State Report - Idaho Idaho was the first GAP prototype state project. This project helped establish the early standards and methods, as well as being the source for numerous publications that launched the national program. The techniques and standards have evolved greatly since the Idaho project was conducted, and now it is time for an update. This began with the redesign of Idaho’s wildlife-habitat relationship (WHR) models. A study of available primary literature revealed that little more is known now about the habitat selection criteria for Idaho species than ten years ago, when the prototype GAP project was completed. We are moving toward innovative WHR modeling, using probability indexes that include inferred relationships between species’ habitats and variables such as slope, elevation, aspect, canopy closure, and forest density. The land cover update is being accomplished through participation in two regional Forest Service projects. Region 1 of the USFS mapped northern and central Idaho through Roly Redmond’s lab. The southern portion is being mapped by Collin Homer at Utah State University. By January 1998, the Landscape Dynamics Lab at the University of Idaho should have both maps and will begin the edge-matching phase. Thereafter, the vertebrate distribution modeling can begin. |