California Rangeland Priority Conservation Areas

This is the summarized output of priority rangeland conservation areas developed by the California Rangeland Conservation Coaltion. The Coalition is a partnership between ranchers, environmentalists, and land management agencies to develop approaches to protect rangeland resources in the State.

The planning that resulted in these data was the result of the work of the Focus Areas committee of the coalition during much of 2006 and early 2007. The committee used spatial data and a site-selection algorithm, Marxan (v.1.8.2) to assemble scenarios to meet conservation goals. We assembled data on vegetation systems and species (both called conservation targets) characteristic and dependent on grasslands and oak woodland ecosystems. These data were either observed or modeled and were meant to represent the most accurate and comprehensive data available to represent the location and status of conservation targets.

This layer was developed by simplifying and grouping output from Marxan scenarios and stakeholder input to identify areas that are important or critical for conservation goals. These tiers of importance are based on how many times Marxan selected a planning unit to meet conservation goals. It also includes selected sites that were selected based on expert input on biological value. There are certainly areas that are not well mapped in terms of their rangeland biodoversity value, and conversely there may be areas that are prioritized for this process that have been degraded. It is imperative to field-check areas before conservation activity and investment and not rely solely on broad characterizations of resource value such as this GIS layer.