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“Nature
always
wearsthe
thecolors
colors of
of the
the spirit”
EMERSON
“Nature
always
wears
spirit” –– EMERSON
Designing a state-wide volunteer
monitoring program
Paul C West--August, 2003—Citizen Monitoring Conference
The mission of The Nature
Conservancy is to protect the
plants, animals and habitats that
represent the diversity of life on
earth by protecting the lands and
waters that they need to survive.
Setting Priorities
(Ecoregional Assessments)
Designing Strategies
Measuring
Success
(Conservation Project
Planning)
Conservation
Action
Outline
•
•
•
•
Volunteer monitoring examples
Use of the monitoring data
What to monitor
Recommendations
Nature Conservancy
monitoring programs
Use of monitoring data
• Inform public policy or DNR
priorities?
• Guide site-specific management
actions?
Use of monitoring data
Types of Indicators
From Cairns (1993):
Compliance indicators
Diagnostic indicators
Early-warning indicators
Current Status & Trends
High
Wetlands of the Mukwonago River Watershed
What to monitor?
•Increase H20 levels,
stable H20 level
•Increase nutrients
Surface water
input & nutreints
Cattails
•Increase
nutrients/ h20
levels
•Restore hydroperiod
•Kill cattails
Emergent marsh
•Increase h20
levels
•Dry out wetland
sedge•Fire exclusion
Tussock
meadow
Shrub carr
•Dry out wetland
•Fire exclusion
•High contribution of
calcium rich groundwater
•Fire
•Small scale disturbance
Low
•Burn
Relict kettle
bog
Low
Calcareous fen
•Fire
•Seasonal water
level changes
pH
•Reduce groundwater input
•Fire exclusion
High
High
Wetlands of the Mukwonago River Watershed
What to monitor?
Tussock sedge
meadow
Shrub carr
Emergent
marsh
Calcareous
fen
Cattails
Recommendations
1. Develop state-wide monitoring objectives based on
conceptual models and key driving factors
Example: Between 2005 and 2010, we want to have
a 90% probability of detecting a 10% change in [water
quality, invasive species] and are willing to accept a 1
in 10 chance that we’ll say that a change occurred
when it really didn’t.
Key components: timescale, chance of detecting
change, minimum detectable change, what to monitor
chance of detecting a false change
Recommendations
2. Monitor both target-based and threat-based monitoring (and
possibly management-based, such as voluntary BMPs).
3. Focus on limited data at greatest number of sites
reduce observer bias
use for trend analysis to guide policy and budget decisions
complement detailed monitoring at fewer places, done by DNR
and others.
4. Data management structure needs to be developed prior to
collecting data.
Recommendations
5. Citizen-based monitoring should complement a comprehensive
monitoring program
What?
How?
Who?
Landscape metrics:
GIS-based
Overall extent; distribution,
patch size
Public agencies,
possibly NGOs
Presence/absence or
abundance of species;
threat indicators
Field work
Citizens, NGOs, public
agencies
Community-level
monitoring, eg., species
inventory
Field work
Public agencies;
possibly NGOs
Recommendations
References
Cairns et al. 1993. A proposed framework for
developing indicators of ecosystem health.
Hydrobiologia 263: 1-44.
Elzinga et al. 1998. Measuring and Monitoring
Plant Populations. BLM Technical Reference
1730-1.
Parrish et al. 2003. Are we conserving what we
say we are? Measuring ecological integrity
within protected areas. BioScience 53:851860.