Virginia Coastal Program: 2004 Coastal Grant Project Description and Final Summary
Project Task:
FY2004 Task 93.06
Grantee:
Department of Conservation & Recreation
Project Title:
Green Infrastructure GIS
Project Description as Proposed:
Green Infrastructure
is an interconnected network of protected land and water that supports
native species, maintains natural ecological processes, sustains
air and water resources, conserves working landscapes for human
uses such as agriculture and forestry, serves recreational open
space needs, and contributes to the health and quality of life for
our communities and people. The Virginia Conservation Lands Needs
Assessment (VCLNA), an integrated assemblage of datasets and prioritization
guidelines, serves as a flexible tool that can identify Green Infrastructure
according to the needs and strategies of different conservation
interests. One fundamental component of the VCLNA is the Virginia
Natural Lands Assessment (VANLA), which identifies ecologically-valuable
lands to serve as a base layer for Green Infrastructure.
In this project, with the guidance of a Green Infrastructure Advisory
Workgroup composed of key Coastal Partners, DCR will undertake use
of the VCLNA to map a consensus Green Infrastructure for the Coastal
Zone. The VANLA and this Coastal Zone Green Infrastructure are a
large part of the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program’s
Blue-Green Mapping Project and Policy Integration Strategy developed
during the last 309 Planning Cycle to better link local land use
ordinances to state water use policy.
Two next steps are needed to complete a comprehensive Green Infrastructure:
1) Revision of the pilot Natural Landscape Assessment to include
the entire coastal zone and be methodologically consistent with
the statewide VANLA. Revised methodologies will handle wetlands
more consistently, include natural land fragments smaller than cores
but important to localities for open space and recreation, and incorporate
additional datasets not available at the time of the pilot NLA.
2) Identification, assembly or creation, and integration of additional
geospatial datasets into the VCLNA to address the varied conservation
interests and needs of all the coastal partners.
Project GIS Specialists will work with DEQ staff to facilitate access
to data and analyses.
Federal Funding:
$86,989
Project Contact:
Jennifer Ciminelli, (804) 786-3375 , Jennifer.Ciminelli@dcr.virginia.gov
Project Status:
Project Completed
Final Product Received:
"Green Infrastructure GIS Advisory Workgroup Report - December 2006" (PDF)
"Virginia Green Infrastructure GIS Technical Report" (PDF)
Project Summary Provided by Grantee:
The Green Infrastructure GIS Project is built upon the Virginia Conservation Lands Needs Assessment (VCLNA), an integrated assemblage of geospatial datasets and conservation prioritization guidelines, with the goal to identify Green Infrastructure in the Virginia Coastal Zone. Green Infrastructure is an interconnected network of natural areas that conserves natural ecosystem functions, sustains clean air and water, and provides a wide array of benefits to human and wildlife. This project is unique in that it involved major stakeholders early and throughout the project period. With the guidance of a Green Infrastructure Advisory Workgroup composed of key Coastal Partners, and based on the scientific methods consistent with the state-wide VCLNA, DCR has identified, assembled or created, and integrated three major Green Infrastructure models.
Products of this project included:
- A Green Infrastructure Advisory Workgroup (GIAW) was formed, and the group met in April and June 2006 to identify issues to be addressed, datasets to be assembled or created, prioritization guidelines to be used, and products to be distributed. The group met again in December 2006 to discuss strategies for facilitating a continued statewide dialog regarding green infrastructure projects. GIAW meeting reports were delivered in PDF format.
- Three GIS models and associated data layers:
- Ecological Model — The VANLA land cover layer, needed for all VCLNA models requiring land cover, was developed during this grant period by assembling, cross-walking, and merging to RESAC 2000 land cover several NLCD images to fill in a buffer area around the state. The resulting image was corrected to remove misclassifications pertaining to natural grass, agriculture, marshes, beaches, dunes, urban, and barren classes. The VANLA land cover was analyzed to identify core areas and habitat fragments (a new feature type that includes patches of natural land with less interior area than cores, but that still may be important for resource conservation). Analyses were performed to create new data layers and add 45 prioritization attributes to the cores and habitat fragments shapefile.
- Cultural Model — The Cultural Model was conducted in partnership with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources and is a GIS polygon coverage which serves to delineate boundaries representing cultural asset values. The model is a compilation of datasets including archaeological, architectural sites and American Indian Lands weighted to reflect a specific cultural value, then summed together to represent a comprehensive cultural value.
- Vulnerability Model — The Vulnerability Model is a GIS coverage that was developed from a series of statistical and GIS driven analyses in order to map the predictive potential threat for land to be converted from its current use to an urban or suburban use.
Maps and map images were delivered on CDs, which can be easily distributed to localities and/or posted on-line.
The next step is to develop additional GIS models that are critical to a comprehensive Green Infrastructure blueprint. Examples include a forest economics model, a recreational model, a hydrologic integrity model, and agricultural model, in addition to developing natural landscape corridors, blocks and a composite ecological prioritization theme to complete the ecological model. Detailed descriptions and documentations of VCLNA and Green Infrastructure GIS are also available at http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/dnh/vclna.htm.
Disclaimer: This project summary provides the federal dollars initially awarded to the grantee. Due to underexpenditure or reprogramming of grant funds, this figure may change. For more information on the allocation of coastal grant funds, please contact Laura McKay, Virginia Coastal Program Manager, at 804.698.4323 or email: Laura.McKay@deq.virginia.gov
A more detailed Scope of Work for this project is available. Please direct your request for a copy to Virginia.Witmer@deq.virginia.gov
