Confession time: I love maps. I’m one of those people who occasionally falls down a Google Maps rabbit hole, following the path of a river to its headwaters, or exploring far-flung islands in the Pacific Ocean, or tracing the boundaries of a national park.
So with California making plans to protect 30% of its lands and coastal waters by 2030 — a final strategy report from the state’s Natural Resources Agency is due out next week — I was intrigued to learn of a new mapping tool to support that “30 by 30" goal.
The CA Nature website allows Californians to pore over the landscape and consider which areas they might want to see protected in the future. The site’s “conserved areas explorer” shows the 24.1 million acres — just under 24% of the state’s land area — that are already conserved, many of them as parks, forests and preserves. Other interactive maps show which lands and waters offer the greatest biodiversity, and how rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns are expected to alter the state’s landscapes.
The Redlands-based geographic information systems company Esri built the website for state officials. I’ve found some of the maps difficult to navigate — the biodiversity and climate impact pages in particular — and several features are still being added before Earth Day next week, including an “access” tool to illustrate opportunities for more equitable access to green space.
Love maps and want to save California's wild spaces? This site is for you
So with California making plans to protect 30% of its lands and coastal waters by 2030 — a final strategy report from the state’s Natural Resources Agency is due out next week — I was intrigued to learn of a new mapping tool to support that “30 by 30" goal.
The CA Nature website allows Californians to pore over the landscape and consider which areas they might want to see protected in the future. The site’s “conserved areas explorer” shows the 24.1 million acres — just under 24% of the state’s land area — that are already conserved, many of them as parks, forests and preserves. Other interactive maps show which lands and waters offer the greatest biodiversity, and how rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns are expected to alter the state’s landscapes.
The Redlands-based geographic information systems company Esri built the website for state officials. I’ve found some of the maps difficult to navigate — the biodiversity and climate impact pages in particular — and several features are still being added before Earth Day next week, including an “access” tool to illustrate opportunities for more equitable access to green space.
Love maps and want to save California's wild spaces? This site is for you