Caribbean LCC Workshop

October 30 and 31, 2012

Agenda and Presentations

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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

7:30-8:30 Registration and coffee. Handing out Workshop Pre-Assessment Form

8:30 Welcome, key points about objectives of these two days
Edwin Muñiz, Field Supervisor, Caribbean Ecological Services Field Office, USFWS

8:45 The Vision – Where is FWS Headed with this and Why
Cindy Dohner, Regional Director Southeast Region, USFWS

9:00 A Conservation Conversation
Cindy Dohner
Daniel Galán, Secretary PR Department of Natural and Environmental Resources

9:15 Evolving to Meet the Challenges – Landscape-scale Conservation and the Role of Selecting Species
Leopoldo Miranda, Assistant Regional Director, Southeast Region Ecological Services, USFWS

9:45 Break

10:00 Caribbean Landscape Conservation Cooperative
Bill Gould, Coordinator, Caribbean Landscape Conservation Cooperative
Steering Committee Members

11:00 Concepts Behind Selecting Target Species for Landscape-scale Conservation
Bob Ford, USFWS
Bill Uihlein, USFWS
Ed Laurent, American Bird Conservancy

11:45-12:45 Lunch on your own

12:45 Report on Pre-assessment and Questions from Morning Session
Laura Brandt and Bob Ford, USFWS

1:00 - 4:00 Draft Technical Guidance on Selecting Species for Design of Landscape-scale Conservation
Marelisa Rivera, Caribbean Ecological Services Field Office, USFWS – Moderator

1:00 Steps 1-3: Objectives, Scale, and Determining Which Species
Step 1: Develop and clearly specify management or conservation objectives for the surrogate species approach.
Step 2: Identify geographic scale.
Step 3: Determine which species to consider in the identified landscape.
Laura Brandt, Bob Ford, Ed Laurent USFWS (Joint ES and NWR) – Rafael Gonzalez
Examples from the Caribbean Steps 1-3

2:00 Steps 4 - 7: Criteria for Establishing Surrogates, Which Species Require Special Attention, and Population Objectives
Step 4: Decide which criteria to use in determining surrogate species.
Step 5: Establish surrogate Species.
Step 6: Identify species requiring special attention.
Step 7: Identify population objectives.
Laura Brandt, Bob Ford, Ed Laurent
USFWS (Joint ES and NWR) – Ricardo Colon Examples from the Caribbean Steps 4-7

3-3:30 Break

3:30 Steps 8 - 10: Addressing Logic and Consistency, Knowledge Gaps and Uncertainties, and the Critical Need to State Assumptions Clearly to Drive Monitoring and Research Needs
Step 8: Test for logic and consistency
Step 9: Identify knowledge gaps and uncertainties
Step 10: Monitor the effectiveness of the approach
Laura Brandt
Bob Ford
Ed Laurent
USFWS (Joint ES and NWR) – Jose Cruz and Ivan LLerandi, Examples from the Caribbean Steps 8-10

4:30 Providing Feedback on the Draft Technical Guidance
Stacy Shelton, Public Affairs Specialist, USFWS

4:45 Summary of Day 1 and Introduction to Objectives for Day 2
Ana Román, Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge, USFWS

5:00 Adjourn

Adjourn for the Day

Wednesday, October 31

8:00 Recap of Day 1, Insights and Consternations, Introduction to Next Section and Hand Out Post-assessment
Susan Silander, Caribbean Island NWR Complex Project Leader, USFWS

8:30-12:00 Existing Efforts to Select Species and Set Conservation Targets

8:30 Puerto Rico Efforts to Select Species and Set Conservation Targets
Miguel Garcia, Department of Natural and Environmental Resources

9:00 Forest Service Efforts to Select Species and Set Conservation Targets
Pedro Rios, U.S. Forest Service

9:30 USFWS Region 4 Efforts to Select Species and Set Conservation Targets
Bob Ford and Bill Uihlein

10:00 Turn in Post-assessment, Break

10:15 Break Out Groups for Discussion
Moderator – Marelisa Rivera
Group Leaders – José Cruz, Iván Llerandi, Mike Barandiaran, Ed Laurent, Laura Brandt and Stacy Shelton

11:15 Report Back and Panel Discussion; Report Post Assessment

11:45 Next Steps and Continuing the Conversation and Engagement
Cindy Dohner
Daniel Galan

12:15 Closing Thoughts: Questions, Comments, Feedback from Participants/Evaluation Summary
Adjourn Surrogate Species Training/Workshop

1:30-4:30 Caribbean Landscape Conservation Cooperative Steering Committee Meeting: Governance and Research Priorities. This meeting will be limited to CLCC Steering Committee Members and RO Staff.

In Your Words: Videos Featuring Thoughts from Attendees

All videos are presented in both English and Spanish.

Ricardo Colon-Merced, a biologist at Calebra National Wildlife Refuge, talks about how he expects surrogate species to impact his work.

Yogani Govender, Manager of Science, Education and Public Policy for The Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico, explains how identifying surrogate species will make it easier to work with a database of about 650 species.

Sandra Ortiz, Visitor Services Specialist at Vieques National Wildlife Refuge, says the surrogate species workshop helped her understand the Service is not trying to reinvent the wheel.

Marelisa Rivera, Assistant Field Supervisor for the Caribbean Ecological Services Field Office, explains where surrogate species fits in the Strategic Habitat Conservation framework.

Luis Santiago, Assistant Regional Director for Law Enforcement, talks about his program’s role in selecting surrogate species to design functional landscapes.

List of Participants

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Pre- and Post-Assessment Results

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