Suchergebnisse

In the next 40 years, the eight counties of the San Joaquin Valley are projected to double in population from 3.3 million to more than 7 million (Great Valley Center 2006). The region faces many challenges with respect to its capacity to accommodate this dramatic increase in population while maintaining its environmental infrastructure and preserving its diminishing natural resources. In response to these growing pressures, Governor Schwarzenegger announced in June 2005 the formation of the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley (Partnership) to "the economic well-being of the Valley and the quality of life of its residents" (Department of Business Housing and Transportation 2006a). This 26-member Partnership, led by the Secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, is composed of eight state government members (primarily cabinet level appointees), eight local government members (primarily members of county boards of supervisor), eight private sector members (representing leadership in various business sectors), and two deputy chairs. The Partnership region includes San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Tulare, Kings, and Kern Counties. The Information Center for the Environment (ICE) at UC Davis supported the Partnership by providing geographic information system (GIS) data and growth allocation build-out scenarios. Based on input from the Partnership and the Great Valley Center, ICE developed and produced seven urban growth scenarios for the region that project popula¬tion to year 2050 using UPlan, a rulebased GIS urban growth model (Johnston et al. 2006). These scenarios were developed based on different goals (such as Compact—within current spheres of influence; Farmland Protection—prime farmland masked; Great Cities—create "mega-cities" in concentrated regions) and produced vastly different outcomes. This paper discusses the seven growth scenarios and the implications of mapped future urban growth in the San Joaquin under those scenarios on a collection of biologically significant factors. A team of federal, state, and non-government organization biological experts selected 14 key biological layers crucial for protecting high value open space in the San Joaquin Valley. ICE combined the modeled urban growth output for the seven growth scenarios with the 14 biologically significant GIS layers. The growth scenarios reflect seven different policy directions that the region's leaders may choose when planning for growth in the upcoming several decades. Results showed that depending on the scenario chosen (and hence the policy emphasis), the magnitude of biological resources likely to be lost varies significantly. The scenario with the least overall ecological impact is the Compact Growth Scenario (Scenario 3), with Scenarios 6 (New Cities) and 7 (Great Cities) also fairly low in relative impact. Scenario 4 (Prime Farmland Protection) resulted in the largest decline in the acreage of the 14 key biological data layers we examined. Scenarios 5 (I-5 to Highway 99 Exclusion), 2 (East/West Road Improvement) and 1 (Status Quo) also showed relatively high negative impacts.

In the next 40 years, the eight counties of the San Joaquin Valley are projected to double in population from 3.3 million to more than 7 million (Great Valley Center 2006). The region faces many challenges with respect to its capacity to accommodate this dramatic increase in population while maintaining its environmental infrastructure and preserving its diminishing natural resources. In response to these growing pressures, Governor Schwarzenegger announced in June 2005 the formation of the California Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley (Partnership) to "…improve the economic well-being of the Valley and the quality of life of its residents" (Department of Business Housing and Transportation 2006a). This 26-member Partnership, led by the Secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency, is composed of eight state government members (primarily cabinet level appointees), eight local government members (primarily members of county boards of supervisor), eight private sector members (representing leadership in various business sectors), and two deputy chairs. The Partnership region includes San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Tulare, Kings, and Kern Counties. The Information Center for the Environment (ICE) at UC Davis supported the Partnership by providing geographic information system (GIS) data and growth allocation build-out scenarios. Based on input from the Partnership and the Great Valley Center, ICE developed and produced seven urban growth scenarios for the region that project popula¬tion to year 2050 using UPlan, a rule-based GIS urban growth model (Johnston et al. 2006). These scenarios were developed based on different goals (such as Compact—within current spheres of influence; Farmland Protection—prime farmland masked; Great Cities—create "mega-cities" in concentrated regions) and produced vastly different outcomes. This paper discusses the seven growth scenarios and the implications of mapped future urban growth in the San Joaquin under those scenarios on a collection of biologically significant factors. A team of federal, state, and non-government organization biological experts selected 14 key biological layers crucial for protecting high value open space in the San Joaquin Valley. ICE combined the modeled urban growth output for the seven growth scenarios with the 14 biologically significant GIS layers. The growth scenarios reflect seven different policy directions that the region's leaders may choose when planning for growth in the upcoming several decades. Results showed that depending on the scenario chosen (and hence the policy emphasis), the magnitude of biological resources likely to be lost varies significantly. The scenario with the least overall ecological impact is the Compact Growth Scenario (Scenario 3), with Scenarios 6 (New Cities) and 7 (Great Cities) also fairly low in relative impact. Scenario 4 (Prime Farmland Protection) resulted in the largest decline in the acreage of the 14 key biological data layers we examined. Scenarios 5 (I-5 to Highway 99 Exclusion), 2 (East/West Road Improvement) and 1 (Status Quo) also showed relatively high negative impacts.

Bicycling is an environmentally friendly, healthy, and affordable mode of transportation that is viable for short-distance trips. Urban planners, public health advocates, and others are therefore looking for strategies to promote more bicycling, including improvements to the built environment that make bicycling more attractive. This study presents an analysis of how key built environment characteristics relate to bicycling frequency based on a large sample from the 2012 California Household Travel Survey (California Department of Transportation, 2012) and detailed built environment data. The built environment characteristics we explore include residential and intersection density at anchor locations (home, work, school), green space, job access, land-use mix, and bicycle infrastructure availability. Analyses are conducted separately for three distinct demographic groups: school-age children, employed adults, and adults who are not employed. The key conclusion from this work is that the relationship between bicycling and some built environment characteristics varies between types of people — most dramatically between adults and children. To develop targeted policies with scarce resources, local policymakers need specific guidance as to which investments and policy changes will be most effective for creating "bikeable" neighborhoods. Our work indicates that the answer depends — at least in part — on who these bikeable neighborhoods are meant to serve.

The Safe Passages project is a collaborationbetween scientists at UC Davis and nongovernmentalconservation organizations(Defenders of Wildlife, Conservation BiologyInstitute, and South Coast Wildlands), inconsultation with state agencies (CaliforniaDepartments of Transportation and Fish andGame), and is intended to encourage theinclusion of habitat connectivity planning andprotection in local and regional planning insupport of the State Wildlife Action Plan. It wasdesigned to be a model effort, with relevance toregions struggling with finding ways to conservewildlife and natural processes in the face ofdevelopment. One major ecological process atrisk is isolation of wildlife populations andreduction of the permeability of the landscapeto wildlife movement. The project draws uponcontemporary scientific understanding ofwildlife movement, physical connections onlandscapes, and land‐use and transportationplanning in order to better fit developmentpatterns to the needs of natural processes,especially wildlife movement.As its name implies, the projectaddresses the need for finding safe passage forwildlife movement through the diverse regionsof California. Two philosophical choices weremade in designing this project: 1) wildlifemovement is not limited to managed reservesand corridors, but may also occur in the nonnaturallandscape matrix, and 2) that local andregional planners can become aware of and beincluded in the process of conservingconnectivity. In the first case, the computermodeling that was done in this project wasbased on the idea that wildlife might originatetheir movement from anywhere and move inthe least‐costly direction. This results in asurface of possible wildlife movement based onhabitat preference and barriers to safe passage.In the second case, planners in the San JoaquinValley Blueprint process learned of our overallproject goals and methods and a number ofcities or counties expressed interest in workingwith us. We chose the city of Riverbank, in partbecause the community development directorshowed clear interest in using the products ofour work in the General Planning and SpecificPlanning processes.This project has evolved to includemore ideas and potential partners, including theCalifornia Department of Fish and Game (DFG),the Local Government Commission, and otheracademic researchers. This evolution hasextended our project horizon indefinitely with acombination of a DFG contract andcollaborative proposal development. Howeverthe main project goal of setting the standard forhow connectivity can be included in local andregional planning has stayed constant. Ourpartners will help us develop a sea change inthe recognition and protection of safe passagesfor wildlife movement throughout California'sSan Joaquin Valley and beyond.