Multi-disciplinary assessment of Wyoming resources to support management

Increased domestic energy production, renewable energy development, and mandates to manage for multiple uses collectively present complex challenges for land and resource managers in southwestern Wyoming.  As part of the science and technical support effort for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI) we developed an integrated assessment to inform planning and decision-making in the WLCI area with a focus on informing habitat enhancement and conservation decisions.  The assessment is an integrated analysis of WLCI priority resources based on the best available data and information.  Resources assessed include WLCI partner priority areas, water resources, WLCI focal habitats, wildlife, energy and mineral development, roads, invasive plants, and potential for future change associated with development and climate.  The integrated assessment summarizes information by watershed into an overall index using a transparent and hierarchical framework.  The framework is designed to allow users to decompose summary scores and evaluate individual resources.  In addition to supporting landscape-scale conservation planning and evaluation, the integrated assessment is a data and information resource for addressing specific agency management questions.  The integrated assessment and the supporting data used to build the assessment are currently available through a web application.