Skip to main content
Duke University Libraries
DukeSpace Scholarship by Duke Authors
  • Login
  • Ask
  • Menu
  • Login
  • Ask a Librarian
  • Search & Find
  • Using the Library
  • Research Support
  • Course Support
  • Libraries
  • About
View Item 
  •   DukeSpace
  • Theses and Dissertations
  • Nicholas School of the Environment
  • View Item
  •   DukeSpace
  • Theses and Dissertations
  • Nicholas School of the Environment
  • View Item
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Prioritizing Land Conservation to Protect Water Quality in North Carolina's Triangle Region

Thumbnail
View / Download
3.4 Mb
Date
2015-04-24
Author
Chapin, Emily
Advisor
Urban, Dean
Repository Usage Stats
284
views
265
downloads
Abstract
The Triangle is a rapidly urbanizing region in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Excessive run-off of nitrogen, phosphorus, sediment, and other pollutants associated with urban development and poor agricultural practices increasingly threaten the region’s water quality. The Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC), a local land trust, works in this region to safeguard the Triangle’s surface water quality. TLC reduces threats to regions of high quality water by protecting lands along streams because it is broadly understood that protecting land from development is one of the most cost effective ways to preserve nearby areas of high-quality water. The primary goal of this study is to help guide TLC in their strategic conservation planning through the development of a computer-driven site prioritization tool. The tool ranks areas of high water quality value in the Triangle using a GIS-based approach to Multi Criteria Decision Analysis. The tool specifically focuses on identifying areas of existing high water quality value in the Triangle region rather than identifying potential areas for high impact restoration projects. In developing the tool, the following criteria were used to assess locations based on their raw water quality value: 1.) various forms of land use and land cover; 2.) effectiveness of vegetated riparian buffers; 3.) amount of aquatic biodiversity; and 4.) adjacency to conserved lands. The prioritization tool is intended to be user-friendly so that decision makers at TLC can conduct their own prioritization analyses in the future. In response to the reality of scarce funding opportunities available to local land trusts, the tool also permits user flexibility by allowing the user to manipulate the actual prioritization method. Versatility in the prioritization process is incorporated so that TLC can respond to different decision making contexts and funding opportunities while still being strategic in how they protect the Triangle’s water resources. The secondary goal of this study aims to integrate two key components of TLC’s mission, which are to protect water quality and protect natural habitat, in order to synthesize opportunities for TLC to leverage greater conservation benefits through land protection. This component builds upon a prior assessment of natural habitat, which focused on prioritizing areas of high natural habitat value in the Triangle. In order to leverage two parts of TLC’s work, this study identifies effective riparian buffers that connect important habitat patches of high conservation value.
Type
Master's project
Department
Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences
Subject
prioritization, water quality, land conservation, multi-criteria decision analysis
Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9676
Citation
Chapin, Emily (2015). Prioritizing Land Conservation to Protect Water Quality in North Carolina's Triangle Region. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9676.
Collections
  • Nicholas School of the Environment
More Info
Show full item record
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Rights for Collection: Nicholas School of the Environment


Works are deposited here by their authors, and represent their research and opinions, not that of Duke University. Some materials and descriptions may include offensive content. More info

Make Your Work Available Here

How to Deposit

Browse

All of DukeSpaceCommunities & CollectionsAuthorsTitlesTypesBy Issue DateDepartmentsAffiliations of Duke Author(s)SubjectsBy Submit DateThis CollectionAuthorsTitlesTypesBy Issue DateDepartmentsAffiliations of Duke Author(s)SubjectsBy Submit Date

My Account

LoginRegister

Statistics

View Usage Statistics
Duke University Libraries

Contact Us

411 Chapel Drive
Durham, NC 27708
(919) 660-5870
Perkins Library Service Desk

Digital Repositories at Duke

  • Report a problem with the repositories
  • About digital repositories at Duke
  • Accessibility Policy
  • Deaccession and DMCA Takedown Policy

TwitterFacebookYouTubeFlickrInstagramBlogs

Sign Up for Our Newsletter
  • Re-use & Attribution / Privacy
  • Harmful Language Statement
  • Support the Libraries
Duke University