Chapter 6 Conservation Goals and Priorities
6.2.3.3 Green Growth Toolbox (GGT) The Green Growth Toolbox, coordinated by the NCWRC, is a free technical assistance program for local and regional governments, planners, advisory boards, and developers. The toolbox helps plan for growth in a way that will conserve natural assets—fish, wildlife, plants, streams, forests, fields, and wetlands. A handbook and GIS datasets provide mapping data, land-use planning methods, habitat conservation recommendations, and case studies for conservation of priority wildlife habitats through local land use planning, policymaking, model ordinance language, and development design. Biologists provide technical assistance to local governments to encourage and support community conservation efforts. Online at https://www.ncwildlife.gov/wildlife-habitat/conservation-restoration-programs/green-growth- toolbox. 6.2.3.4 NC Gap Analysis Project (NC-GAP) NC-GAP is the state-level representative of the National Gap Analysis Program, sponsored by the Biological Resources Division of the US Geological Survey (USGS). The mission of the program is to conduct regional assessments of the conservation status of native terrestrial vertebrate species and natural land cover types, and to facilitate the application of this information to land management activities. The goal of the NC-GAP project is to assess the distribution and conservation status of biodiversity in the state under existing land ownership and management regimes. More information is available on the NC State University Biodiversity and Spatial Information Center website at http://www.gapserve.ncsu.edu. Additionally, the NC-GAP Geo-Data Server was developed to provide access to species distribution, stewardship, and land cover data in an interactive map format. Data in Esri ArcInfo (www.esri.com) data format (grids and coverages) can be downloaded through the Geo-Data Download interface. All data can be viewed through the GAP Online Tool. Geo-data can be downloaded from the NCGAP website online at http://www.basic.ncsu.edu/ncgap/DataServer.html. 6.2.3.5 Data Basin Data Basin is a science-based mapping and analysis platform that supports learning, research, and sustainable environmental stewardship. Datasets are spatial information, typically created using a GIS. Datasets contain local, regional, and global geospatial information. Biological, physical, and socioeconomic information also is available. A dataset could be coordinates where a bird species has been observed, boundaries of land managed in various ways, a thematic image of vegetation types, or the results of a model that shows changes in the habitat distribution of a species under different climate change scenarios. The web page is online at https://databasin.org. The core of Data Basin is free and provides open access to thousands of scientifically grounded, biological, physical, and socioeconomic datasets. A large and continually growing body of datasets, including both raw data (e.g., monitoring data on temperature and precipitation, road
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2025 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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