1. Home
  2. TRID
  3. View Record
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/27432/critical-issues-in-transportation-for-2024-and-beyond

Texas Ecological Assessment Protocol (TEAP): Eco-Logical information for Transportation Planning

Texas Environmental Resource Stewards (TERS) was established to seek greater federal and state interagency collaboration particularly regarding transportation issues. TERS agencies agreed to (1) develop a scientifically valid, ecosystem prioritization protocol for Texas; (2) apply this protocol to existing, available data using geographic information system (GIS); and (3) demonstrate the protocol to identify areas of highest ecological importance in Texas. TEAP evaluates the following three ecological criteria: (1) Diversity: What areas have the most diverse land cover? (2) Rarity: What areas have the highest number of rare species and land cover types? (3) Sustainability: What areas can sustain ecosystems now and in the future? These three layers were combined into a composite map that shows where ecologically important areas occur in Texas. Most of the ecologically important (1%, 10%) areas are located in Chihuahuan Desert Basin and Range, Stockton Plateau, and Rio Grande Plain ecoregions. Other areas that have high or moderately high ecologically important areas are the Edwards Plateau and the southern portion of the Mid Coastal Plains Western Section. Conversely, the most threatened areas are in the Blackland Prairies, Oak Woods and Prairies, Central Gulf Prairies and Marshes, and Louisiana/Eastern Gulf Prairies and Marshes ecoregions which TEAP indicates have the least sustainable ecological areas. The Nature Conservancy (The Conservancy) performed an independent accuracy assessment on the TEAP comparing the composite scores and The Conservancy portfolio sites. This assessment that showed that those areas ranked as highly important ecologically by TEAP corresponded to areas identified as very ecologically important in The Conservancy portfolio. The results of TEAP provide a tool for use in project planning and for reducing very large corridors to more manageable areas for more detailed field investigation. Identification of ecologically important areas in each ecoregion can be used as a tool to support ecosystem-driven mitigation sequencing (avoidance of impacts, minimization, and then compensation) and conservation planning throughout the state. TEAP can also be used to find high quality habitat remnants in all ecoregions in Texas. The TEAP is intended to be a supplemental tool for agency use, not to circumvent or replace agency policies, processes, or regulations.

  • Record URL:
  • Availability:
  • Supplemental Notes:
    • Abstract used with permission from the International Conference on Ecology and Transportation, organized by the Center for Transportation and the Environment, Institute for Transportation Research and Education, North Carolina State University.
  • Corporate Authors:

    North Carolina State University, Raleigh

    Center for Transportation and the Environment
    Raleigh, NC  United States  27695-8601
  • Authors:
    • Osowski, Sharon L
    • Danielson, Jeff
    • Schwelling, Steve
    • German, Duane
    • Gilbert, Steve
    • Lueckenhoff, Dominique
    • Parrish, David
    • Ludeke, A Kim
    • Bergan, Jim
  • Conference:
  • Publication Date: 2010

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Maps; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: pp 801-811
  • Monograph Title: Proceedings of the 2009 International Conference on Ecology and Transportation (ICOET 2009)

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01558696
  • Record Type: Publication
  • ISBN: 9780977809448
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Mar 31 2015 9:06AM