Mojave
Desert Ecosystem Studies
Mojave
Desert Ecosystem Studies
Where Desert Meets City:
Vulnerability and Recoverability of the
Mojave Desert Ecosystem
Issues
Current USGS Activities
Objectives and Proposed USGS Activities
Map
Communication
Strategy for Implementation
Clients, Collaboration and Partnerships
The Mojave Desert Ecosystem as defined by Bailey of the U.S. Forest Service is a 125,000-km2 landscape of contrasts and challenges spread over southern Nevada, western Arizona, southwestern Utah, and a quarter of California (Figure 1). It is at once fragile, yet resilient; empty, yet within a day's drive of 40 million people; timeless, yet poised for change; desolate, yet home to several endangered species; wide-open, yet shrinking. Ecologically, the Mojave is a transition between the Colorado Desert to the south, the Great Basin Desert to the north, and the Sonoran Desert to the east. Lessons learned in the Mojave can be applied widely to the North American deserts, which occupy Ýr of the conterminous United States.
Encompassing six military bases, four national park units, and considerable Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and other Federal lands (Figure 1), the Mojave Desert is home to a rapidly growing population of well over a million people. The desert also is home to active and abandoned mines, off-road recreation areas, and waste disposal sites. It is crossed by a web of utility corridors and aqueducts that sustain southern California cities and provide local road access; the most remote area of the desert lies within three miles of a road. Estimating the effects of continued population growth and increased resource use in the region is difficult given the limited knowledge of biological diversity, mineral wealth, and surface- and ground-water hydrology. The desert is dynamically linked to global climate that modulates seasonal and annual weather patterns, which influence floods, droughts, wildfires, and water availability. Only now are adequate maps, digital geospatial data, and other compatible geographic information systems being developed to describe the multiple resources of the region. This information base is critical to enable citizens, local and state governments, tribes, Department of the Interior (DOI) bureaus, and other Federal agencies to make informed decisions concerning land and water management, environmental protection, and ecological preservation.
The public lands of the desert are largely managed by the Department of the Interior and the Department of Defense (DOD), who are challenged with reconciling conflicting demands on the land. Their collaboration takes the productive form of the Desert Managers Group, whose efforts were honored by Vice President Gore with two National Performance Review Hammer Awards presented by Secretary Babbitt. Several other active land-manager groups exist with representation from all levels of government (Figure 2). Balancing military readiness, resource use, housing, recreation, waste disposal, habitat protection, and economic opportunities in the back yard of the nation's second largest urban complex in Los Angeles and the shadow of burgeoning Las Vegas and Phoenix demands strong, integrated science to ensure the best long-term use of these desert lands. The Mojave Desert is unique in terms of the diversity of its natural resources, but historically the region has been benignly neglected. Increasing population demands will continue to place additional demands upon the resources of the region.
Unbiased scientific input is essential for the land managers to balance the competing demands on the desert. As a result, several major land-use plans or ecosystem initiatives are underway. The Mojave Desert Ecosystem project, therefore, presents a premier opportunity for USGS to demonstrate its readiness, relevance, and ability to apply integrated science for an organized land-management clientele from both DOI and DOD in need of our partnership. It is an opportunity low in risk, yet potentially high in benefits.
Current desert managers, both civilian and military, have identified many issues. These include grazing, off-road vehicle use, construction, mining, fire, waste disposal, species management, water withdrawal, recreation conflicts, invasive species, habitat degradation, accelerated erosion, restoration, urban expansion, and spread of disease. Many of these are caught in the classic conflict between the "desert asa wasteland" attitude of the past and the "desert as a resource" attitude today. EachÝnd problem seems to beg separate consideration and study. But from an ecosystems perspective, all are tractable scientific questions. Looked at in an interdisciplinary context, all issues are heavily influenced by the land surface, the water that brings life to it, and the life itself, including humans.
Our project intends to give managers better tools for wise land-use decisions by providing a better understanding of the complex relations among the biological and physical characteristics of the desert ecosystem, described in terms of the interdependent umbrella themes of vulnerability and recoverability. The project will provide direct assistance to land-management agencies in using these data and interpretations in geographic information systems (GIS) and in establishing an ecological monitoring strategy that will be the basis for adaptive management of the ecosystem. This will be the first time that vulnerability and recoverability of an ecosystem are addressed analytically using interdisciplinary scientific data. A key part of our strategy is to balance the need for immediate assistance to land managers with the need for long-range data collection and analysis to better understand and predict changes in the ecosystem. The ultimate goal is a deeper understanding of arid-land ecosystems that will lead to applications throughout the arid Southwest and to similar regions around the globe.
Current USGS Activities
USGS maintains a long-term, interdisciplinary presence in the Mojave Desert. Many studies underway will contribute directly or indirectly to the ecosystem program by providing basic data, but few are aimed directly at developing tools for land managers.
Biological studies in the Mojave Desert by Biological Resources Division (BRD) scientists are relied upon by both military and Interior partners as strong supporters of a practical ecosystem approach to management needs; in fact, BRD was asked by the Desert Managers Group to co-chair the Desert Managers Science and Data Management Committee. BRD was given the responsibility for mapping vegetation of the Mojave with Legacy Program funding. The entire ecosystem is being mapped using existing and enhanced Gap Analysis Program maps and detailed coverage is being provided for a sampling of high-priority regions. A collaborative study between BRD and University of California, Riverside, is currently investigating the ecology of exotic plant invasions and their consequences on desert plant community and ecosystem dynamics. Desert tortoise studies focus on issues such as disease and population stability, grazing effects, reproduction, translocation, off-highway vehicles impacts, range and movement, and influence of linear right-of ways. Other species being studied include Desert Pup Fish, Bighorn Sheep, Southwestern Willow Flycatcher, Ash Meadows Naucorid, and various herpetofauna.
National Mapping Division (NMD) has begun a multi-year process to complete Digital Elevation Models (DEM) and Digital Orthophoto Quads (DOQ) for the Mojave Desert Department of the request of Interior agencies. The DEMs are being integrated into a Topographic Framework with Legacy funding. Digital Raster Graphics are being produced collaboratively with the State of California. Transportation and hydrology Digital Line Graphs at 1:100,000 scale have been completed; coverage for boundaries, public land survey system, and hypsography is in progress. NMD has developed a Mojave Ecosystem clearinghouse node on the world wide web with Utah State University (USU) (http://edcwww2.cr.usgs.gov/homepage/mojave.html) that is compliant with Federal Geographic Data Committee guidelines. This web site is being transferred to the Army (http://mojave.army.mil) for long-term maintenance as a central repository for GIS data. The region also is covered by NMD's land characterization data base, consisting of coarse resolution land-cover classes interpreted from weather satellite data. Landsat data have been geometrically corrected and are available through the web.
Water Resources Division (WRD) has been evaluating water resources of the major military and Department of Energy facilities in the Mojave Desert for many years. Currently WRD has studies underway with Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Base, Fort Irwin Army National Training Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Yucca Mountain, the Nevada Test Site, and the low-level radioactive disposal site near Beatty, Nevada. These studies include basic data collection such as measuring water levels and water quality, data base development, development and calibration of mathematical ground-water flow models, investigations of unsaturated-zone processes, environmental restoration, and ground-water and surface-water monitoring. WRD is also working cooperatively with local agencies and water districts to help evaluate the water resources of privately owned lands in the Mojave Desert. Major cooperative water resources programs have been developed in the Antelope Valley, Mojave River basin, Morongo basin, and Las Vegas Valley. These programs include water-resource data collection, vegetation mapping, development of ground-water flow models, land-subsidence monitoring and modeling, evaluation of artificial recharge and aquifer recovery projects, bridge scour, evapotransÝ studies, and a National Water Quality Assessment of the Las Vegas Valley area.
Studies of the Mojave Desert by Geologic Division (GD) scientists range from earthquake monitoring and prediction, to evaluating minable minerals, to gathering baseline geophysical and geologic data. The activities directed toward ecosystem studies include: (1) data bases being assembled for the Legacy Program on aeromagnetic data, abandoned mines, and bedrock geology, (2) experimental erosion vulnerability and rainfall mapping using remote sensing methods, (3) studies of airborne dust flux and chemistry throughout the desert, and (4) meteorological monitoring in the desert. Broader studies underway include an evaluation of mineral resources in the southeastern desert and systematic, coordinated geologic mapping, geochronology, geohydrology, and geophysics in the Southern California urban area, Las Vegas urban area, and the Nevada Test Site. These studies develop basic geologic data to address a spectrum of earth science hazards, resource issues, and environmental concerns. In addition, geologic studies focus on geohydrology, hazards, and land-use issues with the same cooperators listed in the previous paragraph at several desert military bases. A USGS cooperative program with the National Park Service is developing geologic products and a video on desert parks, including Joshua Tree, Lake Mead, and Grand Canyon.
Objectives and Proposed USGS Activities
We propose a coordinated multidisciplinary study aimed at describing the vulnerability of the land and its inhabitants (vegetation, animals, and people), and recoverability of degraded land. Basic steps are to assemble and augment essential baseline data for sensitive and human-impacted areas, develop a more complete understanding of the processes interlinking these data, and then develop applied analyses of vulnerability and recoverability in Geographic Information Systems (Figure 3). The study will emphasize integration of disciplines, development of long-range strategÝmation for anticipating emerging patterns of influences from resource use, and translation of scientific data for wise, sustainable stewardship of natural resources. Detailed studies will be undertaken at selected sites to determine the major processes affecting the vulnerability and recoverability of the ecosystem. Information collected from the detailed studies will be extrapolated to the regional ecosystem utililizing remote sensing techniques. The final step is to use the information to develop monitoring methods that track vital signs of the desert. The monitoring strategy will be developed in consultation with land managers and designed to strengthen their restoration protocols for implementing alternative resource management practices (Figure 3). The entire process from design of data collection to adaptive management strategies will develop by way of regular workshops conducted with land managers and their coordinating groups, in order to strengthen the analysis and design as the study is underway.
We anticipate two parallel routes of investigation for constructing vulnerability and recoverability maps. Although conducting detailed studies over the entire region would create the data sets that land managers need, the most cost-effective approach is (1) to study in detail carefully selected areas and use this information for (2) regional extrapolation using remote-sensing techniques.
GEOMORPHOLOGY AND RECOVERABILITY OF ECOSYSTEMSVulnerability and recoverability are directly related to age of geomorphic surfaces, elevation, and location within drainage basins. Young geomorphic surfaces are active in terms of sediment transport, supporting youthful vegetation assemblages that recover quickly from disturbance. However, active washes may harbor endangered species, which are particularly vulnerable to disturbance. In contrast, the oldest geomorphic surfaces are relatively inactive and typically sustain "climax" vegetation assemblages that, when disturbed, require the longest recovery times, but the species may be common ones of less importance to ecosystem integrity. Low-elevation sites typified by creosote bush recover more quickly than higher elevation sites typified by black brush because of the different life-history strategies of these species. Because of salt buildup in soils and cold-air inversions, playas may be surrounded by saltbush-dominated communities that are of low vulnerability and high recoverability in terms of vegetation, yet disturbance of these assemblages may increase vulnerability to wind erosion .
WORK ELEMENTS
I. Baseline Data and Process Studies
Ecosystem-wide baseline data sets and studies of vital processes acting at and near the Earth's surface constitute fundamental information upon which all other studies depend. The baseline data sets currently under development by Legacy projects will be relied upon for regional approaches and will be supplemented by:
Process studies will examine biological and physical processes acting at the surface, including identifying thresholds of change controlled by these processes. Anticipated process studies include:
II. Surface Investigations
Detailed studies of the primary ecosystem components at the Earth's surface are needed to fully understand processes operating among the components and their regional variability. Some of the necessary components are vegetation (by species composition and cover), biological components of soils, animal communities, terrain characteristics (soils, age and composition of materials, landforms), surface-water and ground-water resources, and meteorological data. We anticipate studying processes throughout the ecosystem by selecting several areas for detailed study that represent the natural and human-modified variability of the ecosystem. When linkages among processes are understood, prototype vulnerability analyses will be conducted to determine which data sets are most important and to identify gaps in data. Results of the regional extrapolation element will be used to identify areas in need of further detailed studies. Subsequent data collection will be directed toward examining intraregional variability and will focus on specific kinds of disturbed lands.
III. Regional extrapolation
When key data sets needed for a regional description of vulnerability and recoverability are understood from study of baseline data and surface processes, we propose to construct a regional data base using remote sensing techniques. Experiments have already shown that many attributes of surface materials, landforms, and vegetation can be accurately derived from TM data. We will test this approach further by using detailed studies to serve as ground-truth for calibrating and validating TM and other remote sensing images. A regional expansion from the detailed study areas by use of remote sensing will lead to full ecosystem coverage at 30-m pixel resolution. TM and other remotely sensed data will not provide the detail many managers need for making local decisions, but will be invaluable for important ecosystem-wide policy questions. Our research will stretch the use of current remote sensing systems and enable us to evaluate the design of future remote sensing capabilities.
WIND EROSIONVulnerability to wind erosion depends chiefly on physiography, vegetation cover and density, moisture content, and physical characteristics of soil such as grain size and degree of binding, both biological (cryptobiotic soil crusts) and physical (clay or cements). These factors are interrelated (for instance, seasonal precipitation causes ephemeral plant growth). The factors that control the threshold of wind erosion can be evaluated for different vegetation and soil characteristics to make vulnerability maps, and remote-sensing methods can be used to map many factors. Pilot studies suggest that vegetation density and reflectance, both obtainable from satellite images, provide most of the needed information. When combined with DEMs and seasonal and annual climate data, vulnerability maps index the potential for soil erosion as a function of climatic variables throughout the desert. These same relationships lead to better understandings of vegetation vulnerability.
IV. Tools for land managers
Data generated by Legacy projects and work elements I, II, and III listed above are of greatest use to land managers if interpreted in terms that describe issues of critical concern. Most of these issues can be expressed by two key conditions of the land surface: vulnerability to disturbance and recoverability from disturbance. Crucial data for generating vulnerability and recoverability maps are digital elevation, geomorphic surfaces, vegetation type and density, soil composition (physical material and particle size distriêand age, and climate. These data will be integrated with erosion and climate variability data (temporal data) to derive the natural thresholds and rates of susceptibility and recoverability, which are the baselines for evaluating rates of change in areas of human influence. For specific disturbances and stresses, a knowledge of the critical processes allows us to combine data sets to describe vulnerability and recoverability of the land and its inhabitants. The tools we develop will be maps describing vulnerability to typical disturbances and recoverability of vegetation, animals, and soils from these disturbances (Figure 4). The digital data also can be used in a predictive manner by emulating potential disturbances and adapting the actual land use decisions to the expected results.
Related to our goal of delivering scientific information to land managers in terms they understand is the need to address economic and social aspects of our vulnerability and recoverability information. For instance, economic impacts and risk assessment can be conducted using GIS-based interpretive data sets. Such assessments are valuable to managers for evaluating alternative land use strategies. We will work with client agencies and social science colleagues as the applied products are developed to cultivate protocols for determining the consequences of alternative natural resource management practices.
V. Monitoring
Land managers and planners in the Mojave Desert are faced with difficult land-use decisions over an increasingly limited resource base; they want to be warned of significant changes in the environment at the earliest opportunity, when options for addressing the problems are greatest. Managers need to be equipped with the information and tools to allow them to interpret ongoing changes. Land managers also need to be aware of both successful management actions (e.g. restoration activities) and unsuccessful ones. These needs are receiving considerable attention. For example, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) recently established by the President, is currently developing a proposed framework for integrating the Nation's environmental monitoring and research networks and programs.
We will develop a monitoring strategy based on NSTC's draft plan, and from our interrelated vulnerability and recoverability assessments that will allow management agencies to detect changes in the ecosystem that cause a decrease in the consumptive and non-consumptive values of the Mojave Desert. The monitoring must distinguish among: (1) change in the system (in most cases resulting from human-induced causes), (2) natural changes related to climate or long term vegetation change, (3) successional changes following disturbance, and (4) future invasions or expansions by non-native species.
Our plan focuses on monitoring vital signs of the ecosystem that will be established by developing a conceptual model of the ecosystem components which we expect to result from the preparation of vulnerability and recoverability maps. By characterizing threats (stressors) to ecosystem integrity we can identify appropriate indicators (vital ecological features), which are a subset of all ecological variables in the desert causing unacceptable changes in the ecosystem. We will design a desert-wide strategy that blends the efficiency of remotely sensed data methods with the detail obtained by ground surveys. Remote sensing methods will be further developed from current prototype surface variability image maps:
The monitoring plan will be established by working with land managers to describe and monitor indicators for the approach of thresholds of change that could trigger a management response. We expect to establish a feedback mechanism that will enable a genuine adaptive management program shared by all Federal, state, local, and private management concerns in the Mojave Desert. With input from management, criteria will be set for the magnitude of change in the indicators that informs them of a unacceptable degree of change.
SOIL COMPACTIONCompaction from vehicles, livestock, and even human foot traffic increases surface runoff and soil erosion, thereby impeding re-establishment of vegetation. Erosion is also influenced by topographic gradient and climatic variables. Certain soils, particularly loamy sands, are more susceptible to compaction than other soils, such as well-sorted eolian sand. The proportion of coarse-grained particles in the soil also affects the potential for compaction. Amelioration of soil compaction depends on the frequency of wetting and drying, requency of freeze-thaw, particle-size distribution, and to some extent soil chemistry. Soil compaction expressed in terms of vulnerability and recoverability can be described using both GIS and remote sensing.
VI. Data Management
We will develop integrated and standardized protocols for collection, storage, retrieval, and delivery of data in accordance with Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) guidelines. A National Spatial Data Infrastructure clearinghouse node has already been established for the Mojave Desert by USGS and Utah State University, sponsored by the Legacy program (http://mojave.army.mil). Additional data produced by this program will be maintained on USGS servers in the Western Region or at EROS Data Center, and made available to ourê through the clearinghouse node for the duration of the program. Beyond that, all data will be archived so that scientists will be able to locate data and metadata in a consistent and well-documented form. Every activity in our program will contribute basic data, interpretations, maps, illustrations, and publications to this clearinghouse node. All spatial data will have metadata prepared to FGDC standards. Standard products will be made available in Spatial Data Transfer Standard format. In addition to topical research, scientists will be encouraged to publish technical papers on data management procedures and advances.
We anticipate development and publication of innovative, flexible protocols that provide for powerful combinations of disparate data sets. Because of the importance of longer term temporal analysis to identify changes in desert resources, the database must be viewed as a baseline collection for future researchers. This establishes the need for a long term plan for data management. A long-term storage and maintenance plan will be produced early in the program and new techniques will be utilized as they become mature.. Discussions are already proceeding with Project Alexandria at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It is possible that Alexandria may assume long-term maintenance of the Mojave Desert clearinghouse node should the Army withdraw its support.
CLIMATIC CONSTRAINTSTemperature and precipitation play important roles in determining suitability of habitats and the vulnerability and recoverability of desert vegetation and soils. Mean precipitation, the frequency of wetting and drying cycles, and the frequency of freeze-thaw cycles are significant factors for describing vulnerability . Temperature data are amenable to interpolation with fairly well defined long-term relations describing temperature variations as functions of altitude and terrain shading. A simple altitude-based interpolation of mean monthly precipitation rates (on a coarse grid) is available for the Mojave Desert. Precipitation and wetting and drying cycles can be interpolated through the region by several statistical and physical models, starting with simple applications of statistical procedures to shorter time intervals and progressing to localized, daily regressions incorporating wind directions and terrain. Improvements can result from combining this model with simple physical models of moisture transport and rainfall (for cool seasons), calibration to streamflows, vegetation, and satellite imagery (cool and warm seasons), and incorporation of weather-radar imagery.
FUNDING LEVELS
With no new funding, current USGS studies will add to parts of the ecosystem data base, particularly with regard to vegetation mapping and local surficial geologic mapping. Current monitoring of water, dust, and meteorological conditions is expected to continue. However, no integrated studies using these data sets are planned by current projects, and products for the land manager such as vulnerability and recoverability maps and monitoring design are not slated for development.
First-year plan
The emphasis the first year is on initiating several baseline data studies: Pilot studies of surface processes, testing remote sensing methods for regional extrapolation, and testing methods for constructing prototype vulnerability and recoverability products. Results from these tests will influence the emphasis for funding during the next three to four years by identifying critical data bases, identifying processes needing more study, and identifying the temporal and spatial variability information needed for key data sets. Products will include: (1) data bases (and maps) such as land use through time and climate and meteorology information, (2) descriptions of geomorphically significant floods during the recent geologic past and correlations with flood histories in the Southwest, (3) maps and data bases for detailed studies of the biological and physical environments in two key locations (probably as 7.5-minute quadrangle maps). Studies of the desert's biological and physical processes, tests for recognizing key data sets with satellite imagery, and preliminary design for vulnerability maps for presenting in workshops with desert managers.
With reduced funding for the first year, we anticipate that land-use and surface-processes data base activities would be reduced significantly, postponed, or not planned (Figure 5). Data bases for detailed studies and regional climate information would be the primary products.
Five-year plan
Full funding will result in completion of several baseline data sets, completion of detailed surface studies sufficient to describe fully the regional variability of the ecosystem, and development of vulnerability and recoverability products for all types of disturbance. Monitoring design will be developed over the last three years of the program to ensure full integration with the development of tools for land managers and to enable one-on-one customizing of the monitoring programs for specific areas and land owners. Products will include: (1) ecosystem-wide data bases (and maps) for land use, several hydrology data bases, climate and meteorology information, several components of surficial geology including soils, geomorphology, and age of surface materials, and several components of vegetation information; (2) ecosystem-wide data bases describing vulnerability of the land and vegetation for a comprehensive suite of impacts, both natural and human-induced; (3) ecosystem-wide data bases describing recoverability of the land and vegetation from impacts; (4) maps and data bases for detailed studies of the physical and biological environments in eight or tenÝations, accompanied by vulnerability and recoverability data bases; (5) reports summarizing results from studies of the desert's physical and biological processes; (6) reports describing the methodology for developing key data sets using satellite imagery; (7) reports on the design of vulnerability and recoverability data bases; (8) reports on the design of monitoring systems, including descriptions of the thresholds of change that require monitoring.
At reduced funding levels, we anticipate a less comprehensive approach to understanding the ecosystem. We will determine the subset of processes that are most important and expedient for understanding the region and seek appropriate data (such as vegetation cover, land form, and soil composition). Surface investigations will be required to validate regional extrapolation for these limited data sets, but the full range of regional variability will not be tested with detailed surface investigations. The less complete regional data will limit vulnerability and recoverability maps to a partial set of impacts and land-use issues. Less essential data bases probably will not be acquired (such as land use, which provides information on natural and artificial changes). Monitoring design and methodology will not be developed until the final year, when help will be provided to land managers in developing monitoring methods for a limited set of vital signs.
ALLUVIAL LANDFORM EVOLUTIONIntegrating temporal data bases, those that describe variations of ecosystem variables and processes with time, with other geographic data provides a way to describe natural variation within the ecosystem and determine bounding conditions for studies of vulnerability and recoverability. For instance, in the case of alluvial systems, short-term landform evolution such as gullying and fan-building is driven directly by hydrologic processes during floods. The rate and amount of landform change is affected by climate variation and human influence on surface materials and vegetation such as grazing and recreational use. Establishing patterns of historic climate variation and recent llandform development is crucial for understanding the present physical condition of the ecosystem, for distinguishing the consequences of natural climate change from those of human activity, and for understanding rates of landscape recovery.
Communication
Due to the difficult management issues, large areas, and modest funding levels, all of the land management agencies in the Mojave Desert work together. Here is a summary of the most active groups:
Our strategy is to continue to work with these groups on their own terms. We are already active within the Desert Managers Group and the Desert Tortoise Management Oversight Group. We will appoint representatives of our team to stay in contact with the others. Those representatives will attend meetings to solicit science and information needs, pursue collaborative funding opportunities, and to report on our progress. In addition, specific workshops with land managers and their coordinating groups will be scheduled to strengthen the analysis and design as the study progresses. Communication of our program will be aided by maintenance of a comprehensive world wide web server that will publicize and make available information on work in progress, completed work, and digital geographic data.
Strategy for Implementation
The Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program will be managed by a steering committee made up of representatives from each of the four divisions with one representative serving as the chair and spokesperson. It will be the responsibility of the steering committee to manage the program within existing USGS policy structures and guidelines. The chair will maintain direct and frequent contact witÝGS Ecosystem Coordinator. The steering committee will announce a "call for proposals" based on this program proposal to solicit projects for the first year. All proposals must include plans for interdivisional study, data management, World Wide Web and fact sheet publication, and active communication with land managers. Scientists will be encouraged to form interdivisional teams to propose needed work with their management approval. A review committee, consisting of representatives of client agencies, USGS scientists not involved with the study, and university scientists, will be named by the steering committee for evaluating proposals. The steering committee will submit recommendations based on the review to the USGS Ecosystem Council for a final decision on funding. The review committee will also conduct a review of work in progress near the end of the first year. This will be done concurrently with review of new work plans for the following year and new project proposals. Continuation of projects will be contingent on a determination that adequate progress is being made towards meeting objectives and land stewardship needs. This review of work will take place every year the program is active.
Members of the steering committee are: Peter Stine (BRD), Peter Martin (WRD), David Miller (GD), and Leonard Gaydos (NMD-chair). Membership and chairmanship will be revisited on a yearly basis.
Clients, Collaboration, and Partnerships
This program focuses on the science necessary to understand basic ecosystem processes threatened by rapid population growth and on maintaining basic ecosystem integrity within the constraints of land use decisions and allocations. The agencies responsible for resource management each have specific responsibilities, which commonly conflict in the face of limited resources. As the primary science agency for DOI, it is the responsibility of USGS to provide the unbiased scientific information and geospatial data to enable DOI and other resource managers to make informed decisions. Fortunately, there are several multi-agency groups in the Mojave Desert that are actively working with one another in land management planning and are poised to make use of USGS studies.
The Desert Managers Group (DMG) is committed to an integrated ecosystem approach for planning and managing for a sustained healthy environment. Operating as an Innovative Management Laboratory, the DMG has leveraged DOD Funding ($4.6M over two years from the Legacy Program) to build a baseline digital geographic data base incorporating USGS data, some newly produced through the A-16 prioritization process ($2M over two years).
The Desert Conservation Plan, completed in 1995, addresses conservation needs of the desert tortoise across 3 million acres of public lands in southern Nevada. Similar conservation plans for over 100 species of plants and animals is in development in several parts of the desert and vulnerability, recoverability, and monitoring input is needed. Since these and other plans are in the formative stages, strategies and information from this initiative can be directly incorporated into the plans.
Establishing partnerships with the management groups (see Communication section) is an important part of our plan. They will all be active collaborators. Some may have funding for cost sharing, although specific proposals have not yet been made. For example, the Clark County Conservation Plan and the Lower Colorado River Multi-Species Plans each have budgets for research activities that may be able to partially fund specific components of our program. NPS has a National Inventory and Monitoring Program, which includes developing soils and vegetation maps; resources could be available from that program.
USGS will continue its collaboration with the DMG, serving as co-chair of the Science Data Management Committee and working to complete basic data bases such as topography, vegetation, soils, and groundwater. It is anticipated that up to $800K of military Legacy program funds will be committed to these tasks, directly from the Army or their contractor, Utah State University. The entire $4.6M spent by DOD will help establish some of the baseline data needed for this proposed ecosystem program.
Legacy partners are discussing long term data management needs with Project Alexandria at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the California Environmental Resources Evaluation System (CERES). The multi-agency (DOD, EPA, DOE) Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) is conducting a $1.4M project "Analysis and Assessment of Military and Non-Military Impacts on Biodiversity". Its goal is to provide DOD with techniques, tools, and training to carry out its military mission in the context of regional management of biodiversity and related environmental concerns. SERDP will start with a complete assessment of stakeholder issues. Working together, we can ensure that USDI issues are also considered in an ecoregion context, perhaps by co-sponsoring a proposed research advisory forum. Our basic data and improved understanding of surficial processes will be used by SERDP in their main analysis phase. Assisting in these analyses, we will then be able to use the major final product, model impacts of alternative future land uses on habitat and biodiversity, in our own assessments of vulnerability and recoverability.
Within USGS, many activities (described in USGS Activities section) will continue and will conÝsignificantly to our proposed work, and some new plans are underway. Geometrically corrected and registered Landsat data from both the Multi-Resolution Land Characterization consortium and North American Land Characteristics project are available to the program from EROS Data Center. Los Alamos National Laboratory has agreed to demonstrate new image compression techniques for the Thematic Mapper data covering the Mojave Desert. The NPS USGS cooperative for geologic studies is considering a coordinated request from desert park units for surficial geologic mapping to supplement that directed under this proposal.
The web of activities within USGS serve as the springboard for an integrated multidisciplinary study of the key processes controlling ecosystem viability. By studying these processes, learning the thresholds at which significant change will be effected, and applying this knowledge to the problems that land managers face, USGS will develop unique tools for the land management agencies. The coordinating groups that maintain oversight of these activities are our partners in developing the process and results, and are ready to use the information to make decisions based on more robust knowledge. USGS is presented with a significant opportunity to apply science for a wide spectrum of government agencies, an opportunity that may result in numerous follow-on studies in the United States and globally.
Ecosystem Team Members
Peter Stine, Biological Resources Division Lead, Sacramento; David Miller, Geologic Division Lead, Menlo Park; Peter Martin, Water Resources Division Lead, San Diego.
We would also like to thank the following scientists and others for their ideas and contributions: William Acevedo, Charlie Alpers, Susan Benjamin, Kristin Berry, Julio Betancourt, Matt Brooks, Pat Chavez, Gary Davis, Gary Dixon, Mike Dettinger, Tom Edwards, Jay Feuquay, Dave Greenlee, Paula Helms, Richard Hereford, Robert Jachens, Jeff Lovich, Dave MacKinnon, Jon Matti, Doug Morton, Dave Mouat, Jon Nowlin, Dave Rohde, Pete Rowley, Tom Sturm, Jim Thomas, Kathryn Thomas, Doug Trudeau, Kent Turner, Bob Webb, Steve Wells.
