An aquatic multiscale assessment and planning framework approach—forest plan revision case study

The Aquatic Multiscale Assessment and Planning Framework is a Web-based decision-support tool developed to assist aquatic practitioners in managing fisheries and watershed information. This tool, or framework, was designed to assist resource assessments and planning efforts from the broad scale to the fine scale, to document procedures, and to link directly to relevant research. The framework is a hierarchical, hyperlinked template that is readily updateable. For aquatic resources in a planning area, such as those occupied by salmonid fishes, the framework produces tabular and spatial displays of (1) current habitat conditions and distributions, (2) desired future conditions, (3) risks and threats to the species concerned, (4) analysis approaches, (5) a conservation and restoration strategy, and (6) a monitoring, inventory, and research strategy. The framework also provides a logical system for developing, tracking, and documenting aquatic information at various spatial scales (subwatershed to basin) and can hyperlink management questions and data to best available science and procedures. For example, different analysis approaches (e.g., extinction risk matrices, influence diagrams, probabilistic networks) along with supporting science or case studies are directly linked and downloadable from the framework. The framework helps define and display information assumptions and gaps and is transparent and defensible.