Abstract

SDSS for Mojave Desert Tortoise Recovery
Track: GeoDesign
Authors: Philip Murphy, Catherine Darst, Nathan Strout

The recovery strategy for the threatened Mojave desert tortoise emphasizes partnerships and science to implement, track, and evaluate recovery. Recovery Implementation Teams, comprised of land managers, stakeholders, and scientists, will work together to prioritize recovery actions on the ground and assess results in a spatial decision support system (SDSS). The SDSS is an interactive system that computes the output of a set of logic and process models (e.g. effects of a threat on a tortoise population) based on underlying spatial databases (e.g. spatial extent of the threat, tortoise population, and management actions). The system incorporates a range-wide geospatial database of current management activities, threats, and tortoise population parameters, providing managers a framework for recognizing and implementing successful recovery actions. This presentation will discuss some of the methods and technology being used in the design and development of this system.