Increasing human population has been a driving force in the rapid development of Virginia in recent decades. Of all the development that has occurred in the last 400 years, more than a quarter of it has taken place in the last 15 years. If Virginia continues to grow as it has, more land will be developed in the next 40 years than have been since the Jamestown settlement was established in 1607. The population of Virginia is predicted to increase 5% by the year 2010, by almost 15% by the year 2020, and by nearly 24% by the year 2030. The pressures of development will increase as the population continues to increase, thus land conservation must become a prominent consideration in all land planning efforts at the local, regional, and commonwealth levels if we are to effectively conserve lands for future generations. These lands provide benefits in terms of open space, recreation, cultural and historic resource protection, natural resource protection, water quality improvement and maintenance, and carbon sequestration, along with the economic benefits associated with these functions. The Virginia Conservation Lands Needs Assessment (VCLNA) can help guide effective conservation by providing tools that help both government and private organizations identify resource protection areas and that, at the local level, help planners manage growth in a balanced way.
Balanced land use and land conservation were major themes in Governor Timothy Kaine’s speech at the 2006 Environment Virginia Conference. Here are some quotes from that speech:
“As we partner to protect Virginia’s outdoors, we must put balance at the center of land use decisions. We must create an effective model that encourages redevelopment in cities and suburbs and discourages the wasteful and unnecessary consumption of land farther out from our population centers. And we must reward communities that adopt and use balanced growth policies with economic development assistance and other incentives.”
“Balanced land use is about foresight. It’s about understanding the needs of today and weighing them against the needs of tomorrow. It’s about solutions that meet both the short term needs of business and the long term needs of a community. It’s about considering all the ramifications of growth, from the logistical burden it places on public resources to the quality of life burden it places on people in terms of energy usage, commute times and community quality. It’s about rejecting the false choice of growth or no growth and replacing it with growth that is sustainable.”
“Since 1968, Virginia has preserved 330,000 acres of land. Most of that has been preserved in the past five years. The goal of my administration is for the state to preserve an additional 400,000 acres by the end of the decade. To accomplish that, we rely heavily upon the open space protection tools that have served Virginia well: Our land preservation tax credit and the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation.”
The VCLNA will be used by DCR to prioritize conservation targets for the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation.
What is the Virginia Conservation Lands Needs Assessment (VCLNA)?
The VCLNA is a flexible, widely applicable tool for integrating and coordinating the needs and strategies of different conservation interests, using GIS (Geographic Information System) to model and map land conservation priorities and actions in Virginia. The VCLNA allows the manipulation of issue-specific data sets that can be weighted and overlaid to reflect the needs and concerns of a variety of conservation partners - issues like:
Click here for a presentation on the Virginia Conservation Lands Needs Assessment
Green Infrastructure / VCLNA GIS Models
In an effort to make the VCLNA a comprehensive green infrastructure planning tool additional geospatial data sets are being created for the varied needs of additional conservation partners. The Chesapeake Bay Program has identified some available data sets and created useful models as part of their Resource Lands Assessment. DCR has built on the GIS models used for the Chesapeake Bay Program's Resource Lands Assessment, modifying methodology, adjusting weights, and adding data to tailor them specifically for Virginia interests. The Virginia Coastal Program and the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation are funding the VCLNA. Depending on needs identified, other data sets might include or address:
DCR-DNH has made strides in recent years in the development of the main ecological component of the VCLNA with the completion of the Coastal Zone Natural Landscape Assessment (VANLA). Although the VANLA provides a good starting point identifying “green infrastructure”, there are additional components to consider for a more comprehensive Green Infrastructure GIS model in Virginia. DCR-DNH is expanding the VCLNA to include data for cultural and historic resources, population growth / vulnerability, sustainable forestry / forest economics, prime agricultural soils, outdoor recreation, drinking water protection and water quality.
To read more detailed information about the ongoing VCLNA project, click to open a PDF document (requires the free Adobe Reader to open).
Page last updated 4/06.
