Work Plan for the Wildlife Component

Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) National Assessment

CEAP Wetlands Component - Biodiversity results

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is working with a variety of partner agencies and groups to develop methods for reporting changes in wetland ecosystem services resulting from conservation practices (e.g., wetland restoration) supported by USDA conservation programs. The objective of the CEAP Wetlands Component is to provide one-time regional measures of wetland ecosystem services "before" and "after" implementing wetland conservation practices. It also in­volves development of predictive wetland functional condition models to periodically assess changes in wetland ecosystem services nationally. Ecosystem services to be modeled include those related to water quality, sediment deposition, flood storage, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity.

Initial regional modeling efforts in the Prairie Pothole Region of the northern Great Plains and Mississippi Alluvial Valley show promise for developing a standardized approach capable of capturing the change in wetland ecosystem services associated with conservation practices while controlling for climatic variation and the resulting shifts in wetland biotic and abiotic condi­tions.  These initial efforts are expected to yield biodiversity elements (modeling of local amphibian populations and waterbird habitat potential) useful in describing the wildlife response to wetland res­toration and other practices.  This and other output from the CEAP Wetlands Component assessments are expected to contribute significantly to the Wildlife Component objectives of quantifying wildlife benefits to conservation practices.

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