Important Plant Areas: Identifying conservation priorities for botanical biodiversity in Baja California

 

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2-hour workshop with Sam Young and Sula Vanderplank

December 13 from 9 to 11 am

 

Summary

Few places in the world enjoy the same level of geographic and biological diversity as the California Floristic Province (CFP). The CFP extends from Klamath Mountains spanning the western portions of the California-Oregon border, south along the western slopes of the southern Cascades and Sierra Nevada ranges, cutting west along the Garlock Fault on the northern slopes of the transverse ranges to the western slopes of the peninsular ranges into northern Baja California. This region is a recognized biodiversity hotspot with over 5,700 native species, a third of which are endemic. The state of California, USA comprises the majority of the CFP. A rapidly growing population coupled with a housing shortage, increased demand for resources, and a changing climate has led to regional planning assessments to streamline the ability to meet such pressing and complex demands. To ensure that plants and their habitats are adequately represented and protected, the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) has created the Important Plant Areas (IPA) Program. The IPA program seeks to identify the most important areas for protecting rare and threatened plant species, rare and threatened vegetation association, plants and communities important to indigenous peoples, and areas of particular importance to plant biodiversity. To ensure results are implemented such that identified IPAs are preserved, the IPA program is engaging conservation advocates, land managers, and regulators from the start of development. Achieving such implementation has been identified as an essential component for biodiversity conservation both through the California Biodiversity Initiative and the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity's Global Plant Conservation Strategy. For more information about the IPA program please visit our website: https://www.cnps.org/conservation/important-plant-areas

 

Workshop Description

IPAs are delineated through centralization of existing data sets which are combined to create a map of conservation priority. This data will be combined using the Environmental Evaluation Modelling System (EEMS) developed by Conservation Biology Institute. EEMS is a normalized logic model engine which allows combination of diverse inputs to highlight spatial areas most important to achieving conservation goals, such as IPAs. The IPA EEMS model is highly transparent in how it produces outputs, which is invaluable to facilitating stakeholder collaboration in IPA delineation. This workshop is intended to gather regional experts and stakeholders to:

1. Review and discuss input datasets

2. Review and discuss initial model results

3. Train participants on how to use the model’s online interface to engage in peer review through model iterations

CNPS expects that IPAs will be a constructive and collaborative vehicle for proactive conservation advocacy, more efficient and effective conservation planning, and more informed regulation.

 

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