Abstract
MG-1998-01
Development and Pilot Application of the California Urban and Biodiversity Analysis (CURBA) Model
September 1998 / 88 pp.- John Landis, Chris Cogan, Pablo Monzon, Michael Reilly
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The U.S. has made tremendous progress during the last 25 years in improving its air and water quality. Unfortunately, far less progress has been made in the areas of land and habitat conservation. A 1995 study by the United States Geological Survey found significant and continuing declines in important habitat, with the greatest losses occurring in the South, Northeast, Midwest, and California. The issues of habitat loss is especially important in California because of the state's impressive biodiversity. It is home to one-quarter of the 2300 vertebrate species found in the U.S. and harbors the largest number of endemic plant species of any state except Hawaii. Over a 30-year period, five major habitat types have lost significant acreage: grassland, coastal scrub, foothill oak woodland, closed-cone pine-cypress, and redwood forests.
The California Urban and Biodiversity Analysis (CURBA) model was developed as a tool for constructively addressing these issues, helping to bridge the gap between urban land use planners, who are principally concerned with directing urban growth, and conservationists and wildlife ecologists, who are concerned with promoting environmental and ecological equality. Integrating three sets of data sources and modeling approaches which have been heretofore separate, the CURBA model represents a significant step forward in the ability of policy makers and planners to project and evaluate the possible effects of alternative urban growth patterns and policies on natural habitat quality and biodiversity. The model also demonstrates the incredible amount of spatial data and useful analytical power it is now possible to put on a desktop.
