resilience and intactness a manager’s perspective
TRANSCRIPT
RESILIENCE AND
INTACTNESS
A Manager’s Perspective
Why does it matter?• Global change is occurring at an increasing rate
• Climate change• Accelerating demand for resources
• Intact and Resilient Landscapes • Support functioning habitats, species• Absorb change• Provide ecosystem services
• Alaska is largely intact• How do we know?• How do we maintain?• Where and how do we authorize uses?
A Few Factoids• BLM manages about 245 million acres and 700 million
subsurface acres in the United States• Over 70 million acres and 200 million subsurface acres in Alaska
• Multiple Use and Sustained Yield• Energy, communications, mining, grazing• Wildlife habitat, cultural and heritage resources
• Inherently landscape-scale
Landscape Approach – Major Components
Monitoring for Adaptive Management
Land Use Plans
Regional Assessments
Science and Geospatial
Services
Projects and Permits
Regional Conservation and Development Strategies
Landscape Goals• Maintain Viable Ecosystems• Resilient to Global Change
• Climate change• Development• Fire• Invasive species
• Provide Ecosystem Services• Commodities – energy, minerals• Quality of life – recreation, visual• Community sustainability – subsistence, water quality
Landscape Management• Assumes human footprint is the main threat• Maintain remaining large intact areas
• The best of what’s left• Areas of Critical Environmental Concern
• Concentrate uses in already disturbed areas• Co-locate uses• Create linear corridors
• Maintain or reconnect large intact areas• Land acquisition, easements, etc.• Restoration• Movement corridors
Another way?• ACECs with boundaries that adapt to changing conditions• Locate uses in resilient areas/Conserve fragile areas
• Disperse uses in more resilient areas that can absorb change• Avoid concentrated uses that may create barriers
• Alternatives that address different climate scenarios• Consider alternative future scenarios
• Attribute based alternatives• Manage for resources across time and space, not in fixed locations
• Mitigation based alternatives• Restore as we go, identify limits of change• Allow for cascading mitigation as conditions change
Managing Intact Landscapes• How large is a large landscape?
• Static and dynamic landscapes
• What constitutes crucial habitat in an intact landscape?• How much development could cause barriers or
fragmentation?• Should uses be concentrated or dispersed?• How do we assess “other than development” impacts to
intactness?• How do we mitigate long-term projects on a changing
landscape?• How do we assist communities in adapting to global
change?