SONORAN DESERT CONSERVATION PLAN
MINUTES FROM THE SCIENCE TECHNICAL ADVISORY TEAM (STAT) MEETING ON 11/16/2000
Call to Order: Chairman William Shaw called the meeting to order at 1:30 P.M.
Minutes from the October 25, 2000 STAT Meeting
Minutes from the 10/25/2000 STAT meeting were accepted and approved.
News From the SDCP
RECON reported that the 10/26/2000 Experts Species Meeting was
a very productive workshop.
Experts' participation and input is critical.
Riparian Element
Julia Fonseca received the Harris draft maps. Reviews are underway.
Most of the "errors" have to do with the polygons inherited
from previous work. The Harris team is checking and edgematching.
Maps will be completed next month.
Land Cover Map
John Regan will review the PAG vegetation, landform, geology,
and slope maps.
Peter Warren and Entranco are in the process of reviewing vegetation
classifications for the BLP system. The PAG vegetation map may
replace some of the GAP vegetation polygons.
Sherry Barrett questioned if this is a replacement for the
future new vegetation map?
Paul Fromer said RECON will not stop with the PAG information.
They will also make additional improvements to the land cover
with LANDSAT imagery early next year. Leslie Smith is in the process
of picking and choosing the best mapping for the composite land
cover. The Arizona Game and Fish Department revisions to land
cover and other new sources like the Saguaro National Park vegetation
mapping have not yet been incorporated.
Decision Support Model Update
Mima Falk will be working on Pineapple Cactus next week. Julia
Fonseca stated a need to re-run the Cottonwood-Willow program.
Cecil Schwalbe is working on conservation goals for tortoise and
will be working with Robert Steidl. Natasha Kline wants to make
sure current experts agree with the Kit fox habitat model.
Overview of the Meeting Objectives
Paul Fromer gave an overview of the meeting's objectives. This
includes looking at species goals as a general discussion item
for all and to discuss further development of species goals, the
reserve design process, a look at habitat suitability analysis
for all of the species, to talk about umbrella species, talk about
biological value surfaces and than discuss where to go from here,
a little about reserve system structures for developing the adaptive
management plan, and also provide a tentative workshop schedule.
Species Goals
Paul Fromer said species goals are needed for reserve design and
for legal coverage under Section 10. The analysis requires consideration
of detailed information for each, as well as Federal, State and
other official goals. Bob Steidl said STAT needs to look at goals
at a more general level to see that there is consistency among
species that share similarities in rarity or distribution. The
STAT will have a workshop to discuss this December 13, 2000.
Habitat Suitability Analyses/Species Richness
Leslie Smith presented a new set of maps and explained them. This
included maps of suitability for reptiles, amphibians and plants.
After incorporating Arizona Game and Fish Department comments
on birds, amphibians and mammals, RECON will produce revisions
of these sometime in December. She presented all species maps
on power point slides. She also presented maps showing county
wide urban and agricultural areas including farms, mines, orchards,
parks etc.
Richness maps are still being worked on. The next set of Special
Elements will be extracted from earlier data layers. Some will
be weighted to determine the value of the data. Leslie said metadata
will indicate where data came from and should explain the accuracy
of the data. However, Bill Shaw wants some kind of rating on each
habitat suitability layer which comprises the richness to explain
how comfortable the experts are with each particular model. Bob
Steidl said sensitivity analyses should help with understanding
how reliable they are. Special elements need to be identified
in the data layers. Some layers should be weighted higher than
others. STAT indicated that it would like the weighted models
layer. Julia volunteered to review the special elements list and
give recommendations as to what needs to be represented on the
layers. Bill Shaw wants RECON to keep track of how good each special
element layer is.
The next area that RECON will be looking at is the Reserve System
structure to develop the Adaptive Management strategy. This will
identify who has the responsibility for management and includes
the following areas: Ironwood forest/Tortolita area, the Tucson
Mountains, Catalina Mountains, San Pedro Valley, Rincon Mountains,
Las Cienegas, Santa Rita Mountains, Altar Valley, Tohono O'Odham
Nation, and West Pima County.
Sherry Ruther said that the bighorn sheep model does not show
connectivity for bighorn sheep between mountain ranges. The bighorn
sheep habitat depicted on the map is not necessarily current habitat
and not all mountain ranges in Pima County are represented on
the bighorn maps. Do other mountains have habitat value or potential?
And what about the relative value of corridors or lambing grounds?
Rob Marshall suggested that the experts define the corridors needed
and include connectivity as part of the planning goal for that
species. RECON will look at connectivity in the reserve design
process. Bob Steidl said connectivity is species dependent. There
is a large range of possibilities for connecting some of the reserves.
How do urban development and roads affect connectivity? This will
be developed later and may result in a seperate map layer.
What is next?
STAT will continue working on technical issues involving the Reserve
Design since there are a number of things that need to be done
and will not be done before January. This will continue in the
December meeting. RECON still plans on going back into the overlays
to improve both potential biological value surfaces and the negative
biological surfaces.
Announcements
The Expert's meeting scheduled for November 17, 2000 will deal
with plants and reptiles. It is scheduled at 201 North Stone,
4th Floor Conference Room in the Flood Plain Management Section
at 8:30 A.M..
Next meeting of the STAT is scheduled for December 13, 2000
from 1:30 to 4:30 P.M. at the Water Resources Research Center
350 N. Campbell Ave., Tucson, AZ. STAT members should come prepared
to schedule future meetings next time.
The STAT workshop is scheduled on Decemebr 13, 2000, for 8:30
A.M. at the Water Resources Research Center, 350 N. Campbell Ave.,
Tucson, AZ.
The January proposed meeting is January 25 in the P.M.. Julia
Fonseca will check on the availability of the Water Resources
Research Center for this meeting.
Handouts
1. A draft document prepared by Ken Kingsley titled "Conservation
Goals for Vulnerable Species of Pima County". The draft discusses
species goals, population goals where definable, individual goal
statements from general to specific and delineates appropriate
habitats within lands owned by Pima County or other participants
in the HCP.
2. The Status of Conservation Targets for Decision Support Model
dated 10/2000.
3. Special Elements Table.
4. Sonoran Desert Conservation Plan Informational Meeting Schedule.