U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2004-3030

March 2004

Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin

Geographic Information System Tools for Conservation Planning

History 

Conservation planning is a high 

priority for many Federal agencies. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

(FWS) is currently developing 

Comprehensive Conservation Plans 

(CCP) for all National Wildlife 

Refuges, the National Park Service is 

developing Inventory and Monitoring 

Networks for all Parks, and the 

National Forest Service continually 

revises forest management plans. 

These agencies are charged 

with providing for wildlife and 

habitat concerns and need ways 

to incorporate landscape, species, 

and habitat relations into their 

conservation planning. Computerized 

decision support systems (DSS) 

provide a means for organizing 

existing geographical, physical, and 

biological data for better management 

of natural resources.

What USGS has done

For over a decade, the USGS 

Upper Midwest Environmental 

Sciences Center (UMESC) has 

been developing DSS tools for 

conservation planning: (http://

www.umesc.usgs.gov/dss.html)

Recently, UMESC has focused 

on the development of geographic 

information systems DSS tools 

to assist FWS regional refuge 

planners and refuge staff in the 

CCP process for lands managed by 

the FWS. These tools allow you to 

rapidly determine characteristics of 

the landscape based on presumed 

relations between species and 

habitats. You can summarize in 

tables, charts, and maps and include 

measures of potential species 

occurrence, potential species richness, 

and the area and proportion of land 

Zone map produced by the decision support system tool showing areas of high potential species 

richness for birds of high conservation concern in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Region 3.

cover types. The tools can calculate 

results for areas ranging from small 

local management units to large 

states or Bird Conservation Regions. 

The tools also allow managers to 

compare the conservation potential 

of local management units with that 

of the surrounding county, state, or 

ecoregion. 

The newest conservation planning 

tool is available on the Internet 

and is designed to summarize land 

cover and bird survey data across 

the continental United States. An 

interactive map allows users to 

visualize and download land uses for 

counties and bird counts obtained 

through the North American Breeding 

Bird Survey (BBS) for areas such 

as Federal lands, counties, states, 

and other geographic divisions. A 

visitor to the Web site can select a 

Decision support tools help managers protect 

bird populations for the enjoyment of future 

generations.
specifi c location and calculate the 

number of bird species observed 

on BBS routes near the selected 

location. For instance, you can obtain 

information on the amount of forest 

within a county and the number of 

golden-winged warblers counted by 

the BBS within or near the county. 

The UMESC now has a set of DSS 

planning tools that will improve the 

objectivity of conservation planning 

at geographic scales ranging from 

local to continental.

Result

The conservation planning tools 

described above have been used 

by Federal and state managers 

responsible for natural resources 

as diverse as the Upper Mississippi 

River System, the Columbia River, 

the St. Croix National Scenic 

Riverway, the Great Lakes, Acadia 

National Park, the Everglades 

ecosystem, and several FWS refuges. 

Land cover maps representing different types of wildlife habitat at Crab Orchard National Wildlife 

Refuge are shown above. These maps represent current conditions and projected future conditions based on a set of targeted management plans.

A primary function of the DSS tools 

is to help managers prioritize both 

species and habitats that are most in 

need of management action. These 

tools allow managers to review 

a set of alternative management 

actions and quantify or visualize 

the effects of these actions on 

species of conservation concern. 

The tools are especially useful if 

stakeholders disagree about the 

benefi ts of alternative management 

scenarios. Maps, tables, and charts 

help explain to the public the 

predicted consequences of alternative 

management actions. 

For more information, contact

Melinda Knutson

608.781.6339

mknutson@usgs.gov

or

Jason Rohweder

608.781.6228

jrohweder@usgs.gov

USGS Upper Midwest Environmental 

Sciences Center

2630 Fanta Reed Road

La Crosse, WI 54603

http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/

Management agencies such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service use decision support system 

tools to set priorities for management.