[APWG] WEB: CalWeedMapper - invasive plant mapping
Olivia Kwong
plant at plantconservation.org
Tue Mar 6 17:14:50 CST 2012
---------- Forwarded message ----------
CalWeedMapper is a new website for mapping invasive plant spread and
planning regional management strategies
(calweedmapper.calflora.org<http://calweedmapper.calflora.org/>). Users
generate a report for their region that synthesizes information into three
types of strategic opportunities: surveillance, eradication and
containment. Land managers can use these reports to prioritize their
invasive plant management, to coordinate at the landscape level (county or
larger) and to justify funding requests. For some species, CalWeedMapper
also provides maps of suitable range that show where a plant might be able
to grow in the future. The system was developed by the California Invasive
Plant Council (Cal-IPC, http://www.cal-ipc.org<http://www.cal-ipc.org/>)
and is designed to stay current by allowing users to edit data.
The Calweedmapper website displays data on all 200 invasive plant species
from Cal-IPC's statewide Inventory. These data combine two sources:
interviews with invasive plant experts and occurrence information from
Calflora and the Consortia of California Herbaria (CCH). The maps show
abundance, spread and management status for each species, displayed by
USGS quadrangle.
Users can generate reports in pdf format based on a selected region or
species. The Regional Management Opportunity Report provides a summary
table of information for all plants that present opportunities for
management in the selected region. The Regional Species Report provides a
map that illustrates the plant's spatial distribution in the region. These
reports are designed to help land managers prioritize and fund their work.
Cal-IPC is working with several regions to develop strategic management
plans using the information from CalWeedMapper. Contact us at mapping at
cal-ipc.org<mailto:mapping at cal-ipc.org> for more information.
This dynamic tool allows users to comment on and update abundance, spread
and management information. Also, any new occurrence data submitted to
either Calflora or CCH will update the data in CalWeedMapper. As a
result, the maps will show current information.
To show where a given plant is most likely to spread, CalWeedMapper also
displays suitable range based on climate. Computer models were used to
generate suitable range for some plant species based on where they
currently grow. The maps show the areas that contain suitable range based
on climate conditions in 2010 and 2050. These maps can help land managers
with climate adaptation planning and preparing for the movement of new
invasive plants into their region.
More information about the APWG
mailing list