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About
MDEP
Background
Land
managers in the Mojave Desert today are faced with multiple
challenges. Expanding economic development causes increased
pressure on natural resources while the public demands objective
and effective management strategies. Diverse groups seek to
achieve conflicting goals that balance multiple demands on
fragile, exhaustible resources. These goals include establishing
and expanding national parks, creating wilderness areas, protecting
threatened and endangered plants and animals, developing recreational
areas, and expanding economic development. Given the projections
for a tripling of the population in the region over the next
twenty years, competition among these interests will increase
resulting in fragmentation of conservation and development
efforts. As a result, land managers must develop programs
that evaluate, monitor, and predict system change including
that caused by human impact. The task for Natural Resource
Managers becomes one of fully understanding the concepts of
natural system processes, integrity, and sustainability and
to present sound scientific results to promote true ecosystem
management. MDEP establishes the foundation for processes
that will allow for the recognition of potential future issues
of a stressed ecosystem.
Where
We Were
To achieve the task of management at an ecosystem level, obtaining
and gaining access to the large, diverse amounts of data on
the system becomes crucial to establishing a baseline of ecosystem
health. Enormous amounts of Mojave Desert ecosystem data have
been gathered by a wide variety of federal, state, local,
and private agencies. These data represent a wide variety
of issues and topics and were collected at many different
scales. However, inaccessibility and incompatibility are issues
that prevent integration and widespread use of these data.
On
the Right Path
Accurate,
readily available data describing the dynamics of ecosystem
processes provides land managers with the ability to choose
appropriate management solutions that minimize unexpected
and undesirable outcomes. To be useful, this data must be
available to all land managers on an equal basis, in a timely
fashion, and in a form that is directly relevant and accessible
to their management activities. Today, increased information
storage capabilities and advances in computer networking provide
a means to organize, access, and distribute large quantities
of data. The Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program provides this
capability. It is a tool that enables informed decision making
for sustainable land management across an entire ecoregion.
This area spans more than 80,000 square miles. MDEP has emerged
as a multi-agency cooperative effort that transcends both
administrative and geopolitical boundaries.
Innovative
Solution
The
joining of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Internet
technologies has provided unique circumstances for expanding
interaction among MDEP partners. Attaining the level of data
sharing implicit in this program requires the development
and implementation of a dynamic, region wide, scientific database
and electronic delivery system accessible by everyone entrusted
with responsibility for long-term resource planning. This
has been accomplished through the innovative implementation
of two basic components: (1) an interconnected distributed
automation system, electronically linked using Internet resources;
and (2) a series of comprehensive and fully integrated environmental
spatial data sets that span the Mojave Desert ecoregion. This
system has broken new ground by extending the functionality
of geospatial data server technology. The design and implementation
of this solution allows for user interaction with unique,
up to date data, which pushes the limits of both temporal
and spatial initiatives at the ecosystem scale.
The Spatial Database
To address the issue of disparate data sets developed using
a multitude of standards and formats, MDEP developed and designed
an Internet Map Server and a queryable computer database,
which provides land managers access to a series of comprehensive
spatial data sets that are seamless and fully integrated.
The coverage of these data sets spans the entire ecoregion,
as defined by Bailey, covering some 44,000 square miles. An
additional 50-km buffer around the perimeter has been included
to accommodate broader interpretations of the ecoregion. Thus,
the total area of coverage (Bailey ecoregion plus 50-km buffer)
spans approximately 80,000 square miles. Federal Geographic
Data Committee (FGDC) standards define the parameters upon
which data sets are constructed, supports usability, and ensures
the facile incorporation of new data. Additionally, MDEP,
in cooperation with its partners, developed comprehensive
data standards for the sharing and transfer of data sets among
partners thereby increasing efficiency of efforts related
to the ecoregion. This comprehensive spatial database, that
constitutes the foundation of the MDEP, includes the Mojave
elevation database with its derivative products of shaded
relief, slope, and aspect. Integrated with this coverage are
ancillary data sets for the transportation infrastructure,
USGS topographic quadrangle boundaries, land ownership designations,
and place and feature names. Additional databases that are
also fully integrated with the elevation database throughout
the ecoregion include vegetation, bedrock geology, soils,
hydrology, climate, and mines-prospects-minerals potential.
Earthquake and other data are provided through Internet links.
Remotely sensed imagery is available in three platforms and
includes Landsat Thematic Mapper-Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics
(TM-MRLC), Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner-North American Land
Characterization (NALC), and NOAA-Advanced Very High Resolution
Radiometer (AVHRR) Composites. The original database, containing
35 gigabytes of data, has expanded to 500 gigabytes over the
last three years as a result of data contributions by MDEP
partners.
Conclusion
The Mojave Desert Ecosystem Program is a significant effort
to compile and integrate a very large body of spatial and
temporal information covering approximately 80,000 square
miles. It is the first of its kind to organize a detailed,
environmentally oriented, digital geographic database set
over an entire ecoregion. As articulated in the accomplishments
outlined above, MDEP is instrumental in providing dynamic,
sustainable, land management decision-making at the ecosystem
level. Its numerous geospatial databases and partnerships,
developed throughout the implementation of the program, provides
land managers in the region a platform from which to successfully
sustain long-term mission accomplishment in the face of encroachment,
funding uncertainties, and deteriorating natural resources.
The
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Any questions, comments or concerns about this website please
email: webmaster@mojavedata.gov
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