Conservation Module Indicators

Scenarios that use the conservation module will have additional metrics available for download and inspection on the map that pertain to the computed environmental impact of development in the base year and simulated end year in addition to the total or net changes between the base and simulated end year.

Conservation Module spatial outputs

A number of parcel-level indicators are computed and made available as map layers for each simulation run. These indicators include:

Conservation Module Spatial Outputs

Layer	Description
2010 DUA	2010 household dwelling and employment unit per acre for parcels that have a forecasted change in density between the base year and simulation end year
[simulation end year] DUA	Simulation end year household dwelling and employment unit per acre for parcels that have a forecasted change in density between the base year and simulation end year
[simulation end year] Developed, Open Space	Conservation module Developed, Open Space land cover classification in the simulation end year for parcels that have a forecasted change in density to developed, open space density between the base year and simulation end year
[simulation end year] Low Density, Developed	Conservation module Low Density, Developed land cover classification in the simulation end year for parcels that have a forecasted change in density to low density development between the base year and simulation end year
[simulation end year] Medium Density, Developed	Conservation module Medium Density, Developed land cover classification in the simulation end year for parcels that have a forecasted change in density to at least medium density development between the base year and simulation end year

For information on how the DUA categories are created see here.

Conservation Module report metrics

A variety of regional conservation and environmental metrics are computed and made available as a downloaded CSV for each simulation run. These metrics can be used to assess differences in scenario environmental impact and include:

Conservation Module Metric

Metric	Description
Above Ground Live Carbon Stocks	Net change in carbon stock of carbon in live natural vegetation.
Soil Carbon Stocks	Net change in carbon stock of soil carbon up to a depth of 30cm.
Watershed Integrity	Total changes in acreages of watersheds by watershed integrity class: natural (>70% of watershed is natural), important riparian buffer (>70% of riparian buffer – 150 meters on either side of stream or river - is natural), or degraded (<70% of watershed and buffer is natural). Natural land cover within the watershed supports water quality by decreasing the potential for non-point source pollution from runoff. Natural lands proximal to riparian areas can filter sediment, particles, nitrogen, phosphorous, and other pollutants thereby enhancing water quality.
Urban Water Demand	Net change in volume of water use averaged across urban and suburban residential, commercial, and industrial areas.
Agricultural Water Demand	Net change in volume of agricultural water use by agriculture class.
Water Demand (Agricultural and Urban)	Net change in overall water demand. This metric combines measures of urban and agricultural water demand.
Groundwater Recharge Potential	The net change in volume of potential recharge due to increases in impervious surfaces from development or decreases in impervious surfaces from restoration.
Water resource priority areas	The net change in acreage of urban, natural, and agricultural lands in water resource priority areas such as wetlands, floodplains, active river areas, drinking water source watersheds, or a user-defined water resource priority area.
Degraded/improved habitat for terrestrial vertebrates	Total acres of habitat improved and total acres of habitat degraded for terrestrial vertebrates averaged across threatened and endangered species, birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, species sensitive to climate change, and/or a user-defined list of species.
Degraded/improved habitat for individual species	Total acres of habitat degraded and total acres of habitat improved for terrestrial vertebrates due to changes in land use reported individually for each threatened or endangered species.
Species movement potential	Net change in acres of land-uses that have high potential to facilitate animal movement, medium potential to facilitate animal movement, or would likely impede animal movement.
Conservation priority areas	The net change in acreage of urban, natural, and agricultural lands in conservation priority areas such as Audubon’s important bird areas, The Nature Conservancy’s ecoregional priority areas, areas that support regional connectivity, or a user-defined priority area.
Agricultural Capacity	Total acres converted to urban within Prime, Statewide Importance, Unique and Locally Import Farmland as classified by the California Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program
Agricultural Production Value	Total change in agricultural production value measured in dollars by agricultural class type.

For more information on these metrics see the documentation on the Conservation Module from The Nature Conservancy here

Downloading Conservation Module reports

Region-wide metrics computed by the conservation module are available as a CSV to download as a report. The metrics for degraded/improved habitat calculated for individual specie will be available as a separate CSV file. Results for any run can be downloaded by inspecting an existing run, opening the log, and scrolling to the bottom to find the URL posted at the end of the simulation run log. For each scenario you may download the CSV of region-wide Conservation Module metrics and can add the metrics to the Conservation Module chart wizard to automatically populate charts comparing metrics across scenarios.