Working Collaboratively to Avoid Ecological Impacts. Leslie Honey CropLife America & RISE 2016 Conference April 14, 2016

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1 Working Collaboratively to Avoid Ecological Impacts Leslie Honey CropLife America & RISE 2016 Conference April 14, 2016

2 Who is NatureServe? Over 40 years of data collection and curation Distributed network of biodiversity inventories Over 1,000 conservation professionals updating status and location of species Scientifically rigorous set of field and data management standards and protocols Respond to over 6 millions inquires annually

3 We Answer Key Questions

4 Facilitate Access to Detailed Spatial Information Across North America One-stop access to over 1 million mapped locations for atrisk species 4

5 Pesticide Industry FIFRA Endangered Species Task Force (FESTF) FESTF worked with FWS, NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service and EPA to implement the pesticide registration program Utilizing data from NatureServe, FESTF overlays agriculture lands, pesticide use and precise locations of Listed species to identify where the use of pesticides should be avoided

6 Oil and Gas DOT Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) Pipeline Safety Risk Mitigation Formal rule for High Consequence Areas (HCAs) or Unusually Sensitive Areas (USAs) specifies use of NatureServe data to guide development of pipeline integrity management plans

7 Pipeline Safety Risk Mitigation Maximize ability to achieve pipeline management goals Inform risk assessment planning and emergency response Increase certainty about areas containing at-risk species Increase public confidence Reduce conflicts between pipeline impacts and at-risk species and ecosystems Karner blue butterfly

8 Forestry SFI Forest Certification Program Requires protection efforts on forestry lands to focus on: threatened and endangered species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act critically imperiled (G1) and imperiled (G2) species and ecological communities using NatureServe Ranks species and communities occurrences with EO Rank = A (Excellent Viability) and EO Rank = B (Good Viability) NatureServe provides Information on what Plants, Animals, and Ecological Communities Exist on their Lands and Develops Management Recommendations

9 Electric Power Industry Staying Ahead of the Curve Objective Improve species conservation potentially eliminating the need for ESA listings in the future Petitioned Species - Areas with High Counts

10 Analytical Services: From Data to Knowledge Impacted Site César, Colombia South America Potential mitigation sites: highly similar to the impacted site Scenario evaluations revealed areas of conflict that could be mitigated to increase overall goal achievement

11 Reducing Uncertainty - Improving Locality Data for Endangered Species When known occurrences are used as a distribution map: Usually underpredicts occupied area Usually overpredicts unoccupied area Accuracy depends on intensity and distribution of sampling effort Can be difficult to validate or test When a large scale pattern is used as a distribution map : Usually overpredicts occupied area Usually underpredicts unoccupied area Can be difficult to replicate; often subjective Can be difficult to validate or test

12 Improving Locality Data for Endangered Species Combine data on species occurrence with spatial data on environmental conditions to predict areas of likely occurrence for listed species?

13 Improving Locality Data - Glytemys muhlenbergii Red points show known occurrences Green above are Ecoregional subsections Green above > 55% probability of Bog Turtles New York Natural Heritage Program

14 Improving Locality Data Building the Case Glytemys muhlenbergii New York Natural Heritage Program