Resources

Climate, sea level rise, and urbanization are undergoing unprecedented levels of combined change and are expected to have large effects on natural resources — particularly along the Gulf of Mexico coastline (Gulf Coast). Management decisions to address these effects (i.e., adaptation) require an understanding of the relative vulnerability of various resources to these stressors. To meet this need, the four Landscape Conservation Cooperatives along the Gulf partnered with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance to conduct this Gulf Coast Vulnerability Assessment (GCVA).

Previous vegetation mapping project has areas along the boundary between Texas and Oklahoma along the Red River where data was missing (gaps) or where overlaps contained contradictory mapped types (overlaps). These areas were corrected with this product. Gaps were corrected using new image objects attributed with landcover from the previous products and new soils data available from NRCS (gSSURGO). Overlaps were corrected by selecting one of the mapped types identified by previous products based on the state boundary provided by the U. S. Census Bureau (500k).

Sampling Grassland habitats in Urban, Suburban and Rural areas of Central Texas using a modified GMIT protocol and Data Recorder Protocol provided a baseline of operations and tested various techniques and equipment prior to large-scale implementation. This 6-month effort combined the Urban Monarch project with testing field data collections techniques with those used by several partners (TPWD protocol) interested in determining best practices, tools, and methodologies for evaluating and monitoring habitat for monarchs, other pollinators, and grassland birds.

The Gulf Coast Vulnerability Assessment (GCVA) used an expert opinion approach to qualitatively assess the vulnerability of four ecosystems: mangrove, oyster reef, tidal emergent marsh, and barrier islands, and a suite of wildlife species that depend on them. More than 50 individuals participated in the completion of the GCVA, facilitated via Ecosystem and Species Expert Teams.

The Gulf Coast Vulnerability Assessment utilized expert opinion that was gathered through the Standardized Index of Vulnerability and Value (SIVVA) tool, which is an Excel-based vulnerability and prioritization tool that enables assessors to provide input in a relatively short time and allows for relatively seamless compilation of results.

The Western Gulf Coast (WGC) provides valuable habitat for migratory and resident waterfowl. The mottled duck (Anas fulvigula), a resident species, is highly associated with coastal marsh habitats and relies on these areas for all of its life cycle needs. Habitat loss and degradation due to urban expansion and other human activities have raised concerns for the WGC mottled duck population. Although other threats such as sport harvest (Raftovich 2011), lead poisoning (Sanderson and Bellrose 1986), hybridization (McCracken et al.

The database includes point and stream reach locations of imperiled mussels identified by federal and state governments, universities, and museums in the states of Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. Point locations are linked to stream reaches of the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD). Also in this database is the imperiled mussel presence in HUC12 watersheds in Oklahoma from the Watershed Boundary Dataset downloaded on 20150318.

The Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GCPLCC) has identified grassland habitats and species as priorities for conservation. The goal of the current effort is to (1) identify landscapes of importance at appropriate scale for further work, (2) develop GIS data and decisions support tools to facilitate further conservation efforts. MoRAP identified and mapped grassland landscapes based on neighborhood analysis of current land cover.

Satellite imagery from the Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper sensor and the Landsat 8 Operational Land Imagery were used to investigate changes in overall evergreen vegetation occurring between the 1986-1989 and 2013-2014 time periods. Two path/rows of imagery, from the spring, summer, and fall seasons for each time period were mosaicked together. The imagery was then subset to remove the presence of clouds from the datasets. Images were further subset using the impervious data from the 2011 version of the National Land Cover Database.

A bare earth Digital Elevation Model (DEM) created from 2013 LiDAR LAS files for Wilson and Karnes counties in Texas. LiDAR data collection was funded by the Texas Water Development Board. LiDAR LAS files were acquired from Texas Natural Resources Information System (TNRIS). The DEM is a dataset that depicts the topography of the bare earth surface (i.e. surface minus vegetation, buildings, powerlines, etc). This dataset was developled to be used in conjunction with the DSM to create a vegetation height surface (nDSM).

LANDFIRE Existing Vegetation Cover data (us_130evc) clipped to the Gulf Coast Prairie LCC

Presentations given on SECAS at the 2015 Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Conference

This project resulted in the development of a conservation framework to further the conservation of grassland-shrublands in the area encompassed by the Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GCP LCC). The project used the Black-capped Vireo (Vireo atricapilla) as a focal species for developing the five deliverables of this project. Additionally, we included two more avian species of conservation priority (Bell’s Vireo [V.

Monthly SECAS Lead Coordination Team calls for 2017

This folder includes the full minutes from an early SECAS meeting in 2012 and Talking Points from three SECAS Lead Coordination Team meetings in 2016 and 2017.

This file describes a set of outputs from the Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM), which consists of rasters containing SLAMM’s coastal cover categories (classes) for a study area on the Gulf of Mexico (U.S.) coast. The model was used to simulate the impact of sea level rise (SLR) on these coastal cover classes, with an emphasis on wetlands, for the “Evaluation of Regional SLAMM Results to Establish a Consistent Framework of Data and Models” project. The project was performed by Warren Pinnacle Consulting, Inc., and Image Matters LLC.

Various presentations given on SECAS in 2012.

Fragile barrier islands are important nesting habitat for focal species of the Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative, such as brown pelicans, sea turtles, and black skimmers. Assessing the vulnerability of coastal ecosystems at a Gulf of Mexico-wide scale has become even more important in the wake of several destructive storms (e.g. Katrina, Rita, and Ike) and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

These are the early briefing materials presented to the SECAS State and Federal agency partners.

Sea level rise caused by climate change is an ongoing phenomenon and a concern both locally and worldwide. Low-lying coastal areas are particularly at risk to flooding and inundation, affecting a large proportion of the human population concentrated in these areas as well as natural communities-particularly animal species that depend on these habitats as a key component of their life cycle.

The Gulf Coast Prairie Landscape Conservation Cooperative needs seamless landcover data for the south-central United States. This information is essential for developing computer modeling tools related to the conservation of many terrestrial species and determining the quality of vegetation to assess current and desired conditions.

Sea level rise caused by climate change is an ongoing phenomenon and a concern both locally and worldwide. Low-lying coastal areas are particularly at risk to flooding and inundation, affecting a large proportion of the human population concentrated in these areas as well as natural communities-particularly animal species that depend on these habitats as a key component of their life cycle.

The northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) has experienced range wide declines over the last several decades, primarily because of reduction to habitat through loss and fragmentation. For studies on population decline and habitat, spatial scale is very important: the effects of habitat structure at local spatial scales may depend on the larger landscape scale, and patterns may be more evident at different scales.

The streams and rivers of the GCP LCC are delicately balanced ecosystems that link diverse habitats with the people, plants and animals that rely on clean and abundant water supplies to thrive. The natural patterns of seasonal flows in streams and rivers – called instream or environmental flows - are the drivers for many of the ecosystem functions and processes on which the riverine and coastal natural and human economies rely. Extreme droughts and population growth in the GCP LCC region have forced the recognition that water resources are limited and need to be better managed.