”

• Or define their own – “Active maps” explores

implications

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• Goals based on other considerations can also be incorporated

– E.g. “Given economic data, spend no more than $X”

Calculate Conservation Plan

• Uses conservation suitability

• Expert and user-defined goals

• Allocates parcels (user defined unit) to meet goals– Red = must capture– Blue = an allocation that

will meet goals– Subtract a blue parcel and

rerun calculation for new solution

Scenario Evaluation

User submits a particular land use plan

e.g. 5000 acres of new vineyard development

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Scenario Evaluation: Result

• Map of aggregated biodiversity impact

• List of impacted elements with details on range

• Detailed maps for impacted elements (not shown)

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ALDO Evolution

• ALDO capabilities are a function of science, data, technology, user needs and conservation impact opportunities, all of which will evolve

• ALDO will incorporate new capabilities in versions– Science: E.g. alternative aggregation analyses– Data: E.g. better and more widely available vegetation

mapping and element occurrences– Technology: E.g. 3D visualization, integration with planning

systems, etc.

• Users may subscribe to automatically receive data and software updates

Future: 3D Visualization

• Simulates realistic views of user jurisdiction

• For instance, user can view proposed protected areas over actual elevation

• Terrain may be based on actual elevation or output of analysis (e.g. biodiversity value)

Summary of Benefits

• Brings best available data sources and expertise together in a standardized database

• Scale supports land use planning decisions• Database is interactive and can be updated

over time• Allows users to put biodiversity on equal

footing with other land use considerations

What is the Market?Assumptions:• Counties with

above average increase in proportion and actual population 1990-2000.

• Counties with at least one species with any federal status.

• Green counties are in the top quartile for population and have at least 1 protected animal species.

Counties with a need and pressure to do biodiversity conservation planning

1062 counties

552 counties