Case Study 7

The Nature Conservancy Land Purchase

ScenarioA wealthy benefactor has donated 10 million dollars to TNC to buy land in North Carolina

TNC has identified 4 primary environmental conservation initiatives:

Preserving & expanding habitat for an endangered woodpecker • Large, contiguous tracts of late-successional hardwood forests

Preserving & expanding habitat for an endangered salamander• Freshwater wetlands (marshes, ponds, swamps)

Preserving & expanding savanna (i.e., long leaf pine) ecosystemsImproving the overall health of the state’s estuaries

Polygon data features are available through a spatial real estate database containing all land parcels for sale in the state

Part 1 (5-10 minutes)

List at least 3 geographic datasets that will help you IDENTIFY real estate polygons that support each conservation goal

Assume that existing landcover maps are out of date

Part 2 (15-20 minutes)List at least 6 specific criteria relating to geographic datasets for each conservation goal - 1 for each of the datasets identified in Part 1

The 3 (or more) new criteria might include things like:• Accessibility• Development pressure• Parcel size (related to connectivity/fragmentation)• Future management efforts required to maintain the

habitat/ecosystem• Cost and/or restoration cost

Remember to identify the dataset(s) required for your new criteria too

Hints:Think in terms of relationships and their directionsThink about both non-spatial and spatial relationshipsTry to phrase your criteria in terms of an equation (e.g., “good sites” = landcover > 60% agriculture AND distance to towns/cities with 10,000 or more people > 50 miles AND …)

Part 3 (5-10 minutes)

Did you have any overlapping criteria?

i.e., ways to identify land parcels that might fulfill multiple conservation goals

What would your overall strategy be for selecting parcels to purchase?

Discussion

Selection criteriaList one criteria and all geographic data that are required

Overall strategy

Have a nice weekendSee you Monday for the mid-term review