Planning conservation efforts

Planners may be faced with decisions about where to focus conservation efforts. The ReVA toolkit can assist the planning effort by locating areas in greatest need of protection. The areas in need of protection can be characterized as those:

1. in the best environmental condition at present and
2. at risk of being degraded by impacts in the near future.

Different conservation actions may be needed to protect terrestrial vs. aquatic resources. Terrestrial systems may require zoning regulations to control development or forest harvest regulations to prevent fragmentation. In contrast, aquatic systems may require control of nutrient inputs or elimination of invading exotic species. It is useful, therefore, to look at both the overall regional pattern and also focus separately on the terrestrial and aquatic systems.

The ReVA toolkit produces a map showing the watersheds in greatest need of conservation in blue. The user is encouraged to explore the three options:

All Variables

Terrestrial Variables

Aquatic Variables