February 29, 2008

Center for Lanscape Analysis: Celebrating 20 Years of Spatial Analysis in Wildland Conservation

In the late 1980s the use of geographic information systems (GIS) analysis and satellite image analysis were not common and indeed rare in the conservation community.  Yet the power of spatially analyzing the distribution, condition and relationships of natural resources and human infrastructure on the land for conservation science was clear to a growing number of scientists – including staff at TWS.

Today, The Wilderness Society through our Center for Landscape Analysis (CLA) is celebrating 20 years of applying GIS and remote sensing to study natural resources and threats to them as well as to design solutions to wildland conservation challenges.  CLA has applied its resources to achieve successes on a range of topics around the country.  Staff classify wildland fire management zones and craft scientifically-based prescriptions for wildland fire management on national forests.  Habitat fragmentation from roads and off road vehicles is measured and used to understand the impacts on wildlife and habitat and used to craft prescriptions for transportation planning on national forests and BLM lands.  Spatial build-out scenario technology is used to project ecological impacts of oil and gas development as well as graphically illustrate proposed development on wildlands.  Techniques were developed to map the degree of wildness of lands across the United States for education and conservation planning.

The results of our work are distributed through products ranging from technical reports, to comments on federal land planning documents, to educational maps and graphic products.  CLA staff work closely with our other scientists, regional conservation planners and public policy experts to produce scientific products that are relevant to ongoing land conservation issues.  We look forward to the next 20 years of bringing new spatial analysis techniques to land conservation and management challenges.

Examples of recent CLA work:

• New methods for mapping wildland fire management zones
• Maps of biological resources threatened by off road vehicle routes for travel planning in California national forests 
• Habitat fragmemtation analysis to predict threats to wildlife from oil and gas development in western Wyoming

For more information, contact Dr. Janice Thomson, Ph.D.

Photo:  Map of mule deer migration pattern in the Pinedale Resource Management Area from Wildlife at a Crossroads: Energy Development in Western Wyoming, Effects of Roads on Habitat in the Upper Green River Valley

 Meet Janice Thomson

Dr. Janice Thomson is the head of the Center for Landscape Analysis at The Wilderness Society.  Her experience in remote sensing and GIS has been brought to bear on many types of landscape analysis projects over her 15 years with the organization.  Her focus in recent year is on the impacts of roads, ORVs, and oil and gas development on habitats and wildlife.  Dr. Thomson’s work involves spatial analysis of habitat fragmentation from different types of infrastructure and spatial build-out analysis of oil and gas developments.  The work quantitatively assesses the impacts of existing and future infrastructure on wildlife and their habitat.  It contributes to a variety of presentations and publications aimed at changing the way the federal agencies use science to assess the impact of proposed management actions and protect wildlands.  Dr. Thomson also manages the work of CLA and aims to expand the application and effectiveness of GIS and related spatial technologies at The Wilderness Society.

Dr. Thomson received her M.S. and Ph.D. at Dartmouth College in geology specializing in remote sensing and spectral analysis.  She also worked at the Environmental Protection Agency's national lab, the Environmental Monitoring and Systems Laboratory.

Selected publications:

Didier K. and J.L. Thomson.  2007.  Habitat Fragmentation and Connectivity, a chapter in:  Sourcebook on Remote Sensing and Biodiversity Indicators, Eds. H. Strand, R. Hoft, J. Strettholt, L. Miles, N. Horning, E. Fosnight and W Turner.  Prepared by the NASA-NGO Biodiversity Working Group and UNEP-WCMC for the Convention on Biological Diversity, CBD Technical Series 32, 2007, 203p.

Thomson, J.L., Schaub, T.S., Culver, N.W., and Aengst, P.C. 2005. Wildlife at a Crossroads: Energy Development in Western Wyoming, Effects of Roads on Habitat in the Upper Green River Valley. The Wilderness Society: Washington, DC. 40 p.

Thomson, J.L., Hartley, D.A., Ozarski, J.N., Murray, K. and Culver, N.W. 2004, Protecting Northern Arizona’s National Monuments: The Challenges of Transportation Management.  The Wilderness Society, Washington, DC. 48 p.

Hartley, D., J. Thomson, P. Morton, and E. Schlenker-Goodrich .2003. Ecological Effects of a Transportation Network on Wildlife: A Spatial Analysis of the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. Ecological Analysis. Washington, DC, The Wilderness Society.

Thomson, J.L. D. A. Hartley, G. H. Aplet, and P.A. Morton, 2000, Assessing Interconnections Between Wilderness and Adjacent Lands:  The Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah.  Wilderness Science in a time of Change Conference, USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-15-Vol-2, p. 153-165.

Aplet, G.A., J.L. Thomson, and M. Wilbert, 2000, Indicators of Wildness:  Using Attributes of the Land to Assess the Context of Wilderness. Wilderness Science in a time of Change Conference, USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-15-Vol-2, p. 89-98.

For more information, contact Dr. Janice Thomson, Ph.D.

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