Building Capacity for Coastal Conservation Planning in Georgia

Presentation on Building Capacity for Coastal Conservation Planning in Georgia by Ian Varley and Patrick Crist of NatureServe (November 9, 2011. Coastal Georgia (U.S.) is under intense development pressure and faces increased threats through global climate change. Although the state's coastal habitats are in a relatively natural condition compared to other East Coast states, without immediate action these stressors are likely to cause irreparable loss of significant ecosystem processes and wildlife habitat that have supported Georgia's coastal communities for centuries. This project utilized a variety of EBM tools to assess current and future threats to biodiversity throughout the 11-county coastal region and in-depth in two pilot counties and also developed conservation priorities. MaxEnt was used to develop predicted species distribution models, and Circuitscape was used to model connectivity among species’ populations. We constructed scenarios using NatureServe Vista to express threats from land use, infrastructure, management practices, and sea level rise over multiple timeframes to identify ecosystems, habitats, and species under greatest threat. We then utilized Marxan to create conservation scenarios. State, regional and local organizations were provided the conservation database,methods, decision support tools, and training in the use of the system to continue the adaptive planning and implementation process. Learn more at http://www.accg.org/content.asp?contentid=1534.

No recording of this webinar is available. Please contact Patrick Crist at patrick (underscore) crist (at) natureserve (dot) org for more information on the project.