arizona state wildlife action plan 2012 2022 wildlife restoration. under title vi of the 1964 civil

ARIZONA’S

STATE WILDLIFE ACTION PLAN:

2012 - 2022

Arizona Game and Fish Department

5000 West Carefree Highway

Phoenix, Arizona 85086-5000

16 May 2012

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CIVIL RIGHTS AND DIVERSITY COMPLIANCE

The Arizona Game and Fish Commission receives federal financial assistance in Sport Fish and

Wildlife Restoration. Under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Section 504 of the

Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Age

Discrimination Act of 1975, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the U.S.

Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national

origin, age, sex, or disability. If you believe you have been discriminated against in any program,

activity, or facility as described above, or if you desire further information please write to:

Arizona Game and Fish Department

Office of the Deputy Director, DOHQ

5000 W Carefree Hwy

Phoenix, Arizona 85086

and

The Office for Diversity and Civil Rights

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

4040 North Fairfax Drive, Room 300

Arlington, Virginia 22203

AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT COMPLIANCE

The Arizona Game and Fish Department complies with all provisions of the Americans with

Disabilities Act. This document is available in alternative format by contacting the Arizona

Game and Fish Department, Office of the Deputy Director at the address listed above or by

calling (623) 236-7290 or TTY 1-800-367-8939.

RECOMMENDED CITATION

Arizona Game and Fish Department. 2012. Arizona’s State Wildlife Action Plan: 2012-2022.

Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, Arizona.

PROJECT FUNDING

Funding for the development of this strategic plan was provided by a State Wildlife Grant

Program Planning Grant and the Arizona Heritage Fund.

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FOREWARD

Arizona’s State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP) is more than just another planning document. It is

the product of eight years of collaborative work conducted by the Arizona Game and Fish

Department and many of our partners in the conservation community. The first two of those

years occurred during the development of the first rendition of the plan, a document known as

Arizona’s Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy, or CWCS. During that time, the

Department, assisted by many of our key partners, undertook the daunting task of developing a

comprehensive wildlife conservation strategy for the state. This was done in concert with all the

other states and territories of the United States who were developing similar plans.

Following the eight elements required by Congress, those involved in the development of the

CWCS completed what could arguably be called the most comprehensive statewide analysis of

the condition of Arizona’s wildlife and habitats. The group developed criteria for identifying

Arizona’s Species of Greatest Conservation Need, or SGCN; they described the landscape of

Arizona, including descriptions of the habitat types and conditions of those habitats across the

state; they examined the status of the state’s SGCN, identified stressors to those species, and

most importantly, they identified actions that could be taken to address those stressors.

The final document came in at 564 pages, plus another 271 in appendices. The products of that

effort were made available on the Department’s web page in chapters that were useful to our

partners, including the State’s SGCN list, information on the habitats associated with the SGCN,

a list of stressors, and actions that can be taken to address those stressors. During the six years

since the plan was approved, the information contained in the CWCS was used to inform

management decisions by many of our partners including but not limited to land management

agencies and non-governmental conservation organizations. The Department has used the CWCS

to inform development of annual work plans required to receive State Wildlife Grant funding,

development of the Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Programs operational and

implementation plans, and the evaluation of external grant applications. The current revision will

be used even more extensively to inform strategic planning at all levels within the Department.

In addition, the data behind the SWAP will now be available to a much wider audience than ever

before.

Since publication of the CWCS, the demand for data access and the need for decision making

tools has grown. Even during the development of the CWCS, those involved knew that the plan

would evolve to meet changing conditions in the state. There was a desire to make the data

available to the public in as close to real time as possible. The original developers of the plan

envisioned using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology in a web-based system that

would allow anyone to access the data that informed the CWCS. With the current revision of the

plan, the Department has developed a number of spatial products and the web-based HabiMap TM

Arizona, which provides full access to the data behind the SWAP to everyone within the

Department, our partners, the planning community, and to the public. Everyone can use this tool

to inform decisions that could impact Arizona’s diverse wildlife and habitats.

It has taken the Department over three years to make the HabiMap TM

Arizona a reality, develop

the spatial layers that populate it, and produce the SWAP. Many of you participated, either

http://www.habimap.org/ http://www.habimap.org/ http://www.habimap.org/

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Arizona's Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy, or CWCS, was accepted by the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service's National Acceptance Advisory Team in 2006. It was the culmination

of a 2-year effort during which the Arizona Game and Fish Department solicited input from

numerous experts, resource professionals, federal and state agencies, sportsmen groups,

conservation organizations, Native American tribes, recreational groups, local governments, and

private citizens and integrated those ideas and concerns into a single, comprehensive vision for

managing Arizona’s fish, wildlife, and wildlife habitats over the next ten years.

In the intervening five years, Arizona and its’ wildlife have seen many changes. To name just a

few, the State’s human population continues to grow at a rate above average for the country,

generating a need for rural and urban planning. A strengthening demand for development of

renewable energy sources has created a drive to consider the impacts of such development on

wildlife and habitats. We have seen the emergence of new wildlife diseases, the introduction of

new invasive species, the listing of some species under the Endangered Species Act, and the

delisting of others. We have even welcomed a new species, the Least Tern, to our State. At

Federal, State, and local levels, there is also increased attention on climate change and how it

affects our wildlife and their habitats.

Perhaps more important is the ongoing work that the Department has engaged in over those

years. The CWCS served as a catalyst to the Department to improve on its data collection,

management, and analysis. Specifically, it became readily apparent that we needed to get the

wealth of information collected for that plan in front of the people who could use it most. In light

of that, we have endeavored to develop data products and analysis tools that would help

ourselves and our partners inform planning and decision making with the most current and

comprehensive wildlife data available. We have succeeded at that endeavor through development

of HabiMap TM

Arizona; a web-based planning tool that allows individuals from partnering

agencies or the public to fully view and analyze the relationships among different data layers

such as individual stressors or species.

This document represents not only a plan, but also a guide to using the conservation products we

have developed over the years. If anything, implementation of the CWCS has reinforced the

Department’s commitment to and belief in the power of collaborative approaches to

conservation. We believe this document, now called the State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP), is a

far superior product than the original CWCS because it facilitates data sharing and

communication between the Department and its partners. We also believe it to be much simpler

to use with each section corresponding to one of the required elements. Throughout this

document, blue text indicates a live link to the section of the document. Pressing CTRL + click

on any link will take the user directly to that chapter or to an external link where applicable.

The first few sections of the document contain background and introductory material including a

short introduction to the SWAP and conservation in Arizona. That is followed by Devel