Recommended Indicators for the 2015 Assessment

Area of Focus
Special Assessments

These indicators represent the first draft of indicators recommended by UC Davis for use in the 2015 Forests and Rangelands Assessment. Please read and review these indicators for how appropriate they are for use in the 2015 Assessment. Click on each one to review and rank. Feel free to just focus on the ones you think you know the most about. Each indicator listed below comes from a published framework and the codes at the end of each indicator label correspond to the framework. The indicators are organized by category, where each category is a chapter in the Forest and Rangeland Assessment. Three categories/chapters have sub-headings: Sustainable Forestry, Rangelands, and Wildlife, to further organize the indicators. Clicking on the indicator name will take you to a summary page for the indicator, with a link to the Framework from which the indicator originated, a description of the indicator, and a link to the Montreal Process Criterion which the indicator is related to.

Indicators

  • Areas at risk of becoming high hazard Wildland Urban Interface
    Using housing density projections and wildland hazard ratings such as fuel loadings, assess areas most at risk of becoming “bad WUI” -- meaning people and structures exposed to wildland areas with high likelihood of burning.
  • Forest and rangelands at risk of development
    Based on population projections, this indicator highlights areas of forest and rangelands where development is most likely to occur in 5 year intervals. Based on landscape conditions and assets, threatened areas are ranked, to target for conservation measures.
  • Invasive species cover and species proportion
    Certain invasive species (e.g., certain grass species) have long accompanied rangeland because they were planted as feed for domestic animals. Other species have done well in the disturbed environments that can accompany grazing (e.g., in meadows or riparian areas). Because some domestic animals find a wide range of plants palatable, they have also been used to non-chemically control certain weeds.
  • Percent forest land conversion for development, impervious cover
    Converting forest lands to other land cover types (e.g., rural residential) results in loss of plant and animal biodiversity. These effects result from direct loss and fragmentation of habitat.
  • Rangeland ecosystem services
    Rangelands provide certain ecosystem services, the type and degree of which vary with intensity and type of domestic animal grazing. Ecosystem services are processes or attributes of ecosystems that result in benefits for humans. For example, maintenance and enhancement of flowering plants in rangelands could maintain pollinator species that then pollinate nearby flowering crops.