RCN PHASE 2; PROJECT 4 FOUNDATIONAL TOOLS AND SWAP COORDINATION; JOB 1 NORTHEAST LEXICON UPDATE

OBJECTIVE: 

Project 4 will conduct three investigations by 2023 that are necessary for the revision of the 2025 State Wildlife Action Plans. These investigations will examine landscape status, conservation projects, and best practices established over the past decade of SWAP implementation and create products that will inform all elements of 2025 Northeast SWAP revisions. 

·      Job 1 – Development and production of the 2022 Northeast Lexicon

·      Job 2 – Development and production of the 2023 Northeast Conservation Synthesis

·      Job 3 – Development and production of the 2022 Northeast Conservation Status Assessment

All jobs will be implemented via subcontracts with oversight from the Northeast State Wildlife Action Plan Coordinator Subcommittee or Northeast Fish and Wildlife Diversity Technical Committee. Job approaches are detailed below. 

Job 1. Development and production of the 2022 Northeast Lexicon (i.e., Northeast Lexicon Update)

Project Leader:  Cathy Haffner (chaffner@pa.gov)

Job 1 will use a three-phased approach that builds consensus across all 13 states and the District of Columbia and culminates with an updated 2022 Lexicon ready for application in 2025 SWAP revisions. Throughout this Job, the Subcontractor will provide brief updates as requested by the Northeast Fish and Wildlife Diversity Technical Committee or SWAP Coordinator Subcommittee. Additionally, progress will be reported at the annual NEAFWA Conference in April 2022 and 2023 and annual NEFWDTC meeting in September 2021 and 2022. The project Work Group (NEFWDTC and SWAP committee reps) will meet, as needed, throughout the year.

a.       Phase 1 – Scoping

A project Work Group of representatives from the NEFWDTC and SWAP Coordinators Subcommittee will be identified and will meet during a series of calls at an interval mutually agreed upon to meet project objectives, between contract execution and January 2022. Meetings will be coordinated by the subcontractor. The output of this phase will be an agreement of expectations for the 2022 lexicon in January of 2022.

To complete this scoping phase by 31 December 2021, the Subcontractor will:

·         Lead SWAP Coordinators in reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of the 2013 Lexicon;

·         Identify conservation best practices that have emerged since the 2013 Lexicon;

·         Consider limiting factors and other advancements related to Regional Species of Greatest Conservation Need;

·         Assist SWAP Coordinators in determining new goals for regional collaboration that the Lexicon can support;

·         Compile existing standards with which the Lexicon should align.

b.      Phase 2 – Research and Development

Tasks will be conducted following the scoping phase, January-March 2022. To complete this research and development phase by 31 March 2022, the Subcontractor will:

·         Iteratively update the Lexicon to reflect updated information identified in the agreement of expectations;

·         Crosswalk new Lexicon data fields with existing standards;

·         Develop new Lexicon data fields within the 8 Required Elements of State Wildlife Action Plans or any new functions needed to support new regional collaboration goals.

c.       Phase 3 – Documentation and Delivery

The Subcontractor will provide the following deliverables by 30 September 2022 to complete this Job:

•        Final documentation and updated Lexicon;

•        Summary crosswalk of Lexicon versions;

•        Lexicon summary provided on northeastwildlifediversity.org;

•        Lexicon fact sheet;

Data templates in Microsoft Excel or Access.