Geographic extent. Partners are expected to select sample sites across the full geographic extent where conservation measures are implemented. Plots should not be limited to a small portion of the Partners operating region, within a single project, or otherwise not distributed throughout the extent where conservation measures are being implemented. Sample plots expected for effectiveness monitoring will consist of a plot 1,500 square feet (sf) in size, sampled as either a 150 feet long x 10 feet wide transect, or a 22-foot radius circle. This plot size aligns with other current monarch habitat monitoring protocols, including methodologies developed by Monarch Joint Venture and UIC’s Rights-of-Way as Habitat Working Group that are recommended as supplemental monitoring (Xxxxxxxx and Xxxxxxxx pers. comm. 2018). Both the Monarch Joint Venture’s Roadside Habitat for Monarchs Evaluation Tool (Monarch Joint Venture 2019b) and UIC’s Rights-of-Way as Habitat Working Group Pollinator Habitat Scorecard (UIC 2019) use milkweed and potentially flowering nectar plant cover as part of their protocols. This overlap allows Partners to incorporate these more robust monitoring protocols, if they wish. The following monitoring protocols are adapted from the Monarch Joint Venture’s Roadside Habitat for Monarchs assessment protocol for roadsides (NCHRP; Monarch Joint Venture 2019b). This protocol was modified so that it would apply across transportation and energy lands of varying size and configuration. We further modified it to ensure that it would yield information necessary for effectiveness and compliance monitoring in this Agreement.
Geographic extent. 3.1 The Deliverables provided to the Local Government apply only for those parcels of land located within the following geographic extents:
Geographic extent. Each Partner manages lands across a geographic extent ranging across intra or interstate boundaries. Partners are expected to select representative sites across the full geographic extent where conservation measures are implemented. A defined sample area is important for maintaining consistency amongst Partners and adhering to the rationale regarding percent cover and associated densities or cover targets included in the minimum habitat requirements. Without conducting effectiveness in such a defined manner, the two monitoring variables would cease to have any consistent data amongst Partners, or value in assessing the presence of suitable habitat on adopted acres. Sample plots expected for effectiveness monitoring will consist of a plot 1,500 square feet (sf) in size, sampled as either a 150 feet x 10 feet wide transect, or a 22-foot radius plot area. This plot size aligns with other monarch survey protocols currently, and potentially, used by interested Partners. It is also consistent with monarch habitat methodologies developed by Monarch Joint Venture and UIC’s Rights-of-Way as Habitat Working Group that are recommended as supplemental monitoring (Xxxxxxxx and Xxxxxxxx pers. comm. 2018). If sampling as a single random, representative plot, the observer must randomly select a 22-foot radius plot area within an area representative of the habitat condition being evaluated. For large or variable sites, several randomly selected sample plots can be sampled, then averaged to yield a cumulative average result. If sampling a larger area, we recommend using a method similar to that outlined by the Monarch Joint Venture’s draft rapid assessment protocol for roadsides, funded by the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP; Monarch Joint Venture in development). The adapted guidelines are considered to be recommendations for individuals conducting such sampling (Xxxxxxxx pers comm. 2018). These guidelines have been modified here to make them applicable across both transportation and energy lands of varying size and configuration:
