Abstract

The Biological Services Program was established within the U.S. Fis h and Wild life Service to supply scientific information and methodolog ies on key environmental issues that impact fish and wi l dli fe reso urces and their supporting ecosystems. The mission of the program is as follows: • To strengthen the Fish and W i l dl i fe Service i n its role as a primary source of information on national f ish and wildlife resources, particularly i n respect to environmental impact assessment. • To gather, analyze, and present info rmation that wi ll aid decisionmakers in the identification and re s ol'uti on of proble ms associated with major changes in land and water use. • To provide bet ter ecological informat ion and eval uat ion for Department of the Interior devel opment programs , such as those relating to energy developme nt. Informat i on developed by t he Biol ogi cal Ser vic es Program i s i nt ended f or use in the planning and decis ionma ki ng process t o prevent or mi nimize the impact of development on f i sh and wi l dli f e. Rese ar ch activ ities and tec hnical assistance services are based on an analysis of t he is sues , a determina tion of t he decisionmake rs invol ved and the i r i nformati on needs, and an evaluat ion of the state of t he art to i den ti fy i nformation Haps and to determine pr iorit ies. This is a st ra t egy t hat wi l l ensure t hat the products produced and di sseminated are t i me ly and useful. Pr oj ect s -have been initiated i n t he followin g areas: coal ext ract ion and convers ion ; power plants; geot hermal , mi neral and oil shal e develo pmen t; wat er reso urce analy sis , i ncl udi ng s tream alterations and west ern water allocation ; coastal ecosystems and Outer Con tinent al Shelf devel opment ; and systems invento ry , inc l uding Na ti onal W etl and Inventory, habitat classi f i cation and anal ysi s, and i nformat i on transfe r . The Biological Servi ces Program cons ists of the Off i ce of Bi ol ogi cal Ser vi ces in W ashingt on. D.C ., wh i ch i s res po nsi bl e for over al l plannin g and ma nagement; Nat .io.nal Teams, whi ch provid e the Program's cent r al scien tifi c I and tec hnical expertise and arrange for contract i ng bi ol o9ica l services studies with states, univer sities, consulting firms , and othe r s; Regiona l Staffs, who provide a link to probl ems at the operating leve l ; and staffs at certain Fish and Wil dli fe Ser vi ce resear ch fa cili t i es , wh o conduct i n-house research stu di es. PREFACE This document is part of the Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) Model Series (FWS/OBS-82/10), which provides habitat information useful for impact assessment and habitat management. Severa 1 types of habi tat i nformat i on are provided. The Habitat Use Information Section is largely constrained to those data that can be used to derive quantitative relationships between key environmental variables and habitat suitability. The habitat use information provides the foundation for HSI models that follow. In addition, this same information may be useful in the development of other models more appropriate to specific assessment or evaluation needs. The HSI Model Section documents a habitat model and information pertinent to its application. The model synthesizes the habitat use information into a framework appropriate for field application and is scaled to produce an index value between 0.0 (unsuitable habitat) and 1.0 (optimum habitat). The application information includes descriptions of the geographic ranges and seasonal application of the model, its current verification status, and a listing of model variables with recommended measurement techniques for each variable. In essence, the model presented herein is a hypothesis of species-habitat relationships and not a statement of proven cause and effect relationships. Results of model performance tests, when available, are referenced. However, models that have demonstrated reliability in specific situations may prove unreliable in others. For this reason, feedback is encouraged from users of this model concerning improvements and other suggestions that may increase the utility and effectiveness of this habitat-based approach to fish and wildlife planning. Please send suggestions to: