TY - JOUR
T1 - Siting solar energy development to minimize biological impacts
JF - Renewable Energy
Y1 - 2013
A1 - Stoms, D. M.
A1 - Dashiell, S. L.
A1 - Davis, F. W.
KW - ecological condition
KW - GIS
KW - mitigation hierarchy
KW - multicriteria analysis
KW - siting criteria
KW - utility-scale solar energy
AB -
After solar and other renewable energy developers select generally suitable sites for exploration, they frequently encounter conflict over biodiversity conservation values that were not factored into the initial suitability rating methods. This paper presents a spatial multicriteria analysis method for modeling risk of conflict with biological resources and applies the model in the California deserts where such conflicts are rapidly rising. The premise of the model is that the least conflict will occur on sites that are the most ecologically degraded with low conservation value and that would engender low offsite impacts when connecting to existing transmission infrastructure. Model results suggest sufficient compatible land exists in flat, non-urban areas to meet state solar energy targets of 18-26 GW of installed capacity in the California deserts for 2050. The model is a promising tool to fill the gap between site suitability analysis for renewable energy and regional biodiversity conservation planning to identify areas where rapid impact assessment and permitting will generate the least regrets.
VL - 57
ER -
TY - JOUR
T1 - Prioritizing farmland preservation cost-effectively for multiple objectives
JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
Y1 - 2006
A1 - Machado, E. A.
A1 - Stoms, D. M.
A1 - Davis, F. W.
A1 - Kreitler, J.
KW - amenities
KW - Bay Delta bioregion
KW - California Legacy Project
KW - conservation planning
KW - cost-effectiveness
KW - decision analysis
KW - ecosystem services
KW - farmland preservation
KW - GIS
KW - marginal value
KW - public preferences
KW - social welfare
KW - urban growth boundary
KW - urban growth management
KW - utility
AB - American society derives many benefits from farmland and is often willing to pay to preserve it from urbanization. We present an innovative framework to support farmland preservation programs in prioritizing conservation investments. The framework considers the full range of social benefits of farmland and improves the application of decision analysis methods to the process. Key factors for ranking farms are: 1) social objectives and priorities 2) how much farmland value is expected to be lost to development if not preserved, 3) how much farmland value is already secured in the agricultural region; and 4) how much it will cost to secure the farm's benefits. The framework can be applied strategically over an entire region or to rank a set of applications from landowners. We demonstrate our framework using three criteria in the Bay Area/Delta bioregion of California, USA.
VL - 61
UR - ://000242001800007
ER -
TY - CHAP
T1 - A framework for setting land conservation priorities in the Sierra Nevada
T2 - Proceedings of the Sierra Nevada Science Symposium
Y1 - 2004
A1 - Davis, F. W.
A1 - Costello, C. J.
A1 - Stoms, D. M.
A1 - Machado, E. A.
A1 - Metz, J.
ED - Murphy, Dennis D.
ED - Stine, Peter A.
KW - California Legacy Project
KW - conservation planning
KW - decision support system
KW - GIS
KW - marginal value
KW - prioritization
AB - The California Legacy Project (CLP) mission is "to enable the State and its partners in conservation to develop and implement a strategic and inclusive approach to conserving and restoring California's lands and natural resources." Here we provide a brief overview of a framework that we developed to serve the dual purpose of helping decision makers to evaluate current opportunities (e.g., current proposal applications for State conservation funds) and to help planners develop longer term conservation strategies that highlight general areas, species and communities for more focused analysis and collaborative planning. Site prioritization depends on the resources the site contains, the threat to those resources, and the conservation cost of mitigating that threat. We illustrate our framework using relatively coarse, readily available data for the Sierra Nevada Bioregion. Preliminary results suggest that many of the private lands of the region contribute important conservation value for terrestrial biodiversity. However, inter-site disparities in degree of threat and in conservation costs make the conservation "bang for buck" especially high in a smaller number of sites.
JF - Proceedings of the Sierra Nevada Science Symposium
PB - Pacific Southwest Research Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture
CY - Albany, CA
VL - General Technical Report PSW-GTR-193
UR - http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/publications/documents/psw_gtr193/psw_gtr193_5_4_Davis_and_others.pdf
N1 - presented at Sierra Nevada Science Symposium 2002 October 7-10; Kings Beach, CA.
ER -
TY - RPRT
T1 - A systematic framework for prioritizing farmland preservation
Y1 - 2003
A1 - Machado, E. A.
A1 - Stoms, D. M.
A1 - Davis, F. W.
KW - Bay Delta bioregion
KW - California Legacy Project
KW - conservation planning
KW - cost-effectiveness
KW - farmland preservation
KW - GIS
KW - marginal value
AB - The California Legacy Project (CLP) mission is "to enable the state and its partners in conservation to develop and implement a strategic and inclusive approach to conserving and restoring California's lands and natural resources." In 2001 The Resources Agency of California contracted with the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at UC Santa Barbara to convene a working group to help bring systematic conservation planning theory and methods to bear on the design and implementation of CLP. The conservation planning framework for farmland described in this report for is one of the products from that working group. The framework is intended to serve the dual purpose of helping decision makers to evaluate current opportunities (e.g., current proposal applications for State conservation funds) and to help planners develop longer term conservation strategies that highlight areas for more focused analysis and collaborative planning. We do not present a plan or "blueprint" for future conservation activities. Instead, we offer an analytical, data-driven planning process that could be applied to ongoing conservation assessments and evaluations by State conservation planning staff and collaborating organizations over the State or regions of the State. We organize the planning framework based on a hierarchy of conservation goals and objectives, each of which is further elaborated in terms of specific objectives, criteria, and sources of evidence. For farmland preservation, we summarize these goals as retaining farmlands: 1) with the greatest sustained production capacity, 2) that provide high amenity values (e.g., habitat, open space, floodplain management, and scenic values), and 3) whose location reduces the risk of urban sprawl. The framework applies GIS technology to map farmland conservation value and investment priorities based on available spatial data, derived indices and simple algebraic functions. A planning region is divided into sites, and each site is scored in terms of its marginal conservation value, that is, the incremental value added to the current system of conservation lands by making the next conservation investment in that site. Site prioritization depends on the farmland resources the site contains, the threat to those resources, and the conservation cost of mitigating that threat. The strategic objective is to allocate conservation funds among a set of candidate sites such that there is the greatest possible farmland value remaining at the end of the planning period. We demonstrate the framework for preservation of farmlands in the Bay Area/Delta Bioregion. Because the criteria for measuring objectives 2 and 3 require spatial and nonspatial data that are not readily available statewide or even for a bioregion, we only develop and demonstrate the framework for objective 1. Existing data are used to map resource values and threats to arrive at maps of marginal conservation value without consideration of site cost. We use a crude estimate of the cost of conservation easements to demonstrate how the framework could then be used to prioritize conservation investments subject to a fixed budget.
PB - National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
CY - Santa Barbara
UR - http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/nceas-web/projects/4040/Farmland_framework_report.pdf
ER -
TY - CHAP
T1 - Mapping and monitoring terrestrial biodiversity using geographic information systems
T2 - Biodiversity and Terrestrial Ecosystems
Y1 - 1994
A1 - Davis, F. W.
ED - Chou, C. I. Peng
ED - C. H.
KW - biodiversity
KW - connectivity
KW - evidence
KW - GIS
KW - southern California
KW - whiptail
AB - Location in space and time are attributes of nearly all biodiversity data. Obvious examples include species' collection localities, range maps and habitat maps. Geographic Information Systems for managing and analyzing spatial data are rapidly becoming an integral tool for scientists, resource managers and policy makers concerned with biodiversity conservation and ecosystem management. Database capabilities of GIS have extended the traditional map to a much more flexible and powerful representation of spatial information by allowing potentially large amounts of non-graphical information to be attached to each map unit. Biologists have yet to fully exploit this aspect of GIS in classification and mapping of biodiversity patterns. Some advantages of the GIS model over traditional maps are illustrated with a vegetation mapping project in southern California. In recent years GIS has been applied to a wide range of biodiversity issues, for example, modeling species distributions, Gap Analysis, population viability analysis, modeling ecosystem disturbance processes, and projecting the ecological impacts of global climate change. Specimen data can be of much greater use in conservation planning when coupled to predictive habitat relationship models and accurate habitat maps. The use of GIS to assemble multiple lines of evidence in modeling species' distribution is illustrated for Cnemidophorus hyperythrus, an endangered lizard of coastal southern California. Lastly, an example is provided of the application of GIS modeling of habitat suitability and connectivity to conservation planning in southern California.
JF - Biodiversity and Terrestrial Ecosystems
PB - Institute of Botany, Academia Sinica
CY - Taipei
VL - Monograph Series No. 14
ER -
TY - JOUR
T1 - Information analysis of a spatial database for ecological land classification
JF - Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing
Y1 - 1990
A1 - Davis, F. W.
A1 - Dozier, J.
KW - Burton Mesa
KW - California
KW - DEM data
KW - entropy
KW - GIS
KW - map errors
KW - mutual information analysis
KW - TMS
KW - vegetation pattern
VL - 56
ER -
TY - JOUR
T1 - Modeling vegetation pattern using digital terrain data
JF - Landscape Ecology
Y1 - 1990
A1 - Davis, F. W.
A1 - Goetz, S.
KW - California
KW - coast live oak forest
KW - DEM
KW - geology
KW - GIS
KW - Lompoc
KW - remote sensing
KW - solar radiation
VL - 4
ER -