The Emerging Role of GIS in Precision Conservation

To help identify potential hotspots in the landscape, Chesapeake Conservancy is developing new high resolution datasets that can help both conservation planners and property owners better understand how water flows across the landscape and what it interacts with before reaching streams flowing towards the Chesapeake Bay. Using these technologies to determine the landscape characteristics across an entire watershed provides us with a greater ability to target projects at the parcel scale that will help maintain water quality and critical habitats and allows us to prioritize areas where restoration activities will have the greatest impact on improving water quality. These technologies not only provide us with greater expertise for our land conservation efforts, they ensure that conservation organizations across the Chesapeake Bay watershed have the tools they need to make wise investments that provide real results and that the land that is essential to restoring the health of the Chesapeake Bay is protected.