RCW Foraging Matrix Application
In 1989, the Service published the “Criteria for Defining Foraging Habitat” in the Guidelines for preparation of biological assessments and evaluations for the red-cockaded woodpecker. These guidelines outlined minimum criteria used in determining availability of red-cockaded woodpecker (RCW) foraging habitat. Using a matrix approach, personnel at Fort Bragg later automated the comparison of forest inventory data with these foraging guidelines.
With the second revision of the Red-cockaded Woodpecker (Picoides borealis) Recovery Plan in 2003, revised foraging guidelines were established based on a thorough review of available scientific literature. The new guidelines included both a Recovery Standard and a Standard for Managed Stability. The Fort Bragg foraging habitat matrix was revised by the Clemson Field Office to reflect the new guidelines for the Recovery Standard, but no automated process was developed at that time.
On 3 Feb 2004, RCW researchers, managers, and regulators gathered in Southern Pines, NC to review and refine the foraging habitat matrix. A cooperative effort to automate the foraging habitat matrix followed this meeting with the help of Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc (ESRI), Fort Bragg, U.S. Army Environmental Center, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The result of this effort was the original version of the RCW Foraging Matrix Application. This application was the first attempt to standardize foraging habitat evaluation but allow flexibility to adapt the application to different foraging types, as discussed on pages 189-191 of the recovery plan (2003). However, due to the complexity of loading data into the applications data model, functionality flaws and the incompatibility issues recently discovered with ArcGIS 9.2, it was decided that a new and improved version of the matrix application was needed.
In 2007, Intergraph Corporation approached the USFWS with a solution. Keeping in mind the functionality and feel of the old matrix application, a new version was developed using a slightly different approach. The new application is a toolbar that resides in the ArcMap application named ‘USFWS Tools’. This toolbar allows the user to perform all of the tasks of the original matrix with the addition of some new tools. It is also compatible with ArcGIS 9.2 and the Microsoft 2.0 .NET framework. The most important addition to this toolbar is the ‘Tool Manager’ command. The Tool Manager allows the user to configure the matrix tool to the users live source GIS data. The user is no longer required to load copies of their stand data into a separate geodatabase with the worries of maintaining this data in different locations on the network. Furthermore, the new matrix application only requires one application maintained layer named ‘Matrix_Stands’. The Matrix_Stands layer can reside anywhere on the network and in any geodatabase as long as the user has editing permissions to this layer. What about reports? No more HTML reports that are impossible to print. Now the user has more control over their reports with the help of a Crystal Report viewer.
Foraging Habitat Matrix
The foraging matrix application includes tools to:
- Import existing cavity tree or cluster center points
- Create cluster centers from cavity tree locations
- Create ¼ and ½ mile partitions from cluster centers
- Create 200’ cavity tree buffers
- Create cluster core polygons
- Evaluate stand and partition data against the Recovery Standard and Standard for Managed Stability
- Create reports to summarize these evaluations
- A 'Tool Manager' to configure the matrix to the users source GIS data layers and customize the report cover page
Improved functionality for future iterations of the matrix is already under development and includes:
- Having a project that does not assume total removal of habitat but rather have the user assign values through an interactive process
- Having regional defaults set up that could be chosen through the use of a pull-down menu
