Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Wyoming
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

The main goal of this project is to construct a tool that can be used to rank the vulnerability of Wyoming's wildlife species to energy development in a rigorous, replicable, and transparent way. This vulnerability assessment will be conducted so that management agencies and conservation groups can quantitatively assess statewide impacts to wildlife from energy development (and similar disturbances) and identify appropriate conservation options. The assessment will target species that have been identified by state and federal agencies as being of management concern in Wyoming, but which have not been the focus of prior landscape-level research relating to energy development. Primary objectives are to: 1) Construct the framework of a vulnerability assessment tool; 2) identify species at potential risk from development; 3) analyze the biological sensitivity of species that are at risk; 4) analyze the ecological impacts of disturbance on species that are at risk; and 5) validate sensitivity and impact analyses with field data. Initiation of Task 1: Task 1, Vulnerability Assessment Tool, will be initiated by an academic research professional employed by the University of Wyoming. This individual will conduct a literature review of possible techniques, assess alternatives, and provide a skeleton for a systematic assessment tool that will be more fully constructed and refined as the project progresses. A written report will be made available to the principal investigators and interested parties (e.g., resource managers, conservation biologists, land use planners, etc.) This phase of Task 1 will require 3 months of effort spread over 1 year. The work will be initiated upon completion of research work order from the U.S. Geological Survey to the University of Wyoming and the employment of an academic research professional at the University of Wyoming, hopefully by November 1, 2007. This phase of Task 1 will be completed by December 31, 2008. 4/23/2008: . Primary objectives are to: 1. Identify species at potential risk from development 2. Analyze the biological sensitivity of species that are at risk 3. Analyze the ecological impacts of disturbance on species that are at risk 4. Validate sensitivity and impact analyses with field data