ICE Projects

Art Shapiro's Butterfly Site

admin — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 13:06:13 -0800

This website contains over 34 years of data collected by Dr. Arthur Shapiro, professor of Evolution and Ecology at the University of California, Davis, in his continuing effort to regularly monitor butterfly population trends on a transect across central California. Ranging from the Sacramento River delta, through the Sacramento Valley and Sierra Nevada mountains, to the high desert of the western Great Basin, fixed routes at ten sites have been surveyed at approximately two-week intervals since as early as 1972. The sites represent the great biological, geological, and climatological diversity of central California.

Assessment of Regional Integrated Models

mcmccoy — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:22:25 -0800

The Caltrans Division of Research and Innovation (DRI) has awarded the University of California funding for a comparative study of new urban integrated Land Use/Transportation Models. Principal investigators of this study, Mike McCoy and Robert Johnston, are responsible to explore a new generation of regional urban integrated land use/transportation models and to share information about them with major MPOs in California.

Biological Inventories of World Protected Areas

rjmeese — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:27:46 -0800

Partnering with NBII, USGS, NPS, IUCN, and the Smithsonian Institute, this project provides standardized, documented, taxonomically harmonized species inventories of the world's protected areas. Plants and vertebrate animals are included. Inventories of invertebrate animals will be provided as the required "master species lists" (published nomenclators) and relevant biological inventory data become available.

California Drinking Water Source Assessment Program

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:31:01 -0800

The California Drinking Water Source Assessment Program (DWSAP) was developed by the California Department of Health Services (DHS) to provide information to communities that wish to develop local programs to protect their sources of drinking water.

California Information Node (CAIN)

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 12:37:41 -0800

The California Information Node (CAIN) provides access to data and information about California's environment. You may browse the topics at right to discover resources for information, or look for data to download.

In addition to offering a website gateway to environmental information, CAIN is coordinating among data owners and internet innovators to develop and test new tools to make important biodiversity data easier to locate and use. This project is using the latest in open source software in a variety of implementations.

California Rivers Assessment (CARA)

jhviers — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:37:51 -0800

The California Rivers Assessment (CARA) is a computer-based data management system designed to give resource managers, policy-makers, landowners, scientists and interested citizens rapid access to essential information and tools with which to make sound decisions about the conservation and use of California's rivers.

California Vegetation Map Catalog

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 11:57:27 -0800

This catalog allows you to find a variety of vegetation map data sets that cover the entire state or specific parts of the state, with an emphasis on county-level or larger data sets. You can search for data either by using the map selections or by typing in specific keywords. For each data set you find, you can look up more specific descriptive information about the data. This includes information about mapping date, scale, overall geographic coverage, classification system, and where to obtain the data directly.

Caltrans Statewide Early Biological Mitigation Planning

memadison — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 16:43:43 -0700

This project has three components: 1) a statewide review of mitigation practices, 2) programming updates to Caltrans' existing database for mitigation practices along with data entry for the statewide information gathered, and 3) an overview of agreement practices and the creation of a checklist to help improve mitigation agreements.

In the first component, ICE investigated a minimum of 36 completed Caltrans mitigation projects to summarize outcomes and compare available cost data.

Collaborative Planning and Growth Scenario Modeling for Rural RTPAs

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:12:00 -0800

This project provides training and technical assistance to a consortium of three rural Regional Transportation Planning Agencies (RTPAs): Alpine, Amador and Calaveras counties in the use of UPLAN, a scenario planning tool developed for smaller MPOs.

Collaborative Planning Capacity Assessment for the San Joaquin County Highway 99 Corridor

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:04:24 -0800

Collaborative planning is multi-agency, inter-jurisdictional planning that integrates land use and infrastructure planning to meet the community's needs while addressing economic development, environmental protection and equity. Collaborative planning includes community involvement to ensure that development meets the vision and needs of the residents of the region. It involves early involvement of stakeholders and sharing of data. New graphic techniques for displaying the results of land use decisions enhance community involvement and integrated planning.

Collaborative Planning Case Studies and Social Network Analysis

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:31:50 -0800

ICE is collaborating with Mark Lubell, professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy, on a research project looking at social networking in regional land use planning processes.

Cosumnes Research Group

jhviers — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:38:31 -0800

The University of California, Davis, in association with the seven agency and non-profit partners of the Cosumnes River Preserve, has established a coordinated university/agency/foundation partnership dedicated to advancing watershed science to support more effective and sustainable watershed restoration practices and addressing the information needs of adaptive management in the North Delta and the Cosumnes and Mokelumne River watersheds.

Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force (DAPTF)

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:50:25 -0800

The Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force (DAPTF) was established in 1991 by the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The DAPTF operates through a network of Working Groups like the California/Nevada Working Group. Over 80 of these Working Groups represent different regions of the world and collect geographical data on amphibian declines and their causes. Other, issue-based Working Groups are concerned with specific topics, including: Disease and Pathology, Monitoring Techniques, Chemical Contaminants, and Climatic and Atmospheric Change.

GeoSpatial Waterbody System

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:55:40 -0800

In order to improve water quality reporting, the University of California, Davis (UCD) Information Center for the Environment (ICE) developed GeoWBS, a customized graphical user interface using ArcView and the Dialog Designer Extension that allows users entering water quality assessment information to better spatially define waterbodies. The system links the assessment information to RF3-alpha, permits direct SQL connectivity to the underlying WBS architecture, and helps standardize user input.

Great Places Program

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:59:51 -0800

This initiative is a public-private collaborative effort that is designed to improve the protection and conservation of natural resources in California. Its aim is to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of land use and transportation decision-making. The program will provide up-to-date natural resource data, develop GIS analytical tools for better decision-making, and enhance access to natural resource and other data by the public and local, regional and state decisionmakers.

Highway 99 Corridor Study

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:02:46 -0800

The Highway 99 Corridor Study (also known as CalTrans Task Order #35) is a Land Use/Land Cover Map of the Highway 99 Corridor from San Joaquin to Kern Counties, using Caltrans DHIPP True Color Digital Orthophography.

Information Center for the Environment Website

dwaetjen — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:44:51 -0800

This project page has been setup to track development on the ICE website. This site is testing a "project blogs" feature I am adding, where one can create a blog and associate it with a particular project. The purpose of this is to inform interested visitors about the current status of the project, and also to document some of the details that go into such projects. In the end, I see it serving as a great history of that project, which was one of the needs I took from a recent ICE meeting where the website was discussed.

Invasive Species Data Management in Hawaii

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:13:59 -0800

The Pacific Basin Information Node and the Hawaii Natural Heritage Program are actively involved in the collection, management, and dissemination of invasive species information in the state of Hawaii. ICE is partnering with these organizations to provide technical services for the development of field data collection and aggreagation protocols for invasive species data, and the development of a web-based mapping application that will allow for the display and query of a variety of invasive species related geospatial datasets.

Knoxville Wildife Area and Cedar Roughs Wildlife Area Management Plan

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 13:23:32 -0800

Professor Susan Harrison, Director of the UC Davis Natural Reserve System is PI on this ongoing project, developing management plans for the Department of Fish and Game within the Knoxville Wildlife Area and Cedar Roughs Wildlife Area in Napa County. ICE's contribution was collection and processing of relevant spatial datasets and production of location and field maps for staff.

ICE uses ArcGIS technologies to fulfill the project requirements

Mongolia Salmonid and Rivers Assessment

jhthorne — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 13:16:06 -0800

The University of Wisconsin-Madison, the University of Nevada-Reno, and the University of California-Davis, and the Mongolian Institute of Geoecology have partnered as a research team in a conservation effort to sustainably protect Mongolia's giant salmonid, Hucho taimen, through operation of fishing concessions. This 5-year program will be the most extensive study of Hucho taimen ever conducted. The study will assess population status, migrations, threats to populations, and the role of taimen as a part of the broader ecosystem.

Monitoring Illegal Killing of Elephants

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:50:44 -0800

Provide GIS and database curriculum and training for international elephant conservation project. This project is using MS Access and ArcView 8.3 as its primary technologies.

National Wetlands Inventory

jhviers — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 14:54:00 -0800

ICE will be working with staff from the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the California Legacy group to map wetlands per the National Wetlands Inventory protocol along California's north coast. This project is using a combination of field work and lab time to delineate vector polygons representing wetland features within selected geographic areas. This is accomplished in ArcGIS 8.3.

Natural Resource Projects Inventory

kcward — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:07:37 -0800

An inventory of over 6,000 watershed assessment, planning and restoration projects throughout California. A Collaborative Effort between the California Biodiversity Council and the University of California at Davis Information Center for the Environment. The signatories of the California Biodiversity Council joined forces to gather information on thousands of conservation, mitigation and restoration projects being developed and implemented throughout California.

Partnership for Integrated Planning

mcmccoy — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:10:18 -0800

This project used existing database and GIS-based data and developed decision support tools to assist Caltrans State Office and District office staff and the constituent groups of Partnership in Planning Project (Merced County Association of Governments, U.S. EPA Region IX, FHWA) in examining possible scenarios for land use in Merced County. The developed tools included land use modeling (UPlan v 1.0) and an environmental factors modeling tools that were a precursor to our current Universal Model Builder (UMB).

PEARTool

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:29:24 -0800

This project was initiated to evaluate the practice and effectiveness of environmental scoping within Caltrans' Project Initiation process, the preliminary conceptual step in its comprehensive Project Delivery process. As a result of ICE's analysis, Caltrans selected a technology-based approach to demonstrate an integrated, multi-dimensional solution to improve environmental scoping within Caltrans.

Pepperweed Control Project

rhutch — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 15:05:15 -0700

Plants of the Cosumnes River Preserve Virtual Herbarium Download Virtual Herbarium [.pdf] (16 MB) The Cosumnes River Preserve Virtual Herbarium displays information on each plant species known to occur at the Cosumnes River Preserve including photos, plant characteristics, blooming season, nativity, habitat, existence of a herbarium specimen at the UC Davis Herbarium, Cal IPC status, CNPS rarity, as well as links for you to use to keep this information as up to date as possible. The CRP Virtual Herbarium is funded by the CALFED Bay‐Delta Environmental Restoration Program in partnership with the Information Center for the Environment at UC Davis and The Nature Conservancy.

San Joaquin Valley Blueprint

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:31:09 -0800

In collaboration with eight San Joaquin Valley Councils of Government (COG) and the Great Valley Center (GVC), the Information Center for the Environment will supply data, modeling tools and modeling support to the collaborative eight county views of current conditions and future alternatives. These pieces will contribute to the valley-wide view,or a blueprint.

Semantic Prototypes in Research Ecoinformatics

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 15:34:19 -0800

ITR -- Science on the Semantic Web: Prototypes in Bioinformatics is a joint project among ecologists and computer scientists at 4 universities and NASA to develop an IT framework to use next generation Web technologies to integrate and process biological information, including the National Biological Information Infrastructure (NBII) system, foodwebs, and long-term environmental monitoring systems.

Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project Data Bank and Mapping Service (SNEP)

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:01:16 -0800

This SNEPMap/Data web site has been created in response to the recognized need for improved access to data files, records, digital data, and other information produced as part of the 1996 report to Congress of the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project (SNEP), a comprehensive assessment of the status of Sierra Nevada natural resources and the relationships of these resources to human well-being.

Species in US National Parks

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:04:54 -0800

This project provides access to documented, standardized, taxonomically harmonized species inventories of plants and vertebrate animals reported to occur on U.S. National Parks.

Statewide Integrated Interregional Land Use/Economic/Transportation Model

lizbit — Thu, 10 May 2007 08:59:41 -0700

The Information Center for the Environment at UC Davis, with funding from the California Department of Transportation, is exploring the feasibility and benefits of the potential implementation of a statewide integrated land use/economic/ transportation model. This type of model has the ability to assess and depict the interregional effects of major changes to land uses, economics, and transportation on energy, the economy and the environment in a variety of ways.

Students for Environmental Education at Davis (SEED)

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:20:20 -0800

We seek is to provide environmental education outreach in Davis elementary schools. We serve as a link between university resources and local classrooms. We provide undergraduate students at U.C. Davis with valuable classroom experience and a chance to develop their public speaking skills.

Teakettle Experimental Forest Multi-media

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:29:48 -0800

ICE is working with the folks at the Teakettle Experiment to provide a number of multi-media presentations to be used for policy making, resource management and education.

Timber Harvest Plan MapMaker Internet Mapping

admin — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 17:32:04 -0800

THP MapMaker is an ActiveX based interface designed to aid Registered Professional Foresters (RPFs) and others to locate and identify the Calwater unit in which a Timber Harvest Plan (THP) is located. The interface allows the user to navigate to their desired watershed using several navigational GIS layers and a variety of query methods.

Tricolored Blackbird Portal

admin — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:30:13 -0700

This data portal website provides information on the tricolored blackbird (Agelaius tricolor), a near-endemic California passerine and the most colonial songbird in North America. We seek to develop a site with content appropriate for the largest audience, with basic natural history and conservation information, access to reports, images and videos, links to tricolors in the news, summaries of past and current research and monitoring efforts, and data entry capability for participants in the triennial tricolored blackbird Survey (an every three year volunteer effort to estimate the number of tricolors in California) and persons observing color-banded tricolors.

Universal Model Builder (UMB)

admin — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 11:33:14 -0800

UMB is a universal normalized-additive raster model that allows grouping and weighting on multiple levels. It is an attempt to simplify and automate the valuation of areas based on the input from users. UMB can accept any vector GIS layer supported by a standard ArcGIS install as an input and then parses the layer requesting values from the user to weight the layer's contribution to the final result. Great effort has been made to make the model as universal as possible, however if you do run into bugs or vector data types that cannot be accepted by UMB, we would like to hear about it.

UPlan: Urban Growth Model

neroth — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:08:32 -0700

UPlan is a simple rule based urban growth model intended for regional or county level modeling.

The needed space for each land use type is calculated from simple demographics and assigned based on the net attractiveness of locations to that land use (based on user input), locations unsuitable for any development and a general plan that determines where specific types of development are permitted.

The most recent distribution version is: 2.64g Released 08/11/2008
UPlan Download 1.2MB
User Manual 1MB

Wieslander Project- Digitizing 70 Year-Old Vegetation Maps

admin — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 11:45:55 -0800

This grant is part of a two-section grant, equally awarded to Dr. Allen-Diaz, UC Berkeley School of Natural Resources, and to my lab at UC Davis. Dr Allen-Diaz is the curator of a unique collection of vegetation data, the Wieslander collection, developed across a decade in the 1930s. This collection includes over 11,000 vegetation plots and hand-drawn vegetation maps of approximately 2/5th of California. Dr. Jim Thorne (ICE) organized a working group of vegetation ecologists from the state, including Drs. Michael Barbour (UC Davis), Dr. Todd Keeler-Wolf (California Vegetation Ecologist), and Dr. Robert Taylor (Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area) and many others, which collected an accounting of all projects previously done with these data.