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ISC Meeting September 2, 2011: The Interim Steering Committee (ISC) conference call took place on September 2, 2011. Items discussed during the meeting can be accessed by clicking on the link below.

ISC Meeting April 29, 2011: The Interim Steering Committee (ISC) conference call and WebEx took place on Friday, April 29, 2011 from 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. Items discussed during the meeting can be accessed by clicking on the links below.

Chris Burkett Process Presentation Final Nov 2011: Chris Burkett Process Presentation Final Nov 2011

Black Bear: Smallest of the three bears species found in North America

Etheostoma brevirostrum: Common name is the holiday darter, found in Tennessee

Three Ridges: Ridges of the Appalachian Mountains

Rob Baldwin Landscape Scale Conservation Planning Talk Nov 2011: Rob Baldwin Landscape Scale Conservation Planning Talk Nov 2011

Ken Elowe Conservation Framework Presentation AppLCC Workshop Nov 2011: Ken Elowe Conservation Framework Presentation AppLCC Workshop Nov 2011

Paul Johansen Welcome ALCC Conservation Priorities Science Needs Workshop Nov 2011: Paul Johansen Welcome ALCC Conservation Priorities Science Needs Workshop Nov 2011

National Report on Sustainable Forests: This is a report on the state of forests in the United States of America and the indicators of national progress toward the goal of sustainable forest management. The report is designed to provide information that will improve public dialog and decision making on desired outcomes and needed actions to move the Nation toward this goal. The 64 indicators of forest sustainability used in the report reflect many of the environmental, social, and economic concerns of the American public regarding forests, and they help us establish a quantitative baseline for measuring progress toward sustainability. While the report presents data primarily at a national or regional level, it also provides a valuable context for related efforts to ensure sustainability at other geographic and political scales. Action at all levels is vital to achieving sustainable forest management in the United States. The current edition includes 130 pages of detailed information organized by indicator, as well as summary analyses and policy recommendations. Over 30 Forest Service scientists, senior staff and outside collaborators contributed to this edition of the report. A previous edition of the report was released in 2003, and an update is anticipated for 2015. Questions or comments about the report or the project as a whole are greatly appreciated and can be directed to Guy Robertson (see box on left).

IT Notes 2011: Goal statement: Create, maintain, and grow a GIS/ IT architecture that facilitates the development of community networks, supports systems modeling, enables information creation, exchange and education in a consistent manner across administrative boundaries allowing users to easily discover, access and integrate data and tools to facilitate conservation across the landscape over time.

RFA 5 - Survey inventory & distribution mapping of RTEE species across the Appalachian LCC: Species/community management at the large regional scale of the Appalachian LCC requires GIS products that allow for a comprehensive assessment of distribution trends at whole-population levels. Those species that are federally listed under the Endangered Species Act are most likely to have been mapped across their entire range of occurrence, however state-listed species or other rare but priority species may not have been mapped entirely - or this information may not be readily available to all LCC partners. Having georeferenced ranges for our rarest endemic species will allow resource managers to focus conservation efforts, including mitigation projects and seek to divert development interests harmful to these communities. Furthermore, readily accessible comprehensive data will result in enhanced collaboration opportunities.

RFA 4- Landscape-scale maps of terrestrial habitat and ecosystems based on a common mid-level classification framework for the Appalachian LCC region - Word Doc: Most past and current efforts to predict the geographic distribution of current or potential vegetated communities occur at national and regional scales (e.g., LANDFIRE, Gap Analysis Program, Northeast Terrestrial Habitat Mapping Project) and utilize a combination of remotely sensed imagery and mapped environmental and ecological variables. The resulting products, while comprehensive in coverage of the region, are often at a resolution too coarse or a precision too inaccurate to be utilized at the scale of on-the-ground habitat conservation delivery. Land managers and conservation planners need standardized, consistent, and accurate landscape-scale maps of terrestrial habitat and ecosystems based on a common mid-level classification framework. Managers also need mapping products with units developed at a resolution necessary to take into account or respond predictably to successional dynamics and disturbance regimes. Furthermore, mapping products which additionally identify habitat structural characteristics (e.g., canopy cover, layer stratification) are critical to better understanding habitat condition and determining suitability for specific species.

RFA 2 - Development of a stream classification system compatible throughout the Appalachian LCC as a platform to study ecological flow issues - Word Doc: In order to support development of instream flow standards, a classification system for Appalachian aquatic ecosystems is needed. A regional river classification system would allow states and other water resource managers to supplement their own limited data for flow-ecology relationships with information from other areas. Several stream habitat classification efforts have been developed (or are under development) in areas partially overlapping the Appalachian LCC, but these are somewhat different from each other, do not cover the entire Appalachian LCC geographic area, and may or may not meet the needs of resource managers in the Appalachians.

RFA 1 - Inventory and review of ecological flow models and monitoring networks with applicability to Appalachian watersheds - Word Doc: Flow models offer a methodology to predict instream flow using a variety of parameters, and are the best tool available to assist resource managers in making scientifically defensible recommendations and setting sound water resource policy.

RFA - Guidance On What is an LLC Level Activity - Word Doc: Please consider the follow points as guidance in evaluating the adequacy of each potential activity or research investigation as you identify and build the Portfolio elements.

Thematic‐Area (1) Pre‐Existing Tools, Portals, Datasets, Resources: Thematic‐Area (1) Pre‐Existing Tools, Portals, Datasets, Resources

Science Seminar Series - Patch Metrics, Wild Brook Trout, and the Chesapeake Bay: The wild brook trout resource in the Chesapeake Bay has been significantly reduced over the last 150 years and faces ongoing and future threats from climate change, land use changes, invasive species and loss of genetic integrity (Hudy et al. 2008). Monitoring both short and long term trends on individual brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) populations and the resource as a whole are important needs of managers. Past assessments on the 1,443 subwatersheds in the Chesapeake Bay found that 226 had healthy brook trout (intact); 542 had reduced populations and 290 were extirpated (Hudy et al. 2008). However, the subwatershed scale assessment was not fine scale enough to efficiently monitor trends on the ground of interest to many mangers. Standard population estimates using mark-recapture and depletion removal estimates are also not viable for large scale monitoring because of expense, inability to detect trend (i.e. large coefficient in variation), and problems expanding the sample to the entire population. However, fine scale occupancy data (at the catchment level) exist for the majority of the brook trout resource in the Chesapeake Bay. Currently (not counting New York, not completed yet), there are 3,003 catchments containing allopatric brook trout populations; 1,716 catchments containing sympatric populations (with brown or rainbow trout); and 1,966 catchments containing only exotic trout species. We used this fine scale catchment data to identify unique patches of brook trout. We define a "patch" as a group of contiguous catchments occupied by wild brook trout. Patches are not connected physically (separated by a dam, unoccupied warm water habitat, downstream invasive species, etc) and are generally assumed to be genetically isolated. In the Chesapeake Bay there are 868 patches of brook trout habitat with an average patch size of 2,800 ha.