FESTF Gopher: Improving data management, accessibility ... · •Gopher is a password protected,...

FESTF Gopher: Improving data management, accessibility, and use

Ashlea Frank1, Bernalyn McGaughey1, Tilghman Hall2, Lula Ghebremichael3

1Compliance Services International, 2Bayer CropScience, 3Syngenta Crop Protection

American Chemical Society

Boston, MA

August 19-23, 2018

FIFRA Endangered Species Task Force

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An Introduction to FESTF

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The FIFRA Endangered Species Task Force (FESTF), incorporated in 1996, is a pesticide registrant data development task force, comprised of 20 companies, responding to species/proximity data requirements published in a 2000 PR Notice

FESTF has been providing data to the EPA for their evaluation of the effects of pesticides on ESA-listed species for over 20 years and has seen the process evolve


FESTF Data and Work Products

• Are a result of exploration, applied application and data gathering that started even before when the LLC was incorporated in 1996, over 20 years ago

• We’ve also learned what is necessary for data aggregation and delivery. FESTF first designed an Information Management System in early 2000s. The next generation, Gopher, brings a spatial platform and flexibility

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• Aggregated data useful to risk assessment• Species locations, including licensed dataset from

NatureServe• Range maps for FWS using aggregated data

• Pesticide use locations• Species biology, local data and conditions

• Status of Species (SOS) files for FWS, including recovery information


A system to…address the primary challenges to meeting national level risk assessment data needs

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Data change over time

Dissimilar elements

describe one attribute

What is authoritative source?

A system to…consider all available lines of evidence for an accurately informed assessment

http://newsroom.ucr.edu/1573

• Information on species size, behavior, diets, habitats and temporal presence and the relationship of those attributes to pesticide use and toxicity

• Expert knowledge on local conditions and interactions

• Regulatory reports on primary stressors and factors critical to survival and reproduction


FESTF’s New Generation of the IMS

• Gopher is a password protected, web-based tool kit of data related to ESA-listed species, including species-specific conservation efforts and local/regional knowledge

• Provides a way to bring all of it together, tabular and spatial, for input at various stages throughout the process in a stable, and well-documented system

Species range maps

Pesticide Potential Use Distribution

Pesticide Application Information

Listed Species Attributes

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BMP Practices and Measures


Gopher’s GIS Mapping Functionality

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Over 20 tabular and spatial datasets integrated, pre-calculating millions of possible species-use site proximity relationships


Initial Gopher Datasets – Species Locations

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Dataset Name Source

MJD-FESTF NatureServe

NMFS shapefiles supplied to FESTF NMFS

NMFS Salmonids NMFS

FWS Species Range Maps FWS

FWS Critical Habitat FWS

NMFS Critical Habitat NMFS


Initial Gopher Datasets – Use Sites

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Individual crops, single and multi-yraggregation

Crop Groups following OP BE groupings and aggregation

Dataset Name Source

Census of Agriculture USDA

Cropland Data Layer (CDL) USDA

National Land Cover Database (NLCD) USGS

NLCD Alaska USGS

NLCD Hawaii USGS

Crop Groups USDA/CSI

ADCi – (golf courses, parks, schools, etc) ADCi


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Gopher – Co-occurrence and proximity

• Generate co-occurrences based on core species and use site datasets and user-selected taxa, use sites, and locations

• Can set a No Effect Distance to explore various proximity distances and results

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Gopher – Heat Map

• Heat map shows co-occurrence

• Provides a quick visual of areas with highest co-occurrence

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Gopher – Export

• Export co-occurrences and proximities to a Scenario or Excel file to conduct more in-depth analysis

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Gopher – Spatial Data Viewing

• Aggregated Species and Use Site Data Layers are available for viewing

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Element Occurrences from Licensed dataset from NatureServe and NLCD

FWS Everglade snail kite Critical Habitat and CDL


Gopher – Spatial Data Viewing (2)

Allows for dataset comparisons, identify areas needing closer examination such as this area identified as a golf course (ADCi, 2017) but also alfalfa (CDL, 2017)

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Gopher – Spatial Data Exploration• Identify feature, buffer, and measure tools

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BMP enrollment areas

Gopher – Additional Data Layers

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Additional datasets, can added and integrated

http://www.landfire.gov/

Spatial extent of non-crop uses such as conifer seed plantations and forestry

USGS Soils Maps

http://www.landfire.gov/


Gopher – Query Attributes

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Query data from licensed NatureServe dataQuery data from EPA’s

ESKB and additional attributes


Gopher – FWS Status of Species

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Gopher – NMFS Status of Species

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Gopher houses NMFS SOSs from OP BiOpin PDF format


Gopher – ScenariosUsers create Projects to examine different Scenarios, allows focus on national state regional local

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Data Source: NatureServe and its Natural Heritage Member Programs

Toolkit allows users to document findings specific to species, use sites, and/or locations through Maps, Queries, Proximity Calculations, user input/data, and other tools

Query elevation data


Gopher – Dataset Download

• Datasets in system can be downloaded by users with proper access

• Users can upload datasets to be added to the system

• Uploaded datasets go to a Data Steward for review and validation before being added to system

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Gopher - Applications• Gopher can inform and facilitate preparation of USEPA’s endangered species pesticide assessments by bringing efficiency and transparency in a stable and documented system

• Allows analysis at various levels of resolution and considers multiple lines of evidence using best available data– National-level scoping

– State and regional examination

– Local and species-specific analysis

• The flexibility of Gopher allows for further applications such as capturing voluntary measures as a mechanism to better inform the interface of pesticide use and endangered species data

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Gopher – Take-away• Gopher is a web-based, password-protected software developed by FESTF; provides a platform to access and spatially interact with best available datasets related to pesticides and ESA-listed species

• Spatial and tabular data can be viewed, mapped, queried, and exported in various formats

• Can lift species-specific conservation efforts and local/regional knowledge to the national-level

• With data integration platform, can explore opportunities to enhance species recovery while minimizing over-regulation and adverse grower impact in a way that provides transparency

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Thank you for this opportunity and please contact me with any

questions!

7501 Bridgeport Way West – Lakewood, WA 98499

253-473-9007

[email protected]


Ashlea FrankPrincipal Consultant, Compliance Services InternationalTechnical Consultant, FIFRA Endangered Species Task Force

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FESTF Gopher: Improving data management, accessibility ... · •Gopher is a password protected,...

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