Conservation Geography (Paperback)

Description:

In nature, location means everything. Ecology consists of many factors -- species, soils, water resources, history -- interacting across a landscape to create rich and varied patterns among natural communities and processes. The most powerful tool for conservation is one that allows the integration of knowledge from taxonomy, hydrology, demography, economics, and other fields into a single analytical framework.

That framework is geography; the tool is geographic information systems, or GIS.

Conservation Geography: Case Studies in GIS, Computer Mapping, and Activism tells of the ways GIS is revolutionizing the work of nonprofit organizations and conservation groups worldwide as they rush to save the earth's plants, animals, and cultural and natural resources. Their endeavors, as described in these pages, portray conservation in its broadest sense, including efforts for environmental justice, land preservation, indigenous rights, and species preservation. Their work encircles the globe, from New York City to Kenya to Borneo to Puget Sound. Their efforts touch living creatures of every size and description, from ocean-traversing sea turtles to elephants lumbering across the African plain. Their labor helps bring legal challenges to corporate polluters, and full access to environmental information for any citizen who needs it.

As these pages show clearly, the power of computers and GIS is transforming the way environmental problems and conservation issues are identified, measured, and ultimately, resolved.

 

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Part I: Environmental Justice and Citizen Science

The Community Builders, Inc.

Environmental Defense GIS Program

New York City Environmental Justice Alliance

City Scan -- Empowering Urban Neighborhoods Through Technology

Pohatcong Creek Watershed Association

Mount Desert Island Water Quality Coalition

Lelania Avila: Community Service in the Schools

Part II: Watershed GIS

Housatonic Valley Association, Inc.

The Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council

Cannon River Watershed Partnership

Sonoma Ecology Center

Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Bayou Preservation Association, Inc.

Part III: Forest GIS

Forest Community Research

Forest Issues Group GIS Progress

Gifford Pinchot Task Force

Oregon Natural Resources Council

Part IV: Conservation Design

Craighead Environmental Research Institute

LEGACY -- The Landscape Connection

The Bioreserve Strategy for Conserving Biodiversity

Biodiversity Associates

Part V: Landscape Conservation

Appalachian Mountain Club's GIS Program

The Conservation Fund

Pacific Biodiversity Institute

Save The Redwoods League Conservation GIS Program

Southern Appalachian Forest Coalition: GIS Program Progress Report

New Mexico Wilderness Alliance

Southern Rockies Ecosystem Project

Western Slope Environmental Resource Council

American Wildlands

Part VI: Species Geography

The Role of Geographic Tools at Natural History Museums

New York Botanical Garden GIS Program

African Elephant Monitoring Project

Predator Conservation Alliance

California Academy of Sciences Herpetology Project

Part VII: Bird GIS

Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust

Bird Studies Canada GIS Program

Point Reyes Bird Observatory

The Vermont Institute of Natural Science

Comanche Pool Prairie Resource Foundation

Institute for Wildlife Studies GIS Strategy

Part VIII: Marine Geography

Monitoring Dolphin Behavior and the Effects of Restoration

Marine Life Alliance

Multiple Marine Uses of GIS

USGS Glacier Bay Field Station Develops GIS Tools

People for Puget Sound's Estuary Habitat Program

The Baja California to Bering Sea Mapping Initiative

Heal the Bay: Community Action Group Uses GIS to Change Policy

Growing a National Database

Effective Use of Volunteer Resources: GIS in Community Activism

Tuna Distribution in Relation to Physical Features in the Gulf of Maine

Tracking Sea Turtles: Conservation from Space

Moored Buoy Site Evaluations

Shoreline Metadata Profile

Part IX: Mapping Nature's Diversity: The Wildlife Conservation Society

International GIS Support for Wildlife Conservation

Laikipia Predator Project, Kenya

Use of ArcView GIS in the Africa Program

Indonesia Species Conservation

Indonesia Conservation GIS

Museo de Historia Natural Noel Kempff Mercado, Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Mamiraua Project -- Sociedade Civil Mamiraua, Brazil

Mesoamerican and Caribbean Program, Guatemala

China Program

Myanmar Program

Part X: Conservation Worldwide: The Society for Conservation GIS

GIS Activities at World Wildlife Fund Canada for 2000

Conservation GIS in Altai Mountains, Russia

A Trip Around the World with the SCGIS International Community

The Last Frontier Forests of the Russian European North

E-misszio Environmental Association, Hungary

Clean Water Club, Bulgaria

GIS at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute, Colombia

A Biodiversity Vision for the Northern Andes Ecoregional Complex

Ecoregional Planning and Monitoring for the Choco

SCGIS Scholars Report

La Campana -- Penuelas Biosphere Reserve, Central Chile

Fundacion Conservacion Internacional, Peru

Anthrowatch, Philippines

"Survivors" -- For Borneo's People, It's Not Just a TV Show

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia)

Madagascar Biodiversity Plateform D'Analyses Project

Care Madagascar: Safe Water Project

Cheetah Conservation Fund

Innovative Resources Management, Inc.

Malawi Ornithological Society

Save the Elephants

Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology

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