The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has teamed with Google to create a map of areas in the Western U.S. that shouldn’t be considered for wind towers or transmission lines in order to preserve wildlife and wilderness. NRDC acknowledges the need for renewable energy development for a lighter impact on the planet, but also wants to raise awareness about the fragility of Western ecosystems.
NRDC has analyzed the western lands that are protected by local, state and federal regulations and has color coed a map to show these areas that should be considered off limits for energy development. The color coded map shows areas where energy development is prohibited due to land use plans and policies such as natural parks or wildlife preserves, it shows areas that are restricted such as lands protected for critical habitat for endangered and threatened species, and it includes areas that should be avoided because of proximity to parks or because they’re being considered for wilderness preservation.
The interactive map is intended as a starting point for initial decision making on a regional level. The group has analyzed lands in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming with an area of 860 million acres.
While this initiative specifically targets areas of environmental protection, there are other initiatives underway to map the location of potential renewable energy development in the West. The Western Governors Association has an initiative to map and model renewable energy zones, and The Department of Interior is also looking at the feasibility of public lands for energy development.
Visit the NRDC website for an overview of the project and a user’s guide. Use this link to access the mapping tool via Google Earth.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
“Was Google Earth used to make these maps?”
Was Google Earth used to create those maps .. or GE is only a visualization tool. Even the NRDC website mentions “NRDC has used Google Earth to analyze lands and resources protected by local, state and federal regulations, determining which areas are best kept off limits to energy development.”
Does analysis only means in a visualization perspective or does analysis also include the Thematic maps created… I know Google is not a fully fledged GIS
- that we in the Geospatial community have many a times asked…
I tried to dig a little bit.. and found this piece of info under the Grouse Breeding Density layer’s Description “We processed this information in a
computer based Geographic Information System across the eastern portion of the sage-grouse range ..”
My understanding is that Google Earth is only the visualization medium. GIS would certainly be involved in compiling boundaries for all the protected areas, and certainly some of these data sets for public lands and wilderness areas exist as shapefile boundaries freely available from federal agencies.
That is true Matt.. The data was already there already existing. So, does it mean that others had no interest in making such things happen in the Geo world. For this we must appreciate the GE Outreach program. I think it is certainly providing a wide marketing base for Geospatial, that was not other wise possible by the GIS companies.
Also another point I find here is that GIS is only the smaller picture considering the community point of view is considered. The benefits that the community can have from Geo tools is what needed to be achieved,and it has has proven the point.