Southern Forest Resource Assessment led by the USDA Forest Service's Southern Region and Southern Research Station in collaboration with the USEPA, US Fish & Wildlife, TVA, and state forestry agencies of the Southern United States

Broad Category: Landscapes/Terrestrial Ecosystems

Question Managers: Margaret Katherine Trani (Griep), assisted until July 2001 by Vic Rudis

Question TERRA-1: What are the history, status and projected future of terrestrial wildlife habitat types and species in the South?

Specific points to be addressed (among others) in answering the question:

1. Evaluate changes in species diversity.
2. Measure changes in the distribution and amount of mast-producing species.
3. Address how different intensities of logging, fire and other forest management practices influence various wildlife habitat types
4. Describe how land use changes have and are likely to influence habitats.
5. Describe the critical and emerging habitat needs in the region.
6. Consider the contribution of areas set aside on public lands and by NGO's in providing habitats.
7. Describe lost or degraded habitats that could be restored.
8. Describe the history of wildlife habitat types as far back as can be reliably documented.
9. Link discussion of all of the above to animal species populations and ecological communities.
10. Evaluate implications of fragmentation and its causes.

Overview

Methods of analysis:

Historical records will be examined to document past habitat conditions and species occurrences.***  Present-day records from the GAP project and wildlife agencies will examined to identify areas of high species diversity as well as locations with relatively high levels of listed species.

This question will examine FIA data (forest composition, stand size class, age class, patch size, and ownership) summarized by state and by province. *   Past and present trends in stand size class will be examined statewide.  This will include a comparison of stand age by ownership on a state-by-state basis.

GAP Analysis data (Landsat Thematic Mapper, 30 meter cells) for land cover and vegetation classes will be obtained and merged for regional analyses.  FIA plot data will be linked to GAP analysis data to generate species distribution models (which use habitat information obtained from the literature, collections, and permits).

The history of mast decline will be documented using the published literature while the current status will employ FIA data summaries.  Factors contributing to the decline will be enumerated (e.g., lack of regenerative fire management, competition with other tree species, reduced harvest, gypsy moth infestation, and others).  Ongoing southeastern demonstration areas established to showcase the ongoing hardwoods initiative might be described.

Multi-Resolution Land Characterization (MRLC) data (Landsat Thematic Mapper, 1990-1995, 30 meter cells) available through USGS will be classified to provide region-wide land and vegetation cover.  The data is consistent over the southeast and provides 21 cover classes including three forest classes (deciduous, coniferous, and mixed).  This land cover data will be used to address regional forest extent, fragmentation, habitat status, and other issues.  A variety of landscape metrics will be calculated from this coverage (e.g., connectivity, interspersion, core areas, and others).

Spatial coverage of forest within the southeast will be developed from MRLC data.  Sub-regional areas may be examined with additional specific habitat information (e.g., Mississippi Alluvial Valley).

Data Sources:

Forest Inventory and Analysis

Multi-Resolution Land Characterization data

The published literature

GAP Analysis State Projects (statewide conservation status, habitat classification, wildlife species occurrence tables, land use covers)

Products:

The partial list of planned products will include:

Map presentation of present day MRLC-derived land cover. 

Tabular representation of SE land use acreage by major categories (e.g., forest, urban, agricultural, and other) by physiographic unit (see Vic pg 323).

Tabular presentation of land cover changes within the southeast (based on Natural Resource Conservation Service data).

Maps or tables of forest distribution, composition, and successional stage by state.

Tabular presentation of temporal changes in stand size class.

Graphical presentation of forest fragment size by ecological province using FIA data.*

Map presentation and description of terrestrial habitats by ecological province.

Map presentations showing statewide land protection status (e.g., protected, semi-protected, multiple use, other) as derived from available GAP analysis.

Map presentation of public ownership lands (including natural areas, national parks, refuges, wilderness, and roadless areas).

Graphical presentation of hard mast decline and current acreage of hard mast-producing species by state.

List of wildlife species dependent upon hard mast.

Map presentations of species diversity and number of listed species by county or state levels.

Map presentations representing potential distribution of species-of-interest or combinations of species (e.g., region-wide maps of game species, cerulean warblers, and others).

For additional product details, refer to the attached document entitled, “Geometronics Supplement”.

Collaborators and Sources:

Bob Ford, The Nature Conservancy, Memphis, TN.

Victor Rudis, FIA, Southern Research Station, Starkville, MS

William Clerke, Geometronics Services, USDA Forest Service, Atlanta, GA

Jefferson Waldon and Scott Klopfer, Conservation Management  Institute, VA Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA.

Links to other questions:  

The implications and extent of forest fragmentation, as well as region-wide land cover, occurs within several team themes.  This includes Forest Extent, Conditions, and Health; Watersheds, Aquatic/Riparian Ecosystems; and Social/Economic Factors.  Question 5 within Landscape/Terrestrial ecosystems (conditions needed for wildlife species) is also related to this question.

Unresolved Issues: 

This question, unlike many others, is heavily driven by extensive spatial and tabular analysis, requiring several months of time (potential estimate: Fall 2000) to compile, merge, and analyze the required geographic coverages.  It is the general opinion of the collaborative experts listed above that this question cannot be addressed within the established time frame without additional resources and qualified personnel to carry out the analysis.    Obtaining adequate spatial data for the southern region is critical to the success of this assessment question; one expert suggested that assessment credibility rests on the quality and comprehensive nature of the data employed.

Obtaining data from the GAP projects will not be timely unless a contractor can intercede to obtain, error check, and link together the necessary overages. Not all of the southeastern GAP state data are available at this time.  The MRLC data, although available immediately, would require minimum cursory error assessment and processing.

Fragmentation analysis will be hindered if spatially explicit data on forest cover is not available.  The use of national forest coverages, or FIA parcel size (surrogate for patch size) data, in the absence of region-wide coverages, would severely limit fragmentation analyses.  It is our conservative judgment that for the majority of terrestrial wildlife in the southeast, the implications of fragmentation cannot be assessed without a region-wide coverage.  This is an opportunity for the assessment to obtain such coverage.

The MRLC data requires a minimum of 4 - 6 months to acquire, prepare, and analyze the information prior to the development of maps and statistics in support of the assessment.  However, MRLC will provide the assessment with complete spatial data and the capability to address pine plantations, fragmentation (including the generation of fragmentation metrics), and other issues.

Cited and Other Relevant Literature:

*      Data required from Forest Inventory and Analysis.

**   Data required from the GAP Analysis State Projects.

*** Data required from the historian contracted by the Forest Extent and Health Team to   document historic forest conditions, habitat conditions, and species occurrence.

 modified: 21-SEP-2001