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Species of Greatest Conservation Need

Information within this section pertains to the distribution and abundance of species of wildlife, including low and declining populations as the planning team deems appropriate, and that are indicative of the diversity and health of the State’s wildlife
Development of the list: The deadline for completion of the Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan (CWCP) necessitated the development of a quick assessment method to formulate a list of the species of greatest conservation need. Members of the core planning team decided to create a species selection matrix bringing together lists of species identified by other groups as imperiled . Our initial list of species of greatest conservation need includes every species of wildlife found on at least one of these lists. This list contained over 1431 species.

It quickly became apparent that we needed to summarize this list and provide more of an indication of relative imperilment. The team decided to apply scores to each category within the established lists. These scores ranged from 4 to 10 with 10 indicating most imperiled. These scores were then applied to the species selection matrix, and a total score was developed for each species by summing the scores for each species across all lists on which the species occurred.

As some taxonomic groups appeared on more lists than others, (i.e., birds), further analyses were applied within taxonomic groups. Within each group, a potential score was developed. This potential score reflects the total possible score if a species occurred at the highest level of every list available for that taxonomic group. The total score for each species was then divided by its potential score to arrive at a relative index of imperilment.

Tiering the list: Tiers were developed to identify the relative importance of species of greatest conservation need. Species have been grouped together that were shown to have similar levels of imperilment. This is not meant to be a list of species recommended for listing though it may be used as a precursor or tool to reach that end. The entire list of species and resulting tiers will be used in planning future conservation work.

These scores were analyzed to develop tiers that describe relative imperilment, (i.e., Tier 1 represents most imperiled, Tier 2 represents highly imperiled, etc.). The core team decided to use tiers. The composition of the tiers was determined separately within each taxonomic group by evaluating natural breaks and applying objective upper and lower tier boundaries based on dividing the range of scores into equal parts. A matrix of all the species of greatest conservation need was developed using the Jenks method of scoring. The Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan Core Group used several documents and resources used to create the plan.

CURRENT TIERED LIST OF SPECIES OF GREATEST CONSERVATION NEED
Fish
Amphibians
Reptiles
Birds
Mammals
Aquatic Mollusks
Aquatic Crustaceans
Terrestrial Insects
Other Terrestrial Invertebrates
Aquatic Insects
Other Aquatic Invertebrates

Click here (.pdf file) to view the entire tiered list of species.

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The tiered lists were reviewed by the following taxonomic committees:
Fish - Mike Pinder, Blacksburg, Chair
Herps (Reptiles and Amphibians) - Don Schwab, Williamsburg, Chair
Birds - Jeff Cooper, Fredericksburg, Chair
Mammals - Rick Reynolds, Verona, Chair
Invertebrates - Brian Watson, Forest, Chair

The final tiered list was completed in January, 2004.