Door County Green News: Mapping Conservation

“Greenprinting” is a computer software modeling process and framework that has been developed by the national non-profit conservation organization Trust for Public Land. It blends a community’s conservation goals with scientific data to help local policy-makers make informed, strategic decisions about development proposals and conservation/natural resource protection. Although Greenprinting has been used and validated in dozens of locations across the United States, the Door County Greenprinting project is the first in Wisconsin.

The end products of the Greenprinting project will be:

o An interactive mapping Web site where Greenprint goals can be weighted by the user, combined, and mapped.

o A compiled database of best available geographic information systems data regarding natural resources and land attributes in Door County.

Local elected officials, conservation and property owner organizations, individual residents, and members of the development community will be able to use the Greenprint Web site to create maps reflecting their individual/organizational priorities regarding natural resource protection and land use planning or the priorities of the area within which they are working. While the weighting of the goals is up to the individual Web site user, the data behind the goals are based on defensible scientific study and geographic information systems data layers.

The kick-off meetings for the Door County Greenprinting project, held October 29 – 30, resulted in identification of five goals, derived from local comprehensive planning efforts (municipal and county levels) and local natural resource protection agency goals:

o Protect Sensitive Natural Resources

o Conserve Ecological Integrity of the Landscape

o Protect Coastal Habitat

o Ensure Surface Water Quality and Quantity

o Ensure Ground Water Quality and Quantity

To learn more and offer input attend the meeting Dec. 17. If you have questions, or if you wish to offer input on the project process or goals but cannot attend, please contact Mariah Goode at the Door County Planning Department at 920.746.2323 or [email protected].