Overview

In October 2020, Governor Newsom signed the 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 part of this Executive Order, California committed to the goal of conserving 30% of our lands and coastal waters by 2030. You can find out more about the overall initiative at www.californianature.ca.gov.

Lands count toward the 30% goal predominantly through the GAP code system maintained by the US Geological Survey. We need your help to ensure the data on protected lands in California is as accurate as possible.

To assist groups in this data collection effort, GreenInfo Network has been developing a toolkit to allow agencies and organizations to inform us of:

  • Lands that are newly protected or missing from existing data
  • GAP code assignment for all protected lands

Local land-owning organizations know their lands best! GreenInfo Network will be accepting feedback on all 3 inputs: CPAD, CCED, and each land’s associated GAP Codes.

30 x 30 Toolkit and GreenInfo Network Webinars

The toolkit from GreenInfo contains resources to help you:

  • Inventory your protected lands
  • Better understand GAP codes
  • Assign consistent GAP codes

Protected Lands

The state of California has multiple data sets that feed into 30 x 30. At the outset, two key geospatial databases are used to define, track, and share information about the extensive and unique lands protected by hundreds of federal, state, local, and nonprofit agencies across California.

  • The California Protected Areas Database (CPAD) is an inventory of lands protected by fee title, with details on each property: Location and extent, Name of the park or open space, Owning agency, Managing agency, Level of public access (no access, restricted, open)
  • The California Conservation Easement Database (CCED) is an inventory of lands protected by an easement, with details on each easement: Location and extent, Managing agency, Level of public access (no access, restricted, open)

GAP Code Assignment

In support of 30 x 30, CPAD and CCED have been augmented with GAP codes to portray the various levels of protection of natural landscapes and biodiversity on them.

Want to stay up to date with the efforts? Please consider signing up to receive the California Protected Areas Newsletter, a newsletter for the California Protected Areas (CPAD), and Conservation Easement (CCED) Databases.

GreenInfo Network Webinars

April 2023 CCLT and GreenInfo Network Webinars
May 2023 CCLT and GreenInfo Network Data Contribution Webinars

In support of the data efforts CCLT and GreenInfo Network offered two webinars. The focus of both data webinars is to provide and build open data. Groups that own and/or managing lands will be given tools and information on how to submit updates. In both sessions we covered:

  • How to get started
  • What to look for
  • Suggested workflow
  • What to send back by when

This webinar supports groups who would like to use GIS/Geospatial technology.

This webinar supports groups who would like a less technical approach using existing maps and documents.

May 2023 CCLT and GreenInfo Working Lands Group Webinar

This webinar was a collaborative discussion about how to reflect GAP codes, ensuring they are accurate in 30×30. The opening presentation is available as a recording below, but the discussion is not included in this recording. Please open the Discussion Notes document to learn what was discussed.