Comprehensive Conservation Plan Query Tool (CCP Query Tool)
The CCP Query Tool is designed to be used by US Fish and Wildlife Service refuge managers and to assist in their development of Comprehensive Conservation Plans. It is comprised of a set of Geographic Information System (GIS) tools that analyze species use of a landscape. The CCP Query Tool is in its beta stage of development and should be completed by the end of 2001.
The CCP Query Tool generates output that describes potential species occurrence, species richness, and suite of land cover class metrics. The Query Tool works by linking information of species habitat use to GIS data layers. Habitat use information is captured within a matrix (table). The matrix contains a list of species and a series of habitat scores for each cover class of a specified data layer. A single matrix can be linked to one or many GIS data layers and conversely a single GIS data layer can be linked to one or many matrices (Figures 1 and 2). The Query Tool draws on the habitat use information of the matrices and the spatial information of the GIS data to perform its analysis of potential species habitat. The CCP Query Tool provides the user with output in the form of new GIS data layers, tables, charts, text files and finished map products.
The CCP Query Tool follows the same basic format as the Habitat Needs Assessment Query Tool (HNA Query Tool). One of the limitations of the HNA Query Tool was that it operated on a set of predefined data layers and matrices. The CCP Query Tool is designed to be more dynamic then that of HNA. The CCP Query Tool can utilize any polygonal data layer. Custom matrixes can be developed by the user and implemented. Matrices that specify seasonal, life stage, or regional habitat use can be developed and incorporated into the tool.
The CCP Query Tool is another example of the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center's commitment to helping partners develop spatially explicit modeling, analysis, and Decision Support Systems. The Query Tool's primary function is to assist in the decision making within the CCP process, yet is being designed to be a flexible long lived product whose utility may reach beyond CCP.
Prinicpal Investigator: Tim Fox
Page Last Modified: April 17, 2018