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Methods, Analysis, and Evaluation
Gathering Waters Conservancy staff,
assisted by its planning
partners, identified several regional resource assessments and
priority conservation project identifications completed by conservation
agencies and organizations for the Lake Michigan basin. These reports
ranged from assessments of a specific type of resource to broadly
defining resource and recreational needs. Table
2 lists those reports selected for use in determining basin
conservation priorities. The criteria to determine which plans and/or
assessments were selected are as follows:
1. Statewide or regional (three or more counties) in scale;
2. Have a clearly defined criteria and site selection process;
3. Focus specifically on natural resources consistent with the type of conservation work undertaken by land trusts of the Lake Michigan Shorelands Alliance;
4. Published within the past 5 years.
A Geographic Information System (GIS)
was used to overlay maps representing priority areas in the different
plans and assessments from Table
2, and those priorities identified by agency and organization
staff at the January planning meeting. Locations and, where available,
geographic extent of each priority area were compiled into a single
map to determine how they related to one another on the landscape.
Priority conservation project areas were identified when three or
more of these priority areas intersected on the landscape, or when
there were other compelling reasons for including them in the list.
Several of the participants at the January meeting identified priorities
which, because the resource attributes of the site were different
from those being assessed in a given report, were not included in
the final plans and assessments. However, these places were recognized
by the group as having significant regional conservation value.
This planning approach does not differentiate
among conservation values represented at each area. For instance,
the Land Legacy Report includes
recreational areas as priority areas within the plan. Landscapes
of Opportunity only identifies those areas where planning and assessment
priority areas intersect; it does not categorize or group according
to natural areas, recreational areas or other resources. When site
conservation planning takes place within the priority project areas,
conservation values and goals will be refined for each site. It
is also important to note that this planning approach does not identify
threats to natural resource areas within the basin. Certain areas
not identified in this plan but of regional ecological significance
may demand immediate attention due to a threat, series of threats
or unique opportunity. The priorities established in this plan should
not preclude conservation work in other areas as appropriate.
Read
the Landscapes of Opportunity report Results and Discussion »
Please contact Liz Walsh at liz [at]
gatheringwaters.org or 608-251-9131 x12 with any questions about
Landscapes of Opportunity.
Photo provided
courtesy of Gill Gribb |
