Projects

NatureServe Vista is the central integration tool in an integrated land-sea planning (ILSP) toolkit developed and applied by NatureServe and various partners such as UTMSI, MANERR, Placeways, Placematters, NOAA, and SeaGrant. The toolkit is configured depending on factors such as the specific management issues and local technical capacity. In Aransas Bay, Texas, USA the project focused on creating future development patterns that could accomodate desired growth but with much less impact on biodiversity and cultural resources than the "business as usual" scenario. In the greater Charleston, South Carolina, USA metropolitan region, the focus was on minimizing threats to biodiversity and the human environment from coastal hazards. An article summarizing the methods and results for the Aransas Bay and Charleston projects is available from the Journal of Conservation Planning. Other projects include a rapid demonstration for Humboldt and Arcata Bays, California, USA which focused on sea level rise impact assessment and adaptation jointly on the natural and built environment; an application of the Refuge Vulnerability Assessment and Alternatives Framework on the DELMARVA Penninsula, Virginia, USA that incorporated development and sea level rise threats to urban areas, infrastructure, and a wildlife refuge; and most recently in the Northeast Ecological Corridor, Puerto Rico, USA which demonstrated an integrated conservation approach to terrestrial, freshwater, and marine biodiversity (see also slide show presented at the Esri Ocean GIS Forum).