Browsing by Author "Fay, John Patrick"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Ecosystem Services in a Conservation Planning Framework
    (2009-04-24T13:53:29Z) Cooley, David
    Natural ecosystems provide several important services to society, including water purification, crop pollination, and carbon storage. Until recently, however, these services were not paid for in market transactions, giving landowners little incentive to provide services at optimal levels. Payments for ecosystem services (PES) have addressed this by compensating landowners for the services they provide. PES have the potential to become powerful tools for conservation work, prompting the need for conservation planning for these services. In this project, the modeling tool InVEST was used to determine the spatial distributions of four ecosystem services (carbon storage, water purification, pollination, and biodiversity protection) for a study area in North Carolina. The outputs of these models were then overlaid to determine areas of the landscape that are important for the provision of multiple services. The individual and multiple ecosystem service maps were then used to help prioritize investment in specific property parcels based on the ecosystem services each provides under several land use change scenarios, including afforestation, wetland restoration, and the planting of riparian buffers.
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    Estimating the Nutrient and Sediment Pollution Impacts of Land Use Conversion in the Chesapeake Bay
    (2024-04-25) Davidson, Kelly; Lam, Ariel; Zungailia, Isabel
    The Chesapeake Bay faces ongoing challenges regarding excess nutrient and sediment pollution as a result of increased urbanization which threatens aquatic ecosystem health. To address these challenges, the Chesapeake Legal Alliance is interested in exploring the relationship between land use conversion and resulting nutrient and sediment pollution loads delivered to the Bay. Our retrospective geospatial analysis from 2013 to 2018 on land use conversion in Anne Arundel county, Maryland reveals that estimated natural land use acreage decreased by 0.75%, developed land use acreage increased by 4.33%, and agricultural land use acreage decreased by 1.43%. These changes to land use within our study area, along with the Chesapeake Assessment Loading Tool (CAST) projections, estimate that total phosphorus loadings decreased by 3.02%, nitrogen loadings decreased by 1.97%, and sediment loadings decreased by 1.38%. Our findings are presented as an interactive dashboard at the parcel-level across Anne Arundel county, with a focus on parcels that experienced significant land use change.
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    Geospatial Analysis of Select Ecosystem Services provided by the Protected Lands of The Land Trust for Central North Carolina
    (2013-04-24) Montgomery, Alison; Zhu, Di
    The Land Trust for Central North Carolina is a non-profit organization that works to protect and preserve land – natural areas, rural landscapes, family farms, and historic places within North Carolina’s heartland. For this client, we were tasked with performing an ecosystem service analysis to determine the benefits that The LandTrust’s properties offer to humans. Of the many ecosystem services these properties generate for human benefit, we examined water quality, carbon storage, and recreation using geospatial data available from the USGS, the US Census Bureau, and NC OneMap to demonstrate the value of land protection. To aid in future conservation decisions, we also determined land use change and forest type change in The Land Trusts’ counties of operation on non-protected lands. Through geospatial analysis, we were able to quantify these select ecosystem services, which will aid in making these abstract ecosystem services more tangible. Our non-monetary quantification of 3 ecosystem services from already protected lands will help The LandTrust describe the benefits of land for a range of different interest groups. With our land use and forest changes results, The Land Trust can further focus conservation efforts on areas that are likely to be impacted from development and land use change. This ecosystem service analysis also lays a framework for future ecosystem service studies, such as those that examine other ecosystem services or that involve economic valuation of ecosystem services.
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    ItemOpen Access
    Geospatial Analysis of Select Ecosystem Services provided by the Protected Lands of The Land Trust for Central North Carolina
    (2013-04-24) Montgomery, Alison; Zhu, Di
    The Land Trust for Central North Carolina is a non-profit organization that works to protect and preserve land – natural areas, rural landscapes, family farms, and historic places within North Carolina’s heartland. For this client, we were tasked with performing an ecosystem service analysis to determine the benefits that The LandTrust’s properties offer to humans. Of the many ecosystem services these properties generate for human benefit, we examined water quality, carbon storage, and recreation using geospatial data available from the USGS, the US Census Bureau, and NC OneMap to demonstrate the value of land protection. To aid in future conservation decisions, we also determined land use change and forest type change in The Land Trusts’ counties of operation on non-protected lands. Through geospatial analysis, we were able to quantify these select ecosystem services, which will aid in making these abstract ecosystem services more tangible. Our non-monetary quantification of 3 ecosystem services from already protected lands will help The LandTrust describe the benefits of land for a range of different interest groups. With our land use and forest changes results, The Land Trust can further focus conservation efforts on areas that are likely to be impacted from development and land use change. This ecosystem service analysis also lays a framework for future ecosystem service studies, such as those that examine other ecosystem services or that involve economic valuation of ecosystem services.
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    Water Usage Geospatial Tool and Maintenance Plan for a Southern California Demonstration Garden
    (2012-04-24) Packer, Christopher
    Southern California faces the potential of future water shortages due to increasing population and uncertain supplies of water. Over half of water consumption in the region is attributed to residential use with over half of this amount typically attributed to outdoor use. While new supply sources should be investigated, conservation efforts can drastically decrease water consumption. Numerous sources have pointed to water efficient landscaping practices as an effective means by which to accomplish this. As part of an internship, I helped Orange County Coastkeeper complete work on a 2-acre demonstration garden in Orange, CA. The garden will serve to promote efficient irrigation practices, drought tolerant plants, and other efficient landscaping practices. In order to help convey the message of water-efficient landscaping, I developed a geospatial tool that visitors to the garden can use to estimate water use when employing practices seen in the garden. The tool uses the Landscape Coefficient Method (LCM) and Water Use Classification of Landscape Species III (WUCOLS) which were developed by University of California Cooperative Extension and initiated by the California Department of Water Resources. Visitors of the garden will be able to access a webpage where they can select their yard or area to be landscaped on a Google map. After their selection regional and areal information will be sent to a tool hosted on an ArcGIS Server and the resulting water requirements returned to the user. In addition to helping Coastkeeper promote its message to visitors I have developed a maintenance plan for use by those working at the garden. The plan includes pruning, mulching, watering, and pest guides relevant to the region, as well as quick reference guides by season and a comprehensive species characteristics listing. The plan will help in the operation of the garden, and be used as a resource to educate visitors.