An Ecological Approach to Integrating Conservation and Highway Planning, Volume 2 (2012)

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124 A p p e n d i x d The tool database was built by reviewing the tools documented in the Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) Tools Network, reviewing the tools that were referenced in many of the articles and research cited in the literature review, and using the team’s knowledge to evaluate the tools. The tools included in the data- base are described in detail in Table D.1. Ecosystem Based Tool Database Table D.1. Ecosystem Based Tool Database ID Tool Name Description 1 Nonpoint Source Pollution and Erosion Comparison Tool (N-SPECT) N-SPECT helps coastal managers and local officials predict potential water quality impacts to rivers and streams from nonpoint source pollution and erosion. 2 Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) EMDS integrates the logic engine of NetWeaver to perform landscape evaluations and the decision- modeling engine of Criterium DecisionPlus for evaluating management priorities. 3 Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources (BASINS) BASINS is a customized ArcView geographic information system (GIS) application designed to be used by regional, state, and local agencies to perform watershed- and water-quality–based studies and as a system for supporting the development of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs). 4 Information System of Plans (ISoP) In most development situations, the existence of multiple plans and many distinct government agencies and interest groups is normal. The many plans that affect overlapping geographic areas are created by different stakeholders and are inconsistent in at least some respects. Tools can be developed to treat these plans as an ISoP and use them to advantage. The ability to access and compare multiple plans yields more information pertinent to making a decision than can be found in any one plan, which of necessity suppresses disagreement and multiple perspectives. The result is an ISoP that is a persistent, interactive, and continually changing set of information that puts plans to work rather than on a shelf. 5 Land Use Evolution and Impact Assessment Model (LEAM) LEAM is a computer-based tool that simulates change across space and time. Planners, policy- makers, interest groups, and laypersons use LEAM to visualize and test the impact of policy decisions. The LEAM system is designed to enhance understanding of the connections between urban, environmental, social, and economic systems. 6 C-Plan Conservation Planning System C-Plan is designed around the concept of a decision-support system. Together with a GIS, it maps the options for achieving an explicit conservation goal in a region, allows users to decide which sites (areas of land or water) should be placed under some form of conservation management, accepts and displays these decisions, and then lays out the new pattern of options that result. 7 Conservation Assessment and Prioritization System (CAPS) CAPS is a computer software program designed to assess the ecological integrity and biodiversity value of every location based on natural community-specific models to help prioritize lands for conservation action based on their assessed ecological value. 8 FRAGSTATS FRAGSTATS is a spatial pattern analysis program for categorical maps. (continued on next page)

125 ID Tool Name Description 9 Habitat Priority Planner (HPP) HPP is a spatial decision support tool designed to assist users in prioritizing important areas in the landscape or seascape for conservation or restoration action. What makes this tool unique is the ease with which the scenarios can be displayed and changed, making this a helpful companion when working with a group. 10 Impervious Surface Analysis Tool (ISAT) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Services Center has developed the ISAT to help managers and planners make a determination about the impact of impervious surface coverage on local water quality. 11 CommunityViz CommunityViz is a GIS software extension designed to help people visualize, analyze, and communicate about important planning decisions. Widely adopted by land-use planners, it supports informed, collaborative decision making by illustrating and analyzing alternative planning scenarios. 12 TransCAD TransCAD is a GIS system designed specifically for use by transportation professionals to store, display, manage, and analyze transportation data. TransCAD combines GIS and transportation modeling capabilities in a single integrated platform. 13 NEPAssist NEPAssist is a GIS application that automates and web-enables the collection and coordination of information inherent in the environmental review process mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). 14 INDEX Planning Support Software INDEX is an integrated suite of interactive GIS planning support tools for assessing community conditions, designing future scenarios in real time, measuring scenarios with performance indicators, ranking scenarios by goal achievement, and monitoring implementation of adopted plans. 15 Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA) AGWA is designed to provide qualitative estimates of runoff and erosion relative to landscape change. 16 Artificial Intelligence for Ecosystem Services (ARIES) ARIES is a web-based technology offered to users worldwide to assist rapid ecosystem service assessment and valuation (ESAV). Its purpose is to make environmental decisions easier and more effective. ARIES helps users discover, understand, and quantify environmental assets and what factors influence their values, in a geographical area and according to the needs and priorities set by its users. 17 Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Tradeoffs (InVEST) InVEST is a software tool that can model and map the delivery, distribution, and economic value of life-support systems (ecosystem services). 18 Land Change Modeler (LCM) The LCM is an optional software extension for ArcGIS as well as another GIS platform, IDRISI Taiga, which is also produced by Clark Labs. The LCM is a useful tool for analyzing and predicting landcover change and assessing the implications of that change for biodiversity. 19 CoastRanger CoastRanger MS has been designed to explain the consequences that different management approaches have on coastal processes, natural environments, and flood and coastal erosion risk. The software highlights the range of interests that need to be balanced on the coast and demonstrates the difficult decisions that have to be made in some areas. 20 Land Transformation Model (LTM) The LTM model uses landscape ecology principles and patterns of interactions to simulate the land use change process and forecast land use change. 21 RESTORE RESTORE integrates models of watershed function and economic characterizations of restoration options with stakeholder-determined constraints and priorities to provide a tool for stakeholders to identify feasible restoration strategies and evaluate the ecological and economic effectiveness of these strategies at addressing watershed-level function. 22 Watershed Analysis Risk Management Framework (WARMF) WARMF is a physically based watershed modeling framework and decision support system for watershed management. It is suitable for applications including watershed stewardship, land use planning, climate change impact, mercury transport, and TMDLs. 23 Watershed Treatment Model (WTM) The WTM assesses uncontrolled pollutant loads from two broad categories of pollutant sources: primary and secondary. Primary sources are related to the urban stormwater runoff loads from major land uses (i.e., commercial, residential, agricultural). Secondary sources (i.e., sanitary sewer overflows, septic system failure, and channel erosion) are pollutant sources dispersed through the watershed whose magnitude cannot easily be estimated from available land use information. Table D.1. Ecosystem Based Tool Database (continued) (continued on next page)

126 ID Tool Name Description 24 Protected Area Tools (PAT) for ArcGIS 9.2 One of the technical challenges within the process of evaluating and filling protected area gaps is the development and use of GIS-based, user-friendly tools that support the protected area gap process. The development of a Protected Area Gap Decision Support System (DSS) was conceived as part of an ongoing process to help fill the technical void that exists. 25 Virginia Natural LandScape Assessment (VaNLA) VaNLA, a component of the Virginia Conservation Lands Needs Assessment (VCLNA), is a landscape-scale GIS analysis for identifying, prioritizing, and linking natural habitats in Virginia. 26 Virginia Natural Land Network (NLN) A component of the VaNLA, the NLN identifies large, unfragmented cores, patches of natural land with at least 100 acres of interior cover. Cores provide habitat for a wide range of species, from interior-dependent forest species to habitat generalists, as well as for species that use marsh and maritime habitats. 27 CEDAR and CEDAR GIS CEDAR allows users to enter and retrieve project data from a single source. The focus of the application is to facilitate environmental staff duties, with special attention given to meeting the needs of district staff who handle the majority of the project clearance activities. CEDAR provides the ability to assess potential environmental resource conflicts through the internal comprehensive GIS, with which users can digitize project areas and spatially analyze the areas to identify potential resource conflicts. 28 Natural Heritage Data Explorer (NHDE) NHDE is a website application that provides an interactive map service that allows the user to display a variety of data layers, including county boundaries, roads, streams, watershed boundaries, conservation lands, and topographic and aerial photography for the entire state. 29 Land Conservation Data Explorer (LCDE) The LCDE is a public portal that allows users to view and query existing Natural Heritage land conservation information, including Green Infrastructure GIS models/layers, Conservation Lands, National Wetlands Inventory data, and various reference layers, including roads, jurisdictional boundaries, and hydrology. 30 Wetland Restoration Catalog This catalog identifies potential wetland restoration sites based on their historic wetland characteristics and their inclusion in, or adjacency to, Natural Heritage Conservation Sites. 31 One N.C. Naturally Conservation Planning Tool The One N.C. Naturally Conservation Planning Tool was envisioned to streamline the process of identifying and prioritizing the areas in North Carolina’s landscape that are essential for conservation. 32 Virginia Coastal Geographic ArcServer-based website that provides a gateway to Virginia’s coastal resource data and maps, focusing on geospatial data and information related to coastal laws and policies, facts on coastal resource values, and direct links to collaborating agencies responsible for current data. 33 Miradi The Miradi software tool helps conservation practitioners implement the Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation. Miradi provides an easy-to-use, interview-style interface that walks a project team through each step of the process of designing, managing, and monitoring their project according to the best practice standards established and tested by the world’s major conservation organizations. 34 NatureServe Vista NatureServe Vista is a software extension tool for conducting conservation planning and integrating conservation with other assessment and planning activities, such as land use, transportation, energy, and natural resources management. 35 MARXAN MARXAN is software designed to aid systematic reserve design on conservation planning. With the use of stochastic optimization routines (simulated annealing), it generates spatial reserve systems that achieve particular biodiversity representation goals with reasonable optimality. 36 QuantM QuantM is comprehensive route optimization software designed for transportation planners. 37 Circuitscape Circuitscape is software program that borrows algorithms from electronic circuit theory to predict patterns of movement, gene flow, and genetic differentiation among plant and animal populations in heterogeneous landscapes. 38 Florida Efficient Transportation Decision Making (ETDM) The ETDM process was a response to the congressional passage of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st century. The ETDM process redefined how the state of Florida accomplishes transportation planning and project development. The overall intent of the ETDM process is to improve transportation decision making in a way that protects the human and natural environments. Table D.1. Ecosystem Based Tool Database (continued) (continued on next page)

127 ID Tool Name Description 39 Colorado Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) Tool The PEL tool was designed for transportation planners to facilitate an improved approach to transportation decision making that considers environmental, community, and economic goals across the targeted corridor. 40 Texas Ecological Assessment Protocol (TEAP) TEAP is a planning- and screening-level assessment tool that uses existing data available from the statewide GIS grid to identify ecologically important resources throughout Texas. The results of the TEAP can be used in project planning (i.e., scoping, alternatives analysis), to determine appropriate areas to conduct detailed field investigations, and in mitigation discussions to avoid ecologically important areas, minimize impacts to those areas, and compensate for unavoidable impacts. 41 Florida Environmental Screening Tool (EST) EST provides a vital foundation to the transportation/conservation process, supporting agency participation and community involvement throughout the project life cycle. The EST is an Internet- accessible application that provides tools to input and update information about transportation projects, perform standardized analyses, gather and report comments about potential project effects, and provide information to the public. 42 Google Earth/Google Maps Google Earth is a free desktop product that displays aerial imagery and other GIS data on a desktop computer. Google Earth provides high-resolution imagery for most, if not all, urban areas in the United States. Increasingly, users are able to add their own data (such as KML or KMZ files) to Google Earth interface. Table D.1. Ecosystem Based Tool Database (continued)