vision for the region, serves as a unified voice for its members and the land conservation community, and serves as a central hub by convening people, connecting ideas and resources, and disseminating information.
This is our blog.
The Conservation Lands Network has launched and will change how conservation in the Bay Area is done. In concert with Bay Nature’s article Big Plans, Wild Lands, we will be profiling the Network, the accompanying tools and how you can take action on our blog this week. Learn more at BayAreaLands.organd tell your friends.
We thank the funders of the Upland Habitat Goals Project and invite you to join them in supporting regional, science-based conservation planning. Click here to contribute.
Our Twitter account has been more busy than usual since Monday's announcement of the Conservation Lands Network. We'd like to share this tweet with you:
What are you doing on Saturday? Want to get outside and stretch your legs on the Ridge Trail?
We are partnering with one of our members to host a Transit to the Ridge Trail excursion this Saturday, April 2 and you are invited. The Bay Area Ridge Trail is in the works to being 550-mile multi-use trail on the ridgelines around San Francisco Bay. When complete, it will connect over 75 parks and open spaces.
There are 3 more spots. Register here. And call Dena with any questions: 415 561 2595.
On Monday, I learned about a new interactive online mapping tool that taps unfathomable amounts of ecological data concerning the Bay Area’s undeveloped open spaces, some protected and some not, to help a coalition of open space advocates save Bay Area biodiversity. The big announcement came from the Bay Area Open Space Council on behalf of the new Conservation Lands Network.The level of collaboration and data crunching behind the effort is staggering when you take a look at the network’s product called, “Explorer.”
To check out the new tool, I thought about a hike I took last Sunday in northern Marin County.
Are you curious about what sensitive species might live on a particular property?
Do you know what native plants thrive in your park?
How does your potential acquisition fit into the Conservation Lands Network?
These questions, and many more, can be answered using the Explorer tool. This web-based interactive mapping tool offers ready access to the project’s data and recommendations to everyone regardless of GIS skill level. A conservation practitioner or planner can outline a property or area of interest to display a Biodiversity Portfolio Report for the property which provides the vegetation types, fine filter conservation targets, conservation suitability, priority streams, Conservation Lands Network status, and many more biodiversity variables.
The Conservation Lands Network has launched and will change how conservation in the Bay Area is done. In concert with Bay Nature’s article Big Plans, Wild Lands, we will be profiling the Network, the accompanying tools and how you can take action on our blog this week. Learn more at BayAreaLands.org and tell your friends.
We thank the funders of the Upland Habitat Goals Project and invite you to join them in supporting regional, science-based conservation planning. Click here to contribute.
We love maps here at the Open Space Council. The map of the Conservation Lands Network is part of a remarkable five year science-based study by over 125 organizations and individuals tasked to identify the most essential lands needed to sustain the “natural infrastructure” of our region -- a functioning web of life that gives us freshwater, wildlife, local food, fresh air and beautiful places. Over 4.3 million acres were studied and over 1,000 variables were considered – from redwood forests to California red legged frog habitats, from climate change to migratory routes.
These maps are available for download at BayAreaLands.org and exist in a format that's easy to move around, zoom in and out, and look at many variables on Explorer.
Thanks to GreenInfo Network (Louis Jaffe, Maegan Leslie Torres) and our own Ryan Branciforte for their work on these maps and cartographic expertise. Questions? Email Ryan at ryan [at] openspacecouncil [dot] org.
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The Conservation Lands Network has launched and will change how conservation in the Bay Area is done. In concert with Bay Nature’s article Big Plans, Wild Lands, we will be profiling the Network, the accompanying tools and how you can take action on our blog this week. Learn more at BayAreaLands.organd tell your friends.
We thank the funders of the Upland Habitat Goals Project and invite you to join them in supporting regional, science-based conservation planning. Click here to contribute.
Habitat for native and imperiled plants and animals.
Local food that supplies a world-class culinary movement.
Crop pollination and resilience to climate change.
Outdoor classrooms for our children.
Migratory corridors for birds and mountain lions.
Places to play and renew our spirits.
In addition to these, there are countless benefits to the conservation of land in the Bay Area. These are benefits to all living things and for many generations of them. The Open Space Council is excited to announce the launch of the Conservation Lands Network and a vision for how we can work together to realize these benefits.
The Conservation Lands Network is the configuration of habitats and linkages needed to meet the goals for biodiversity conservation. This includes all lands in the nine counties of the Bay Area – including those already protected. It is a guide and not a list of priority properties.
The Conservation Lands Network means more acres conserved and linked together across ownerships. It means protecting our “natural infrastructure” even as we build roads, railways and houses. It means supporting great agricultural land stewardship and greener urban lifestyles. These are actions that protect and build upon the tremendous investments that have already been made in land conservation in the Bay Area.
Click here to learn more about the project and find out how the Conservation Lands Network can change the way you work.
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The Conservation Lands Network has launched and will change how conservation in the Bay Area is done. In concert with Bay Nature’s article Big Plans, Wild Lands, we will be profiling the Network, the accompanying tools and how you can take action on our blog this week. Learn more at BayAreaLands.org and tell your friends.
We thank the funders of the Upland Habitat Goals Project and invite you to join them in supporting regional, science-based conservation planning. Click here to contribute.