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Colorado Natural Heritage Program: Partnership Opportunities for Land Trusts
By John Armstrong & Katie Pague, CNHP The Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) serves as an information clearinghouse, specializing in the collection and dissemination of information on the state’s rare and imperiled plant and animal species and its significant plant communities. CNHP provides information and scientific and planning assistance to conservation organizations, land owners, planners, policy makers, and land managers. By providing scientific information, consultation and planning assistance, CNHP has helped to conserve some of Colorado’s most significant and important open spaces. Although many land trusts are familiar with the program, many do not realize that many of CNHP's information products and services are provided free-of-charge to non-profit organizations. Products: What's Available to Land Trusts? CNHP provides three main types of information products to land trusts: locations of vulnerable species and plants; Potential Conservation Area boundaries; and publications and inventory reports. The Program provides locational information on Colorado’s most significant and vulnerable biological resources. Environmental reviews, which are provided free-of-charge to land trusts, document the existence and occurrence of rare or threatened plant or animal species and significant plant communities. CNHP locational information is also accessible online via the NDIS (Natural Diversity Information Source) website, which is located at http://ndis.nrel.colostate.edu/. NDIS provides an interactive mapping display feature that allows CNHP information to be viewed using a standard web browser. Maps of Potential Conservation Area boundaries, which depict planning areas drawn for occurrences of vulnerable species and plant communities, are also available. PCAs show the area that captures the ecological processes that are necessary to support the continued existence of one or more elements of natural heritage significance. PCAs do not have regulatory authority, but are provided to land trusts for planning purposes and interpretative guidance. A map of a Potential Conservation Areas occurring in a project area is included in an environmental review. In addition, GIS data layers can be downloaded free-of-charge from the NDIS website. The CNHP Program also provides various publications and inventory reports, many of which are available for free. (See the Resource Sidebar for a detailed description of these reports.) Services: What will CNHP scientists and planners provide to land trusts? CNHP provides a wide variety of conservation-related services to land trusts and other organizations. CNHP scientists are available for consultation and can assist with ecological assessments of project areas. CNHP planning staff can help with project coordination, facilitation, site design and management strategies. If a land trust is involved in a project that would be time or resource intensive, such as a larger ecosystem-based project, CNHP can help write grant proposals. Many of these services are available to land trusts free of charge. Making the Most of CNHP's Information and Services: Partnership Opportunities By requesting a review of a project area or proposed acquisition site, land trusts can assess the significance of an area's biological resources. This information is useful for determining the conservation values of a parcel and provides an objective, science-based rationale for a land trust to secure project funding. In addition, informational and planning assistance from CNHP can help land trusts set conservation and management priorities to best protect the natural resource values of the property and find partners with similar conservation objectives. By offering its services to land trusts across Colorado, CNHP hopes to facilitate partnerships with community-based conservation organizations and provide a bridge between the scientific and the land trust communities. Toward The Future It is estimated that by the year 2020, Colorado will have experienced a population increase of over 33%. The number of Colorado residents is expected to surpass 1.5 million. Over 250,000 new structures must be built to accommodate the increase. Given this climate, CNHP is looking ahead to partner with conservation organizations and landowners to conserve Colorado’s natural legacy. By targeting CNHP inventories and information collection to areas of highest predicted growth and biological importance, providing proactive conservation planning assistance to land trusts and other conservation organizations, and publicizing the wealth of information, tools and services available to Colorado’s communities from CNHP, the program hopes to build new partnerships to protect Colorado’s most significant natural areas. For more information about this outreach effort, please contact Katie Pague, Partnership Coordinator at (970) 491-0992 or e-mail |
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