The Use of GIS in the Morongo Basin Regional Conservation Plan

The preservation of open space areas provides habitat protection for a number of plant and animal species, as well as places of natural beauty by redirecting future development to existing communities. The Morongo Basin Open Space Group (MBOSG) is ensuring the preservation of these areas, by developing a regional conservation plan for Morongo Basin that focuses on open space protection. Because of the basin’s large geographic coverage area, the MBOSG has prioritized its conservation efforts. The group, however, needed a tool to help evaluate their priorities and effectively communicate other conservation information to the public. This project addressed these needs by developing an analysis tool and a series of online maps of the group’s conservation themes and prioritized areas. The analysis tool aimed at helping conservation planners and other decision-makers to develop strategies and effectively allocate resources to the most appropriate places. The online maps served to enhance public access to important conservation material