Wyoming Gap Analysis Home Page

Wyoming Gap Analysis Final Report

Table of Contents

Dedication

Executive Summary

Acknowledgments

CHAPTER 1 Introduction

1.1 Background
1.2 Gap Analysis Concept
1.3 Objectives
1.4 State Goals For Gap Analysis
1.5 General Caveats
1.6 How This Report Is Organized
1.7 The Study Area

CHAPTER 2 Land Cover Classification And Mapping

2.1 Background
2.2 Methods
2.2.1 Rationale For Visual Interpretation vs. Digital Classification
2.2.2 Classification System
2.2.3 Imagery Acquisition And Processing
2.2.4 Land Cover Mapping
2.3 Results
2.4 Accuracy Assessment
2.5 Limitations And Discussion
2.6 Summary And Conclusions

CHAPTER 3 Predicted Species Distributions And Species Richness

3.1 Background
3.2 Methods
3.2.1 Criteria For Including Species In WY-GAP
3.2.2 Occurrence Of Species Within Hexagons
3.2.3 Wildlife-Habitat Relationships
3.2.4 GIS Modeling Of Species Habitat And Distributions
3.2.5 Expert Review Of Species Distribution Maps
3.2.6 Edgematching Species Distributions With Adjacent States
3.3 Results
3.4 Accuracy Assessment
3.4.1 Methods
3.4.2 Results
3.5 Limitations And Discussion
3.5.1 Species Distributions Within Hexagons
3.5.2 Habitat Associations And Species Mapping
3.6 Summary And Conclusions

CHAPTER 4 Land Stewardship And Management

4.1 Background
4.2 Methods
4.2.1 Land Ownership
4.2.2 Administrative Units
4.2.3 Management Status
4.3 Results
4.4 Accuracy Assessment
4.5 Limitations And Discussion
4.6 Summary And Conclusion

CHAPTER 5 Analysis Based On Management Status

5.1 Background
5.2 Land Stewardship And Management Status
5.3 Land Cover
5.3.1 Land Cover And Land Stewardship
5.3.2 Land Cover And Management Status
5.4 Terrestrial Vertebrate Species
5.4.1 Species Distributions And Land Stewardship
5.4.2 Species Distributions And Management Status
5.5 Summary And Conclusions

CHAPTER 6 Management Implications And Current Directions

6.1 Management Implications
6.2 Gap Analysis And State-wide Biodiversity Planning
6.3 Current Directions For Gap Analysis In Wyoming

CHAPTER 7 Data Use And Availability

7.1 How To Obtain The Wyoming Gap Analysis Data
7.2 Appropriate And Inappropriate Uses Of Gap Analysis Data
7.2.1 Scale
7.2.2 Appropriate Uses
7.2.3 Inappropriate Uses
7.2.4 Current Uses Of WY-GAP Data
7.3 Metadata
7.4 Disclaimer

LITERATURE CITED

GLOSSARY

Appendices

Appendix 2.1 The WY-GAP land cover classification

Appendix 2.2 Path/row, acquisition date, correction level applied by EOSAT, and resampling technique for satellite imagery

Appendix 2.3 Sources of information used to designate land cover attributes

Appendix 2.4 USGS 1:100,000 scale quadrangles in which the WY-GAP land cover layer was field checked, in whole or part

Appendix 2.5 Example of detailed descriptions of the 41 WY-GAP land cover types A6

Appendix 3.1 Names and affiliations of reviewers participating in the 1994 and/or 1995 reviews of species habitat associations and distributions

Appendix 3.2 Element codes, common names, scientific names, and variables used in modeling the distributions of 445 terrestrial vertebrates

Appendix 3.3 Accuracy assessment of riparian/aquatic model used to predict the distributions of vertebrate species in Wyoming

Appendix 3.3a Example of an atlas description for the 445 terrestrial vertebrates

Appendix 3.3b Example of a distributional map of one of the 445 terrestrial vertebrates

Appendix 4.1 Portions of 1:100,000-scale BLM Surface Management Status maps digitized by BLM (gray shade) and digitized by WY-GAP (unshaded)

Appendix 4.2 Names, dates, and reference codes of 1:100,000-scale BLM Surface Management Status maps from which Wyoming land ownership was digitized

Appendix 4.3 Updates in land ownership to the BLM Surface Management Status maps that were incorporated into the WY-GAP land ownership layer

Appendix 4.4 Flow chart of a dichotomous key developed by NM-GAP and used by WY-GAP for assigning land management status categories to land areas

Appendix 4.5 Administrative units included in the WY-GAP land stewardship database, listed by administering agency, management status, and documentation source

Appendix 5.1 Area (ha) and percent of the 41 WY-GAP land cover types by major stewardship categories and management status categories

Appendix 5.2 Area (ha) and percent of predicted habitat of 445 terrestrial vertebrate species by major stewardship categories and management status categories

Appendix 5.3 State and federal rankings, area (ha), and percent of potential habitat for 445 terrestrial vertebrate species

Appendix 7.1 List of current uses of GAP information

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 Attributes used to describe land cover of each polygon within the WY-GAP land cover map

Table 2.2 Area (ha) of polygons with primary and secondary cover types

Table 3.1 WY-GAP categories used to qualify species occurrence and to predict vertebrate species distributions

Table 3.2 Databases used to document species occurrence within hexagons

Table 3.3 Mean, standard deviation, and sample size (n) of riparian buffer widths measured on TM imagery

Table 3.4 Name, size, elevation, and predominant habitats of the 8 areas used to assess the accuracy of predicted vertebrate species distributions

Table 3.5 Commission errors, omission errors, matches, and percent accuracy of predicted species occurrences

Table 3.6 Comparison of accuracy assessment results for predicted species distributions

Table 4.1 Description of codes used to designate management status to lands in Wyoming

Table 4.2 Management status designated to land stewardship categories in Wyoming

Table 4.3 Area (ha) and percent of land stewardship categories within Wyoming

Table 4.4 Area (ha) and percent of 7 elevation ranges (m) by management status categories

Table 5.1 Area (ha) and percent of land stewardship categories by management status

Table 5.2 Area (ha) and percent of land cover types within land stewardship categories

Table 5.3 Area (ha) and percent of land cover types in management status

Table 5.4 Average percent of the total area (ha) of habitat of taxonomic groups within major land stewardship categories

Table 5.5 Number and percent of species with 0%, > 0-1%, >1-10%, >10-50%, >50% of their potential distribution within management status 1 and 2

Table 5.6 State range, rankings, area (ha) and percent habitat of amphibians and reptiles which have < 1% or < 50,000 ha of their total potential habitat within management status 1 and 2 lands

Table 5.7 State range, rankings, area (ha) and percent habitat of mammals which have < 1% or < 50,000 ha of their total potential habitat within management status 1 and 2 lands

Table 5.8 State range, rankings, area (ha) and percent habitat of birds which have < 1% or < 50,000 ha of their total potential habitat within management status 1 and 2 lands

Table 7.1 Federal geographic data committee's metadata element categories used by the Gap Analysis Program

LIST OF FIGURES AND MAPS

Figure 2.1 Boundaries of TM satellite data

Figure 3.1 Frequency distribution of total vertebrate species richness within hexagons

Figure 3.2 Predicted distribution of total vertebrate species richness within hexagons

Figure 3.3 Frequency distribution of bird, mammal, amphibian and reptile species richness

Figure 3.4 Predicted distribution of bird species richness across Wyoming

Figure 3.5 Predicted distribution of mammal species richness across Wyoming

Figure 3.6 Predicted distribution of amphibian species richness across Wyoming

Figure 3.7 Predicted distribution of reptile species richness across Wyoming

Figure 3.8 Location of 8 areas used to assess the accuracy of predicted species distributions

Figure 3.9 Omission and commission error by area and taxonomic group as a function of park size

Figure 5.1 Percent protected land cover types by mean elevation of land cover types

Figure 5.2 Percent protected habitat by mean elevation for amphibians and reptiles, mammals, and birds

Map 1.1 Major roads, rivers and topographic features in Wyoming

Map 2.1 Land cover types mapped for Wyoming

Map 4.1 Land stewardship for Wyoming

Map 4.2 Management status areas for Wyoming