The Conservation Guide to America’s Natural Places

1. The Conservation Guide to America’s Natural Places A new website coming in late 2008!

2. Agenda • LandScope America overview • Demonstration of the prototype • Two state examples: • Washington • Colorado • How you can participate

3. The Need for LandScope America 37 million acres conserved – but it’s not enough! America needs to: • greatly increase the pace of land and water conservation to counter effects of open space loss • encourage creative financing mechanisms to increase protection through easements and acquisition • apply our efforts strategically to the most important places in each community LandScope America will address these needs: • build awareness and support for land protection • create a sense of urgency for government, private landowners and all Americans to work together on a sufficient scale while there is still time • focus investments on strategic priorities

4. LandScope America Goals • Increase the pace and effectiveness of land protection • Inspire and inform place-based conservation action

5. Partnerships Relying on broad array of partnerships, including: • National Geographic – lead partner • Land Trust Alliance • Helping us reach the land trust audience • State partners from NatureServe network • Colorado, Washington, Florida, Maine, Virginia serving as pilots • Extending to all 50 states in future phases • Federal Agencies • Many important programs for promoting and funding open space protection • Other key content providers and partners • The Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Land, Conservation Biology Institute, Defenders of Wildlife, AFWA, etc.

6. Products • Online resources • Preview website • Phase 1 website • Print products • Project brochure • National conservation wall map • Events • Outreach to media and key audiences • Promote website launch in late 2008 • Phase 2 sustainability plan

7. Preview Website: www.landscope.org

8. National Conservation Wall Map

9. Website Focus The idea: build an innovative online resource – a “Google Earth for conservation” • Focus on making reliable and vetted information easily available • Free access to maps, aerial imagery, and compelling multi-media • Enable users to view full array of conservation priorities and understand how these relate • Will not be developing a new set of priorities • Platform for open space protection community to share their priorities, interests, and needs with a broader audience

10. Who Will Use LandScope? Targeted at the people who make the most difference: the land protection community • Land trusts • State and local governments • Natural resource agencies • Private landowners • Environmentally-concerned public

11. Land Trust Scenarios • Learn about, view, and understand conservation priorities in your area; display your projects in the context of regional or national conservation priorities; • View detailed current aerial photography of your service area, and use simple online mapping tools to create, share and print maps of your conservation projects; • Find baseline data and potentially create a baseline documentation map useful for planning and for complying with IRS requirements; • Create and save customized map views, link to them, and share them via e-mail; • Create an organizational profile that depicts your land trust’s mission, goals, and land holdings; • Establish and connect with online communities of people who care about the land; • Expand your constituencies and share your organization’s conservation vision with policymakers, partners and local supporters.

12. Demonstration

13. Map Viewer

14. Base Map: Highways

15. Base Map: Shaded Relief

16. Base Map: Local Streets

17. Base Map: Aerial Imagery

18. Base Map: Streets / Aerial Hybrid

19. Base Map: USGS Topo

20. Base Map: Topo with Conservation Priorities

21. Explore Place-based Photos and Stories

25. Explore Map Data

26. Meet Kelly Verde (Registered User’s Account Page)

27. Land Trust Organizational Profile Page

28. Share Your Success Stories

29. A Land Trust Example Piscataqua Land Trust on the Maine coast. Website user: Kelly Verde, a volunteer board member. Background: the PLT has identified an important parcel with a willing conservation-minded seller. They are applying to the state land preservation fund for a grant to help them acquire the property. Kelly’s Goal: gather information and make a map to support a land acquisition proposal for a specific parcel. Expertise: not a GIS user, but enjoys playing around with websites. Budget: zero Time available: not much

30. Piscataqua Land Trust Focus Area

31. Southern Maine: Protected Areas

32. Southern Maine: Conservation Priorities Note blue dots indicate geo-referenced photos / video / stories on right rail

33. Zoom in to the Project Area (Aerial Imagery)

34. Draw a Parcel Boundary

35. View Existing Conservation Priorities BwH focal area Look -- metadata!

36. Draw a Second Parcel

37. Conservation Priorities with 2 Parcels BwH focal area

38. Use the Print Function BwH focal area

39. Add a Map Title BwH focal area

40. Save the Map View BwH focal area

41. Export Map as a PDF File BwH focal area

42. Your Completed Map Edwards Farm: 128 acres Beginning with Habitat focal area Winchester Tract (wooded): 31 acres

43. Two State Examples • LandScope Washington – John Gamon • LandScope Colorado – Michael Menefee

48. South Puget Sound Prairie • Remnant of a formerly pervasive ecosystem – now down to 3% of its historic extent • Threatened by development and fire suppression • Indigenous people probably used fire to shape the unique landscape • Lots of active local partners:sources of challenges,strategies, success stories South Puget Sound PrairieWashington

49. Conservation Need • Population growth / development • Loss of 97% of prairie habitat within South Puget Sound landscape • Invasive species (Scot’s broom)

50. Established Priorities • Federal and State listed species • NH Plan priorities • Ecoregional assessment priority landscape • Established natural areas – in need of stewardship