<div dir="ltr"><div>Sharing information on the results of an independent peer review of the Draft Technical Guidance on Selecting Species for Landscape Scale Conservation have been released. Details below. Please excuse cross-postings.</div>
<div>-Patricia De Angelis/USFWS</div><div><br></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">ABOUT
THE GUIDANCE: </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:12pt">The
Guidance was developed under the direction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service's Strategic Habitat Conservation Executive Oversight Team with
participation by State fish and wildlife agency partners to provide
technical guidance for selecting and using surrogate species as measurable
biological objectives in landscape conservation planning and management. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">ABOUT
THE PEER REVIEW: </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:12pt">The
following five peer reviewers were paneled to represent a range of scientific
expertise including large-scale conservation planning and landscape ecology, as
well as expertise in zoology, botany, aquatic systems, community ecology,
paleoecology and/or evolutionary biology (listed below). Reviewers responded to eight questions concerning the </span><font face="Times New Roman, serif" size="3">role of and </font><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:medium">process for selecting species as conservation targets for designing landscapes capable of supporting </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:medium">sustainable populations of fish and wildlife. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt"><font face="Symbol">-</font></span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">Stephanie
Januchowski-Hartley, PhD from University of Wisconsin at Madison; </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt"><font face="Symbol">-</font></span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">Joshua Lawler,
PhD from University of Washington (Seattle); </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt"><font face="Symbol">-</font></span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">Dennis Murphy,
PhD from University of Nevada at Reno; </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:Symbol">-</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">Maile Neel, PhD
from University of Maryland; and </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-family:Symbol;font-size:16.363636016845703px">-</span><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">James Thorne,
PhD from University of California at Davis</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY: </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:12pt">In
2012, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Service) committed to using
Strategic Habitat Conservation (SHC) as an approach to address the
challenges of the 21st century. As part of implementing that
commitment, the Service distributed a version of the draft Technical Guidance
on Selecting Species for Design of Landscape Scale Conservation
(Technical Guidance) as a practical step in the biological planning
component of the SHC approach. Five external peer reviewers have completed
a formal, independent, external scientific peer review of the latest draft
Technical Guidance. The panel was tasked specifically to review the
scientific information in the Technical Guidance and its practical
application to conservation management. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"> <span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:12pt">The
external peer reviewers generally agreed that the Technical Guidance is missing
key elements and does a poor job of providing scientific support for many
of the statements made within it, although one reviewer was not as
critical as the others. Generally, all reviewers recommended additional, more
detailed discussion of the different types of surrogates (species and
otherwise) and their uses, along with associated discussion of their advantages
and disadvantages, evidence for success, and associated monitoring
requirements. There was disagreement among the reviewers about whether or
not climate change was well-integrated within the document. Every reviewer
included specific recommendations and they were all generally along the
same lines, although some reviewers recommended more significant revisions
than other reviewers. The overall message from the external peer reviewers was
that the document needs significant revision, including better
organization, more focus, and better discussion and inclusion of the
scientific literature. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">NEXT
STEPS: </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:12pt">The
Service is developing a new Scope of Work (SOW) outlining what is needed to
address peer review comments and to finalize the technical document. Once
finalized, the SOW will be posted. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">DOCUMENTS
& INFORMATION: </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;font-size:12pt">The
report, guidance and additional information are available on the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service website as follows:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">Draft
Technical Guidance: </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"><a href="http://www.fws.gov/science/pdf/Draft-Technical-Guidance-on-Selecting-Species-for-Landscape-Scale-Conservation.pdf">http://www.fws.gov/science/pdf/Draft-Technical-Guidance-on-Selecting-Species-for-Landscape-Scale-Conservation.pdf</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">Peer
Review report: </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"><a href="http://www.fws.gov/science/pdf/Final-Summary-Report-Complete-Technical-Guidance-on-Selecting-Species-for-Landscape-Scale-Conservation.pdf">http://www.fws.gov/science/pdf/Final-Summary-Report-Complete-Technical-Guidance-on-Selecting-Species-for-Landscape-Scale-Conservation.pdf</a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif">Strategic
Habitat Conservation: </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman',serif"><a href="http://www.fws.gov/landscape-conservation/">http://www.fws.gov/landscape-conservation/</a> <a name="_GoBack"></a></span></p>
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