In
recent years the state has narrowed the gap between state concerns
regarding biodiversity and ecosystem management, and the processes
of local government and agencies that affect those concerns. While
these efforts made some progress, none was sufficient to ensure
the integration of existing data and analysis into local processes.
It became clear that in addition to generalized institution building,
the situation requires active participation to locate relevant
real-world opportunities within the local government arena and
work within those processes to bring data and analysis generated
by the Sierra Nevada Ecosystem
Project (SNEP) and other regional, university, state and federal
programs to bear on the decision processes that affect the fate
of the Sierra Nevada.
The
California Resources Agency recently awarded funding to the Sierra
Nevada Network for Education and Research (SNNER) to conduct
a conservation analysis of the Sierran foothill zone. This project,
which was initiated in July 2000, is being conducted at UCSB and
involves integrating and refining existing biological data and
combining those data with socioeconomic data and information to
help prioritize foothill sites for conservation and restoration
activities.