(LEAP) Lake Erie Allegheny Partnership: Conserving Nature for Future Generations

Regional Biodiversity Plan

In 2006, LEAP Regional Biodiversity Plan Committee identified the following Plan purposes:

  • Define a regional conservation vision for the Lake Erie Allegheny Partnership region (including the glaciated lands and waters south of Canada from Sandusky Bay to the Allegheny Mountains, including northeastern Ohio, northwestern Pennsylvania, and western New York);
  • Help guide prioritization of land protection and restoration projects;
  • Consolidate information from various existing plans;
  • Identify information needs; and
  • Clarify implementation roles of various conservation agencies and organizations working in this region.

The definition of a conservation vision and the development of objectives for a Conservation Plan have translated into a number of exploratory steps, including:

  • A study of Comparable Plans from other regions revealed the variety of methodologies that have been utilized for biodiversity planning. As a result, the committee developed a pilot project utilizing NatureServe’s VISTA Conservation Planning software. A Summary Report of this project can be found here.
  • Land cover information was initially provided by NatureServe to cover the Chagrin River Watershed and surrounding Ohio counties, to support the Pilot Project already mentioned. NatureServe has now provided region-wide land cover and continues its association with LEAP to update this land cover. Funds are being sought to support the update and the corresponding land cover that, based on soils and other information, would have been found in the region before European settlement in the 1800s.
  • Committee members are participating in the process of updating the regional land cover classification by providing geo-referenced information and participating in field verification.
  • In early 2009, Dr. Karen Root (Bowling Green University) was invited by the Committee to present her approach to species distribution modeling. Species distribution modeling will be a fundamental element to guide the prioritization of land protection and restoration in the region.
  • Committee members have been putting sustained effort into the collection and organization of biodiversity information. We are considering location, size and quality of communities and species of concern, and threats present and potential to their survival. We are planning a series of intensive meetings with local biodiversity experts to be carried out in 2010. As we gather information on what is known, we are gaining knowledge about the components of biodiversity that have escaped experts attention and become ready to fill in these knowledge gaps.

For further information about the Regional Biodiversity Plan, please contact Rob Curtis.