GAP initiated a project with the Five Valleys Land Trust (FVLT) to demonstrate the application of GAP data to conservation activities. The Trust needed to identify priority areas for conservation in their large service area.
GAP provided FVLT with a summary of the land cover types protected by their holdings as well as a summary of land cover in their service area. Knowing the percent of each ecological system’s available habitat that was already rotected in the Northwest provided FVLT with context for landscape-level planning. The least protected ecological systems in the service area were mapped, with areas administered by other entities (Federal, State, other NGO, etc) removed, to determine potential priority areas for future conservatiion. The FLVT will evaluate these areas further using other conservation drivers from their Strategic Conservation Plan. They believe GAP data will addd validity to their projects, and provide a greater ecological context, which will increase opportunities for conservation and fundraising.
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View a chart of land cover types managed by Five Valleys Land Trust.