Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) contracted with Orbis Environmental Consulting to make modifications to a rapid assessment protocol that assesses progress towards meeting habitat management objectives and delisting of habitat-related beneficial use impairments at 17 sites within the Grand Calumet River Area of Concern.
The project involved an iterative process of consultation with IDNR and Nature Conservancy staff, evaluation and selection of habitat quality indicators, and field testing of indicators at project sites. The resulting protocols incorporate a variety of metrics, most of which assess vegetation structure. Important differences from the existing protocols include removal of compositional metrics such as species richness and the presence of indicator species,
and the replacement of universal site quality scores with a flexible approach that can be tailored to site-specific or patch-specific habitat management goals.
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