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- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Gopher Tortoise
- The gopher tortoise is a large burrowing tortoise that occurs in upland pine forests of the southeastern United States. The gopher tortoise is one of five tortoise species native to North America and the only tortoise species east of the Mississippi River. The sex of individual tortoises can usually be determined by shell dimensions. A male tortoise has a greater degree of lower shell concavity, and a longer gular projection. However, the sex of tortoises at maturity size is difficult to determine (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1990).
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- North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative
- This project is developing a partner-driven, science-based approach for identifying and prioritizing culvert road stream crossings in the area impacted by Hurricane Sandy for increasing resilience to future floods while improving aquatic connectivity for fish passage. The resulting information and tools will be used to inform and improve decision making by towns, states and other key decision makers.
- The Literature Gateway Project
- Forest management affects wildlife habitat by altering the structure and composition of vegetation communities. Every wildlife species uses a specific set of resources associated with different species and ages of forest trees (e.g., nesting cavities, den sites, acorn crops, fruit resources) to survive and reproduce. Forest managers, wildlife conservation groups, policy makers, and other stakeholders often need to review the literature on forest bird-vegetation relationships to inform decisions on natural resource management or ecosystem restoration. The literature gateway facilitates the exploration of this literature, helping users find references on a diverse range of management-relevant topics that have been compiled by subject experts based on searches of >60 different sources spanning the past 50+ years.
- Alarka Headwaters habitat connectivity and sediment reduction project
- This project is Phase I of a three-phased connectivity and sediment reduction project, with Phases II and III in years two – four involving replacement of two fords with AOP structures, graveled road improvements that reduce sedimentation, and a spruce bog restoration.
- Salt marsh Habitat and Avian Research Program (SHARP)
- A collaborative effort to assess risks and set response priorities for tidal-marsh dependent bird species from Virginia to maritime Canada.
- Camp Wiahkowi Dam Removal
- The Friends of the Winooski River completed the removal of Camp Wihakowi Dam (Vermont) in 2020.
- iPlover: Piping plover habitat suitability in a changing climate
- Designed by scientists to simplify consistent data collection and management, the iPlover smartphone application gives trained resource managers an easy-to-use platform where they can collect and share data about coastal habitat utilization across a diverse community of field technicians, scientists, and managers. With the click of a button, users can contribute biological and geomorphological data to regional models designed to forecast the habitat outlook for piping plover, and other species that depend upon sandy beach habitat.
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- Conservation Action Map
- The Tennessee River Basin Network is comprised of a vast cast of characters working to conserve natural resources through science, management action, communications and engagement. This map highlights specific conservation actions from members of the Network. It is a visual tool to identify who is doing what where, with the goal of helping to share resources and information and bolster collaborative action to make conservation more efficient and effective.
- Vernal Pool Mapping and Conservation
- Vernal pools are small, temporary bodies of water that can serve as critical habitat for frogs, salamanders, reptiles, invertebrates, and other species. This project compiled a comprehensive GIS dataset of known and potential vernal pool locations in the North Atlantic region, reviewing vernal pool mapping approaches, and demonstrating a remote sensing method to identify potential vernal pool sites.
- Stream Temperature Inventory and Mapper
- This project developed a coordinated, multi-agency regional stream temperature framework and database for New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and the Great Lakes states. The project compiled metadata about existing stream temperature monitoring locations and networks; developed a web-based decision support mapper to display, integrate, and share that information; built a community of contacts with interest in this effort; and developed data portal capabilities that integrate stream temperature data from several sources.
- Development of a Rapid Assessment Protocol for Aquatic Passability of Tidally Influenced Road-Stream Crossings
- There is growing interest among conservation practitioners to have a method to assess tidally influenced crossings for their potential as barriers to aquatic organism passage. Protocols designed for freshwater streams will not adequately address the passage challenges of bi-directional flow and widely variable depth and velocity of tidally influenced systems. Diadromous and coastal fish must be able to overcome the enhanced water velocities associated with tidal restrictions to reach upstream spawning habitat. This project will build on the existing North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative's protocol, database and scoring procedures to extend the applicability of this region-wide program to road-stream crossings in tidally influenced settings.
- Salt marsh modeling coupled with hydrodynamic modeling
- Combining marsh equilibrium modeling approach with a hydrodynamic modeling approach, this coupled model forecasts the evolution of marsh landscapes under different sea-level rise scenarios, with or without marsh restoration and storm surge factored in, to inform future management decisions with regard to system dynamics.
- Piping Plovers and Sea-level Rise
- This collaborative project provided biologists and managers along the Atlantic coast with tools to predict effects of accelerating sea-level rise on the distribution of piping plover breeding habitat, test those predictions, and feed results back into the modeling framework to improve predictive capabilities. Immediate model results will be used to inform a coast-wide assessment of threats from sea-level rise and related habitat conservation recommendations that can be implemented by land managers and inform recommendations to regulators. Case studies incorporating resilience of piping plover habitat into management plans for specific locations demonstrate potential applications.
- Increasing Resiliency of Tidal Marsh Habitats and Species
- This project is designed to guide decisions about where to conduct tidal marsh restoration, conservation, and management to sustain coastal ecosystems and services, including the fish and wildlife that depend upon tidal marshes, taking into account rising sea levels and other stressors.
- Increasing Resiliency of Beach Habitats and Species
- This project is a coordinated effort by Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) partners to integrate existing data, models and tools with foundational data and assessments of both the impacts of Hurricane Sandy and the immediate response. The project will integrate new and existing data and build decision support tools to guide beach restoration, management and conservation actions. Project objectives are to sustain ecological function, habitat suitability for wildlife, and ecosystem services including flood abatement in the face of storm impacts and sea level rise.
