Higher Level Stewardship Tool
In 2008, The NBN Trust and Natural England began work on a tool to help evaluate High Level Scheme (HLS) applications. The tool employs a simple rule-based system using parameters set out in the Farm Environment Planner’s (FEP) handbook, the HLS ‘Indicative Species’ list and the EBG BIG Species Matrixes.
The NBN High Level Stewardship tool demonstrates how data from the NBN Gateway can be used to help non specialists make better conservation decisions.
The system allows users to draw a polygon to represent a holding which, using a series of rule-based filters, is run against NBN Gateway data to produce a list of relevant species records, which are then displayed by likely habitat niche. We hope to take this further in an operational system by linking to habitat inventory data. A series of standard reports, for inclusion in FEPs are generated from the system.
These types of applications, which provide click through work flows to carefully crafted reports, help turn raw species records into meaningful biodiversity information and ultimately empower non-biodiversity specialists to make good biodiversity decisions.
Species to habitat associations are used to help Farm Environment Planners more accurately asses grant submissions under Natural England's High Level Scheme programme.
This is just one of the tools demonstrating how NBN Gateway web services can be used to integrate species records into business tools.
Click on the play button on the video below for a step by step demonstration of how the tool works, with narration by Geoff Johnson. It is best viewed in full screen mode (click on the 4 arrows next to Vimeo) and in HD. If you select HD you will be taken to the same clip on the Vimeo website.
A quick look at the NBN HLS Species Selection Tool from NBN User on Vimeo.