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Note: Session titles beginning with an asterisk (*) have student presenters.
AUTHORS: Paxton Ramsdell, Environmental Defense Fund; Rickie White, NatureServe; Will McDow, Environmental Defense Fund
ABSTRACT: America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative partners aim to restore at least 4 million acres of longleaf forest for the benefit of keystone species. However, to efficiently restore this amount of land, science-based verification tools are necessary. Indeed a common challenge facing funders, policy makers, and conservation practitioners is quantifying the net gain, or the functional-lift, from restoration practices. Environmental Defense Fund and NatureServe are collaborating to develop a Longleaf Habitat Quantification Tool (HQT) capable of measuring the current functional value of longleaf habitat as well as the expected functional lift achieved through restoration. Users input field data based off of a site’s existing and proposed condition, and the HQT provides users with a numerical output scored as Not Functioning, Functioning-At-Risk, or Functioning. Although the tool does not prescribe restoration practices, it can be deployed to aid land managers, policy makers and funders in project selection, design, and outcomes. Practical applications of the HQT include: programmatic investments – funders could more accurately rank projects based on expected uplift and release payment only when desired habitat quality conditions have been met; mitigation efforts for single species or habitat type could be vastly improved by including a habitat functionality component; investment reporting and progress toward conservation goals could be objectively measured and reported at multiple scales. The HQT is currently undergoing pilot testing and our session will provide an overview of the tool, results and lessons learned from pilot projects, and next steps with an eye toward ensuring rigorous, science-based, range-wide longleaf restoration.
Tuesday October 31, 2017 10:50am - 11:05am EDT
McCreary