Protected Areas Databases: The Next Generation

Michigan DNR's approach to selecting biodiversity stewardship areas (representative functional landscapes) on 4.6 million acres of state land using a state level protected areas database

Glenn Palmgren

Friday, October 17, 2008 - 2:30-3:00

The Michigan DNR’s Biodiversity Conservation Planning Process has a goal of developing a representative network of conservation areas where the priority for management will be the maintenance, enhancement, or restoration of high quality natural communities. This presentation reports on a GIS based modeling effort that uses a variety of existing databases, including a protected areas database, with expert opinion, to identify potential high quality natural communities in functional landscapes. The protected areas database is combined with a variety of management designations to produce a single raster data set that is used to evaluate the costs of a change in management direction on these areas to DNR programs.

Keywords: BIODIVERSITY, CONSERVATION PLANNING, FOREST MANAGEMENT, FUNCTIONAL LANDSCAPES, GAP, GIS, NATURAL COMMUNITIES, PROTECTED AREAS, REPRESENTATIVENESS, SUSTAINABLE FOREST CERTIFICATION