,California supports one of the greatest displays of biodiversity in the nation and the world. The challenge posed by the 30x30 initiative, is to plan and implement conservation strategies which allow all Californians to continue to flourish and succeed, while also ensuring that we safeguard the great abundance of species which reside in this state, and in many cases, exist nowhere else on Earth.,Maximizing the benefits of 30x30 for everyone requires, among many other factors, deliberate consideration of the landscape and the ways in which biodiversity is distributed within it. This Explorer introduces several types of biodiversity data for stakeholders to consider when engaged in conservation planning.,The Biodiversity Explorer includes dashboards for the Areas of Conservation Emphasis (ACE) and Habitat and Land Cover datasets. These allow deeper explorations of the state’s exceptional biodiversity and the current state of conservation by land cover.,The Areas of Conservation Emphasis (ACE) dashboard presents summaries of species data collected and analyzed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) as part of its ongoing ACE project. ACE rolls multiple types of Species Richness into a Biodiversity Index, and also considers Connectivity, Climate Resilience, and Significant Habitats, all important factors to species and ecological health.,The Habitat and Land Cover dashboard presents maps and summaries of land cover according to categories defined by the California Wildlife Habitat Relationship System (CWHR) maintained by CDFW. Conserving connected networks of all land cover types is key to conserving the species which depend upon them. The Habitat and Land Cover dashboard shows the percentage that each land cover type comprises within a county or ecoregion, and the degree to which it falls within already conserved areas.,

,The Biodiversity Explorer is a set of maps and summary information on species, natural communities, and habitat types tracked by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). Information is drawn from several key datasets of the Areas of Conservation Emphasis (ACE) project, and multiple vegetation mapping efforts across the state. A user can define an area of interest within an ecoregion to concurrently view aggregated landscape rankings from several ACE biodiversity indices, or view statistics on the conservation status of habitat types from within the Habitat and Land Cover dashboard.,,

,In October 2020, Governor Newsom signed his Nature Based Solutions Executive Order N-82-20, elevating the role of natural and working lands in the fight against climate change and advancing biodiversity conservation as an administration priority.,30x30 is part of an international movement, to use conservation of natural areas to protect biodiversity and combat climate change.,To date, over 70 countries have signed onto the pledge...,

,The Biodiversity Explorer is a set of maps and summary information on species, natural communities, and habitat types tracked by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). Information is drawn from several key datasets of the Areas of Conservation Emphasis (ACE) project, and multiple vegetation mapping efforts across the state. A user can define an area of interest within an ecoregion to concurrently view aggregated landscape rankings from several ACE biodiversity indices, or view statistics on the conservation status of habitat types from within the Habitat and Land Cover dashboard.,,

,The Terrestrial 30x30 Conserved Areas map layer was developed by the CA Nature working group, providing a statewide perspective on areas managed for the protection or enhancement of biodiversity. Understanding the spatial distribution and extent of these durably protected and managed areas is a vital aspect of tracking and achieving the “30x30” goal of conserving 30% of California's lands and waters by 2030.,Terrestrial and Freshwater Data • The California Protected Areas Database (CPAD), developed and managed by GreenInfo Network, is the most comprehensive collection of data on open space in California. CPAD data consists of Holdings, a single parcel or small group of parcels which comprise the spatial features of CPAD, generally corresponding to ownership boundaries.,• The California Conservation Easement Database (CCED), managed by GreenInfo Network, aggregates data on lands with easements. Conservation Easements are legally recorded interests in land in which a landholder sells or relinquishes certain development rights to their land in perpetuity. Easements are often used to ensure that lands remain as open space, either as working farm or ranch lands, or areas for biodiversity protection. Easement restrictions typically remain with the land through changes in ownership.,•The Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), hosted by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), is developed in coordination with multiple federal, state, and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners. PAD-US, through the Gap Analysis Project (GAP), uses a numerical coding system in which GAP codes 1 and 2 correspond to management strategies with explicit emphasis on protection and enhancement of biodiversity. PAD-US is not specifically aligned to parcel boundaries and as such, boundaries represented within it may not align with other data sources.,• Numerous datasets representing designated boundaries for entities such as National Parks and Monuments, Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness Areas, and others, were downloaded from publicly available sources, typically hosted by the managing agency.,Methodology 1.CPAD and CCED represent the most accurate location and ownership information for parcels in California which contribute to the preservation of open space and cultural and biological resources.,2. Superunits are collections of parcels (Holdings) within CPAD which share a name, manager, and access policy. Most Superunits are also managed with a generally consistent strategy for biodiversity conservation. Examples of Superunits include Yosemite National Park, Giant Sequoia National Monument, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.,3. Some Superunits, such as those owned and managed by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, or National Park Service , are intersected by one or more designations, each of which may have a distinct management emphasis with regards to biodiversity. Examples of such designations are Wilderness Areas, Wild and Scenic Rivers, or National Monuments.,4. CPAD Superunits and CCED easements were intersected with all designation boundary files to create the operative spatial units for conservation analysis, henceforth 'Conservation Units,' which make up the Terrestrial 30x30 Conserved Areas map layer. Each easement was functionally considered to be a Superunit.,5. Each Conservation Unit was intersected with the PAD-US dataset in order to determine the management emphasis with respect to biodiversity, i.e., the GAP code. Because PAD-US is national in scope and not specifically parcel aligned with California assessors' surveys, a direct spatial extraction of GAP codes from PAD-US would leave tens of thousands of GAP code data slivers within the 30x30 Conserved Areas map. Consequently, a generalizing approach was adopted, such that any Conservation Unit with greater than 80% areal overlap with a single GAP code was uniformly assigned that code. Additionally, the total area of GAP codes 1 and 2 were summed

,The Terrestrial 30x30 Conserved Areas map layer was developed by the CA Nature working group, providing a statewide perspective on areas managed for the protection or enhancement of biodiversity. Understanding the spatial distribution and extent of these durably protected and managed areas is a vital aspect of tracking and achieving the “30x30” goal of conserving 30% of California's lands and waters by 2030.,Terrestrial and Freshwater Data • The California Protected Areas Database (CPAD), developed and managed by GreenInfo Network, is the most comprehensive collection of data on open space in California. CPAD data consists of Holdings, a single parcel or small group of parcels which comprise the spatial features of CPAD, generally corresponding to ownership boundaries.,• The California Conservation Easement Database (CCED), managed by GreenInfo Network, aggregates data on lands with easements. Conservation Easements are legally recorded interests in land in which a landholder sells or relinquishes certain development rights to their land in perpetuity. Easements are often used to ensure that lands remain as open space, either as working farm or ranch lands, or areas for biodiversity protection. Easement restrictions typically remain with the land through changes in ownership.,•The Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), hosted by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), is developed in coordination with multiple federal, state, and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners. PAD-US, through the Gap Analysis Project (GAP), uses a numerical coding system in which GAP codes 1 and 2 correspond to management strategies with explicit emphasis on protection and enhancement of biodiversity. PAD-US is not specifically aligned to parcel boundaries and as such, boundaries represented within it may not align with other data sources.,• Numerous datasets representing designated boundaries for entities such as National Parks and Monuments, Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness Areas, and others, were downloaded from publicly available sources, typically hosted by the managing agency.,Methodology 1.CPAD and CCED represent the most accurate location and ownership information for parcels in California which contribute to the preservation of open space and cultural and biological resources.,2. Superunits are collections of parcels (Holdings) within CPAD which share a name, manager, and access policy. Most Superunits are also managed with a generally consistent strategy for biodiversity conservation. Examples of Superunits include Yosemite National Park, Giant Sequoia National Monument, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.,3. Some Superunits, such as those owned and managed by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, or National Park Service , are intersected by one or more designations, each of which may have a distinct management emphasis with regards to biodiversity. Examples of such designations are Wilderness Areas, Wild and Scenic Rivers, or National Monuments.,4. CPAD Superunits and CCED easements were intersected with all designation boundary files to create the operative spatial units for conservation analysis, henceforth 'Conservation Units,' which make up the Terrestrial 30x30 Conserved Areas map layer. Each easement was functionally considered to be a Superunit.,5. Each Conservation Unit was intersected with the PAD-US dataset in order to determine the management emphasis with respect to biodiversity, i.e., the GAP code. Because PAD-US is national in scope and not specifically parcel aligned with California assessors' surveys, a direct spatial extraction of GAP codes from PAD-US would leave tens of thousands of GAP code data slivers within the 30x30 Conserved Areas map. Consequently, a generalizing approach was adopted, such that any Conservation Unit with greater than 80% areal overlap with a single GAP code was uniformly assigned that code. Additionally, the total area of GAP codes 1 and 2 were summed

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,,The Conserved Areas Explorer is a series of dashboards that identify areas currently considered conserved for the 30x30 initiative using the California Protected Areas Database, U.S. Protected Areas Database, California Conservation Easement Database, and the California Marine Protected Areas networks.,Users can view information about how the lands and coastal waters are managed, and visualize what areas are currently conserved.,