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Wildlife
Inventory Toolbox
Many
tools are available for conducting wildlife inventory in the Vancouver
Island Region. These tools include standardized methodologies,
forms, and a quality assurance process. Projects funded through
Forest Renewal BC must adhere to these standards. Other wildlife
inventory projects are strongly encouraged to refer to these standards
as many of these standards have been reviewed by provincial and
national species experts.
FRBC
Wildlife Inventory Projects
Wildlife inventory
projects conducted under the auspices of Forest Renewal BC have
a formalized process. Briefly, this process begins at the
project initiation phase when a workplan, detailing project background
and rationale, project methodology, project deliverables and project
budget, is submitted to the Regional Inventory Specialist.
The Regional Inventory Specialist drafts a Standards Agreement and
Wildlife Inventory Schedule A which are signed by the Designated
Environment Official (DEO) and the project proponent. At project
completion the Standards Agreement is used to ensure that all project
targets have been met. Biologists and FRBC coordinators are
encouraged to download copies of the workplan outline and Standards
Agreement.
Workplan Outline(MS
Word template)
Standards Agreement Template(MS
Word template)
Region 1 FRBC
Operational Inventory Reports can be found here.
Manuals
and Dataforms
Wildlife
inventory projects require standardized methodology to ensure consistency
in data collection, comparability of results, and defensibility
of conclusions. Poor methodology compromises the results of
projects with the best intentions. Projects not relying on
accepted methodology require careful scrutiny to maintain scientific
credibility. The Resources Inventory Committee has developed
a valuable suite of inventory manuals, and accompanying dataforms,
that aid biologists conducting biodiversity inventory. These
manuals and data forms can be downloaded from the Resources Inventory Committee
homepage. For Forest Renewal BC inventory projects, variances
from standardized RIC methodology require approval from the Regional
Wildlife / Wildlife Habitat Inventory Specialist.
Quality
Assurance
Forest Renewal BC wildlife inventory projects undergo a rigorous
Quality Assurance process. Briefly, the first step in the
quality assurance process is the review and acceptance of the proponent
workplan. After the workplan is accepted, and the Standards
Agreement and Schedule A are signed, the proponent commences work
on the project. During the project lifespan, field protocols
and project deliverables are reviewed. This review process
can be conducted by either the Regional Inventory Specialist or
a Quality Assurance biologist mutually agreed upon by the Regional
Inventory Specialist and the project proponent.
Details of
the QA process can be found here
(pdf format)
At the completion
of a project a Quality Certificate is issued to the project proponent.
The Quality Certificate is issued by the Regional Inventory Specialist,
with the assistance of a Quality Assurance biologist if applicable.
Essentially the Quality Certificate provides information on whether
the project meets the targets identified in the Standards Agreement.
The Quality
Certificate can be found here.(pdf format)
Contractors
conducting FRBC inventory are encouraged to become familiar with
the Quality Assurance process and the Quality Certificate to ensure
timely project evaluation.
Data Management and GIS
Inventory data for FRBC wildlife inventory projects need to be entered
into the Species Inventory Database.
Non-FRBC related projects also need to have their data in an acceptable
database. Database designs have to be approved by the Regional
Inventory Specialist or the Regional database administrator prior
to being used.
The Ministry
of Environment has an ongoing effort to warehouse provincial inventory
data. The Provincial Data Registry is a work in progress and
is continually updated.
More information
regarding the Ministry of Environment Provincial Data Registry can
be found here.
In addition
to data management, spatial data for FRBC wildlife inventory projects
have to follow a standard format. Ministry of Environment
GIS Standards can be found here.
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