National Geographic - Identifying Conservation priorities Near You

Seeing Green: How to Identify Conservation Priorities Near You

A key step in protecting natural resources is to identify those areas that are important to conserve. The concept of green infrastructure aims to do just that—it’s a strategically planned and managed network of natural lands, open spaces, wildlife habitats, parks, and other assets that serve plant and animal species while at the same time absorbing air pollution and filtering and cleaning our water.

Through Esri's National Green Infrastructure Initiative, you can explore an area’s conservation potential through applications that can be customized to align with the values that matter most to you. Along with local data, this information can be used to identify your community’s most important natural assets, to detect areas at greatest risk of being lost, to locate degraded areas that can be restored, and to further enhance a landscape’s function by connecting fragmented natural areas.

See the tool and read the full article and downloadable posters at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2016/12/green-spaces-supplement/