Exploring the Santa Barbara County Conservation Blueprint

Dustin Pearce, GIS Analyst at Conservation Biology Institute, presents the Santa Barbara County Conservation Blueprint and the data sharing platform used to engage agencies and local stakeholders.

In an era of population growth, global markets, and climate change, Santa Barbara County’s citizens must together address the question of how to conserve the landscapes and biodiversity that make Santa Barbara County special, while also making it an economically feasible and livable place for local residents. Ensuring the ongoing viability of these landscapes and the benefits they provide requires shared tools, language, and dialogue. This is why the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, the Santa Barbara Foundation LEAF (Landscapes, Ecosystems, Agriculture, and Food Systems) Initiative, and the Cachuma Resource Conservation District came together to develop the Santa Barbara County Conservation Blueprint (Blueprint).

The purpose of the Blueprint is to provide a common language and platform for publicly available data to support in-depth conversations and informed decisions about the Santa Barbara County landscape.

Together, the Blueprint report and online Atlas offer a first step toward a common understanding of Santa Barbara County’s current environmental conditions, the impacts of human interaction with the land, and the conscious tradeoffs required to create a landscape of opportunity for generations to come.