Executive Summary

To improve conservation outcomes for biodiverse native Oregon white (Quercus garryana) oak ecosystems, the Intertwine Oak Prairie Working Group(OPWG) has developed a series of oak data and map products for the greater Portland-Vancouver metropolitan region. The OPWG encourages the use of this information by the community, planners, conservation practitioners, landowners, and others with the goal of protecting and restoring our native oak ecosystems and their rich cultural legacy.

Oak distribution data was compiled from field and computer mapping. Oak woodland patches were defined based on oak distribution, land cover, and planimetric data. Not every oak tree is reflected in the data, but we have high confidence in the overall landscape pattern and the locations of significant oak clusters. We also have high confidence that areas depicted as absent of oak do not harbor clusters of undocumented oak.

Scoring identifies the largest and least fragmented oak habitat, to help prioritize land acquisitions and locate restoration actions that improve connectivity. Other oak habitat excluded from high-scoring oak woodland patches also has value, and finer-scale analyses or those emphasizing different criteria may reveal other patterns and priorities. Future map updates will depend on available resources.

This product is best used for landscape-level planning for conservation as well as land use, development, transportation, utility, park, farm and forest planning, and project scoping. For individual site- or parcel-scale, this data should be used with caution and supplemented with field surveys, as needed.

This data has particular strengths and is built on assumptions which are important to keep in mind. For example, it is inappropriate to assume that Oregon white oak that do not receive high scores in this product are unimportant and of low conservation value. Individual oak trees can have high ecological and cultural significance and should be protected whenever possible.

Data Inputs to This Product

1. OakQuest 2019 Point Data, Intertwine (“OakQuest_2019”)

2. Regional Conservation Strategy 2011 Landcover, 5m resolution, Intertwine (“RCS_Landcover”)

3. EPA EnviroAtlas 2014 Landcover, 1m, Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA_Landcover”)

4. Buildings, Metro RLIS and Clark County, 2019 (“Buildings”)

5. Street Centerlines, Metro RLIS and Clark County, 2019 (“Streets_CL”)

6. Railroads, Metro RLIS and Clark County, 2019 (“Railroads”)

7. Oregon Urban Growth Boundaries, Oregon Department of Administrative Services Geospatial Enterprise Office, 2019 (“UGB”)

8. Washington Urban Growth Areas, Washington State Department of Ecology, 2019 (“UGA”)

Methodology

Methodology to Create Oak Woodland Patches

Landcover Base

1. “RCS_Landcover” was the beginning file for the base. This raster was at 5m resolution, and all raster operations that followed were at 5m resolution.

2. Where “EPA_Landcover” existed, it superseded “RCS_Landcover.” “EPA_Landcover” was more recent and higher resolution than “RCS_Landcover,” but covered less area and had fewer landcover categories.

3. Buildings superseded any landcover below in “RCS_Landcover” and “EPA_Landcover.”

4. Steps 1 through 3 created “Landcover_Base,” with the following six landcover categories: Water, Developed/Impervious Surfaces, Low Vegetation, Tree Cover, Agriculture, Soil/Barren/Sand Bars.

Oak Canopy

5. “OakQuest_2019” points were buffered by a 30-feet radius to create “Oak Canopy.” Data on canopy sizes of different “OakQuest_2019” points were not available. Therefore, a single, standard radius was assumed.

6. For “Oak Canopy” area calculations, this 30-feet radius superseded all landcover in “Landcover_Base.” This approach gave highest priority to “OakQuest_2019” data and the standard 30-feet radius used for area calculations. This also counted canopy that overhangs streets and other impervious surfaces.

Oak Woodland Patches

7. “Landcover_Base” and “Oak Canopy” were combined. “Oak Canopy” superseded all landcover below to create “Woodland_Patch_Base.”

8. A 1-acre radius moving window was applied to “Woodland_Patch_Base” to calculate tree canopy percentage per acre. Tree canopy that was oak or any other species was included in the calculation. The intent was to define woodland of any kind, which could then be further defined into Oak Woodland.

9. Area with 30% tree canopy or higher was selected and then recombined with tree canopy (of all species) from “Woodland_Patch_Base.” This aggregated some smaller tree canopy fragments into contiguous Oak Woodland areas. This also counted isolated oak trees as Oak Woodland which might have been smaller than 1-acre, and thus not large enough to be 30% tree canopy in a 1-acre moving window. 30% tree canopy was based on the minimum threshold for Oak Woodland noted in the Biodiversity Guide for the Greater Portland-Vancouver Region (2012).

10. “Streets_CL” centerlines, “Developed/Impervious Surfaces” landcover, and “Railroads” were patch breaks in Woodland. Woodland completely divided by those patch breaks was considered to not be contiguous across the patch break.

11. Contiguous Woodland within 164-feet (50m) from the points layer “OakQuest_2019” was designated as Oak Woodland, creating Oak Woodland Patches. Area beyond 164-feet (50m) was not defined to be Oak Woodland.

Scoring Methodology

12. Only Oak Woodland Patches were scored. Woodland Patches that were not defined as Oak Woodland Patches did not receive a score.

13. Oak Woodland Patches were scored with five indicators: (1) Patch Size based on Species Territory, (2) Patch Size based on Patch Size Range in the Study Area, (3) Total Oak Canopy within an Oak Woodland Patch, (4) Percent of Patch Bordered by Natural Land Cover, and (5) Percent of Oak Woodland within a 2km Radius.

14. Scores of 1 through 10, from lowest to highest score, were used for each indicator.

15. A multiplier was applied to each Ecological Indicator score to create a Summary Score for each Oak Woodland Patch. The multiplier gave different relative weighting to each Ecological Indicator.

16. Possible Summary Scores for each Oak Woodland Patch ranged from 100 to 1000.

17. Indicators and scoring were as follows:

INDICATOR AA

Multiplier: 15

Category: Patch Characteristic

Ecological Indicator: Number of 8 ha (20 acre) Oak Woodland Patch units

Scoring:

• 1 (low)= <8 ha (<20 ac) Patch

• 4= 8 ha to <16 ha (20 to <40 ac) Patch

• 6= 16 to <49 ha (40 to <120 ac) Patch OR (3) closely associated Patches >8 ha (>20 ac) each OR (2) closely associated Patches >12 ha (>30 ac) each. (i.e., enough suitable habitat for 2-5 nuthatch pairs or acorn woodpecker colonies or for 1-3 female western gray squirrels)

• 8= 49 to <=162 ha (120 to <=400 ac) Patch OR (3) closely associated Patches >16 ha (>40 ac) each OR (2) closely associated Patches >24 ha (>60 ac) each. (i.e., enough suitable habitat for 6-20 nuthatch pairs or acorn woodpecker colonies or for 3-10 female western gray squirrels)

• 10 (high)= >162 ha (>400 ac) Patch OR (3) closely associated Patches >57 ha (>140 ac) each OR (2) closely associated Patches >85 ha (>210 ac) each. (i.e., enough suitable habitat for >20 nuthatch pairs or acorn woodpecker colonies or for >10 female western gray squirrels)

Indicator Notes:

• Scoring based on a combination of white-breasted nuthatch, acorn woodpecker, and female western gray squirrel territory size and western gray squirrel canopy gap behavior. Scoring levels are based on different combinations of 8 ha (20 acre) Oak Woodland Patch units.

• Closely Associated = <=164' between Oak Woodland Patch edges, without being separated by roads, paving, buildings, or railroads. (164' based on maximum canopy gap for western gray squirrel from Metro-PSU Connectivity Modeling).

INDICATOR BB

Multiplier: 30

Category: Patch Characteristic

Ecological Indicator: Size of Oak Woodland Patch relative to the range of Oak Woodland Patch sizes in the full study area

Scoring:

• 1 (low)= Natural Breaks 1st

• 2= Natural Breaks 2nd

• 3= Natural Breaks 3rd

• 4= Natural Breaks 4th

• 5= Natural Breaks 5th

• 6= Natural Breaks 6th

• 7= Natural Breaks 7th

• 8= Natural Breaks 8th

• 9= Natural Breaks 9th

• 10 (high)= Natural Breaks 10th

Indicator Notes:

• Scoring breakpoints are based on the range and frequency of Oak Woodland Patch sizes in the full study area. A rounded Jenks Natural Breaks classification is used to create 10 groups for scoring.

INDICATOR CC

Multiplier: 20

Category: Patch Characteristic

Ecological Indicator: Total Oak Canopy within an Oak Woodland Patch

Scoring:

• 1 (low)= Natural Breaks 1st

• 2= Natural Breaks 2nd

• 3= Natural Breaks 3rd

• 4= Natural Breaks 4th

• 5= Natural Breaks 5th

• 6= Natural Breaks 6th

• 7= Natural Breaks 7th

• 8= Natural Breaks 8th

• 9= Natural Breaks 9th

• 10 (high)= Natural Breaks 10th

Indicator Notes:

• Oak Canopy area, based on total Oak Points, is totaled within each Oak Woodland Patch. Large Oak Woodland Patches with small amounts of Oak Canopy may score high under size indicators, but low in this indicator.

INDICATOR DD

Multiplier: 20

Category: Context Characteristic

Ecological Indicator: Percent of Oak Woodland Patch bordered by "Natural" landcover

Scoring:

• 1 (low)= 0 to <10%

• 2= 10 to <20%

• 3= 20 to <30%

• 4= 30 to <40%

• 5= 40 to <50%

• 6= 50 to <60%

• 7= 60 to <70%

• 8= 70 to <80%

• 9= 80 to <90%

• 10 (high)= 90-100%

Indicator Notes:

• Landcover is measured as the percent area from the edge of an Oak Woodland Patch to a distance of 100-feet according to the following categories:

  • "Natural"= Tree Cover, Water

  • Low Vegetation= Weighted at 75% Natural (i.e., if an Oak Patch is 100% surrounded by Low Vegetation, that would be weighted to 75% Natural, and receive a score of 8. Prairie landcover data for the study area does not exist. The weighting rationale is that data for low vegetation includes lawn and prairie, thus it is not as reliably "natural" as Tree Cover. This likely overweights lawn areas but tries to avoid underweighting prairie.)

  • Agriculture= Weighted at 50% Natural. (i.e., if an Oak Patch is 100% surrounded by Agriculture, that would be weighted to 50% Natural, and receive a score of 6.)

  • Developed/ Impervious/ Roads, Sandbars/Soil/ Barren= Not Contributing.

INDICATOR EE

Multiplier: 15

Category: Context Characteristic

Ecological Indicator: Percent area of Oak Woodland within 2km radius

Scoring:

• 1 (low)= 0 to <5%

• 2= 5 to <10%

• 3= 10 to <15%

• 4= 15 to <20%

• 5= 20 to <25%

• 6= 25 to <30%

• 7= 30 to <35%

• 8= 35 to <40%

• 9= 40 to <45%

• 10 (high)= 45 to 50%

Indicator Notes:

• Percent area within 2 km (1.25 miles) from centroid of Oak Woodland Patch that is defined as Oak Woodland Patch.

• Proximity to other Oak Woodland Patches counts regardless of other landcover in between, including streets or impervious surfaces.

• Scale goes up to 50%, and not 100%, because the maximum Oak Woodland percentage within any 2km radius within the study area is 48%.

Data Not Used in Scoring

1. Rare Species Occurrences

2. Soils

3. Wetlands

4. Floodplains

5. Forest interior versus forest edge

6. Patch edge to interior ratio

7. Historic vegetation

8. Historic fire regime (USDA Landfire data)

9. TNC Priority Willamette Valley Oak and Prairie Habitat Parcels

10. WMSWCD Oak Mapping

11. Metro Data Resource Center 2014 Coniferous vs Deciduous Landcover, 1m (DRC_Coniferous)

Field Descriptions

Field	Description
OWP_PATCH_ID	Unique ID for each Oak Woodland Patch.
AA_METRIC_Acres_Int	Calculation result for Indicator AA, Scoring of Oak Woodland Patches, in acres, as an integer.
BB_METRIC_Acres_Int	Calculation result for Indicator BB, Scoring of Oak Woodland Patches, in acres, as an integer.
CC_METRIC_OakQuantity	Calculation result for Indicator CC, Scoring of Oak Woodland Patches. Total Oak Points in OWP.
DD_METRIC_Edge_Percent_Natural	Calculation result for Indicator DD, Scoring of Oak Woodland Patches, as a percent.
EE_METRIC_PercentOak_2km	Calculation result for Indicator EE, Scoring of Oak Woodland Patches, as a percent.
OWP_AA_SCORE	Score for Indicator AA, Scoring of Oak Woodland Patches.
OWP_BB_SCORE	Score for Indicator BB, Scoring of Oak Woodland Patches.
OWP_CC_SCORE	Score for Indicator CC, Scoring of Oak Woodland Patches.
OWP_DD_SCORE	Score for Indicator DD, Scoring of Oak Woodland Patches.
OWP_EE_SCORE	Score for Indicator EE, Scoring of Oak Woodland Patches.
OWP_SUM_SCORE	Summary score, with multiplier applied for each component indicator.

Reference

The Intertwine Alliance. (2012). Biodiversity Guide for the Greater Portland-Vancouver Region.Shiler A, editor. The Intertwine Alliance. Portland, Oregon.

Distribution Liability

The data contained herein are provided on an as-is, as-available basis without warranties of any kind, expressed or implied, including (but not limited to) warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement. Intertwine Oak Prairie Working Group and Biohabitats expressly disclaim any warranty that the data are error-free or current as of the date supplied.