ODFW ~ Conservation Opportunity Areas for Stealing Private Property

8/23/2015

Hey Folks,

In the General Election of 2012, the citizens of Coos County passed a resolution opposing the planned 5,000-acre Bandon Marsh expansion by the USFWS. Many of us contended that The Service was going to use federal, state, and nongovernmental agencies, to do a 17,000-acre expansion.

We were wrong. The expansion is even larger.
Here is a link to an interactive map of areas set for wetland restoration:
http://arcg.is/1OTTqTY

The following is the announcement from Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife concerning possible Conservation Opportunity Areas in the state with maps showing the federal government’s progressive land grab in the Coquille Valley and beyond. It will eventually affect every person living in Coos County…..Rob T.

Subject: RE: Conservation Opportunity Area update: Files on Dropbox

Hello again Conservation Strategists,

We wanted to let you know that the statewide Conservation Opportunity Area (COA) map is now available, including the remaining ecoregions. Arty Rodriguez, ODFW GIS analyst, has put together an updated online interactive map you can view here:

http://arcg.is/1OTTqTY

As before, please circulate this link to your colleagues as you see fit. The technical mapping process is completed, but if you have outstanding questions or comments on the results, please let us know as soon as possible. After next Tuesday August 11th we will have limited ability to make changes as the Strategy workplan turns towards writing the explanatory information for each COA (their “Profiles”), and the final online formatting of the Strategy so that we can complete the update by the October 1 deadline for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

As a brief reminder of the COA update process: We talked about the COA update process at our May 27 meeting. At that time, Arty (with close assistance from The Nature Conservancy and the US Fish and Wildlife Service) had just completed the first computer output using 2015 datasets to model COA boundaries, and we were beginning ODFW Fish and Wildlife District Biologist review. After many review sessions with district biologists throughout Oregon, Arty ran another iteration of the computer model, and the ODFW Conservation Program reviewed the output in detail to finalize the map now available above. The 2015 computer model results; 2005 COAs; and several additional landscape prioritization datasets (ex: TNC Willamette Synthesis and Statewide Portfolio, ODFW Sage-Grouse Core Areas, OWEB Focused Investment Partnership (FIP) areas and Salmon Strongholds provided by ODFW Conservation & Recovery, CHAT Connectivity Zones) were used in this final process to complete the 2015 COA map now available above. The statewide map will be presented at Friday’s Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting in Salem.

Some additional points about the COA update:
·         COAs are areas where we want to focus conservation efforts and funding, with an emphasis on helping Oregon’s private landowners. COA delineations are focused on Conservation Strategy Species and Habitats, and no COA is being selected for an individual species.
·         Clicking on COAs within the web map will bring up potential names for each COA. We are still working on names, and have posted a “working draft” list on Dropbox in case anyone has interest in taking a closer look.
·         The 2005 COAs encompassed ~26% of the state of Oregon. The 2015 version now covers ~%35, which was our estimated maximum allowance for COA coverage.
·         We decided to remove Wilderness Areas from the final COA designations. For the Strategy reader, we can provide links to more information about Wilderness Areas, including mapped information through ODFW’s Compass mapping application. Wilderness Areas helped the desktop analysis identify large blocks of land managed for native habitats, and in many cases COAs are near the boundary of Wilderness Areas. However, it was confusing to try to keep the Wilderness Areas as part of the final COA boundaries. Other public lands are considered depending on the situation. We will explain the role and recommended use of COAs for the Strategy reader through the web application

Thanks all and best wishes that you are getting some time to enjoy the summer.
Best, Audrey

Audrey Hatch
Oregon Conservation Strategy contractor
(541) 207-1038