Whe e a e the o ga izatio ’s assets a d ho est a these e ep ese ted o a ap? What is the o ga izatio ’s appi g e pe tise le el? What information or data is available?

10 STEP TWO: IDENTIFY AND MAP ASSETS No that the o ga izatio s p io ities ha e ee reviewed it is important to clarify the location and characteristics of the o ga izatio s assets. If a priority is protecting groundwater then it is important to identify watersheds, or if agricultural preservation is a priority then areas of prime agricultural soils must be identified. Once these priority areas are identified, potential exposure to climate and non-climate stressors can be displayed on the map Mapping is an essential tool in any climate change vulnerability assessment and adaptation strategy. Visual representations of assets or properties are a vital aide in understanding individual assets and how they might relate to each other. Maps can show not only geographical location, but also essential information such as land use, habitat type or watershed boundaries. Mapping software also allows for quantification of property characteristics, which can assist in resource prioritization. Maps should be created at multiple scales. Both the scale of climate impacts as well as adaptation strategies must be considered. Land trusts may choose to focus conservation efforts on different scales, including individual properties and clusters of parcels, corridors, and valued landscape components. As an organization moves through this process there will be more opportunities for mapping, moving beyond initial identification into analysis. GUIDING QUESTIONS: 1. Whe e a e the o ga izatio ’s assets a d ho est a these e ep ese ted o a ap? Identifying parcels and their assets is a good start. However, the organization may choose to cluster parcels within a landscape, corridor, or watershed, depending on their conservation strategies. SKLT chose to analyze their assets ithi fo us a eas ep ese ti g st ategi a uisitio fo diffe e t ha itats a d geographic priorities. SLKT’S STEP TWO All of “KLT s p ote ted p ope ties ha e ee olle ted i to a dataset usi g GI“ te h olog hi h allo s the land trust to easily locate their parcels and maintain detailed records of information related to each property. An overview of the map of protected properties revealed that SKLT targeted different geographic areas for different objectives. These were l a eled fo us a eas fo the pu pose of this p oje t see Figu e 2.2. Using GIS te h olog to ap “KLT s pa els p o ides a ie of assets a d esou es ta geted fo o se atio hile simultaneously placing the o ga izatio s protection objectives within the larger landscape of regionally significant habitats and resources. Through this pilot project several new map products were developed to assist SKLT in managing their protected parcels and planning future acquisitions. In the future these maps and GIS databases can be updated and managed by staff or a member of SKLT with GIS skills. 11 2. What is the o ga izatio ’s appi g e pe tise le el? Detailed mapping and analysis requires the expertise either in-house or contracted from outside, time and software to perform Geographic Information System GIS mapping. However, there are online tools that can assist organizations without those capabilities to do basic mapping see inset. 3. What information or data is available? If the organization has full GIS capabilities, a wide range of data can be downloaded from RIGIS . Data from the URI Environmental Data Center and the Rhode Island Sea Grant is available for either online or desktop GIS mapping. Finally, ArcGIS Online has a searchable database for use with their online service. 4. What do you want to map and how can this information be displayed in the most clear and informative way possible? Deciding what information you want to map and display will depend largely upon your priorities identified in Step One. Try to find a way to map as many climate impacts or non-climate stressors as possible. Mapping sensitivity of habitats, sea level rise inundation projections or migrating wetlands is often helpful, while non-climate stressor data might include impervious surface cover. Avoid the temptation of mapping all the data you can find. A lot of information or data layers can be displayed on a map, but for clarity data displayed must be done so strategically. This will also depend on the type of display. Much more data can be made available if the maps are viewed in an interactive electronic format where data layers can be turned off and on by users. The amount of data or detail displayed on a static map will depend upon the size of the final map. FREE ONLINE MAPPING TOOLS ArcGIS Online : Use the online map viewer to create maps and view data. Data available is searchable in the ap i te fa e. Good sea h te s i lude ‘hode Isla d a d U‘I-EDC . The ‘hode Isla d “ea G a t sea level rise maps and URI- EDC s ELU maps use a publicly available ArcGIS Online interface. Google Earth : Free downloadable application that allows for user-friendly geographical exploration. Good for exploring aerial imagery, including historical imagery. Some data is available to download in the Google Earth format, such as URI- EDC s MapCoast data . Online Data Viewers: Some organizations and municipalities, including URI-EDC and the Town of South Kingstown have published data online through interactive maps. The Watershed Counts website also provides both static and interactive maps of a variety of data for the Narragansett Bay watershed. NOAA Digital Coast: Communities can visualize potential impacts from sea level rise on land and coastal marsh. 12 PROJECTED CHANGE BY 2100 Sea level rise 3-5 feet Leaf out 7-15 days earlier Summers 21-44 days longer Average air temperatures 3.5-12.5° F warmer Precipitation increase 10 in spring and summer, 13 in fall, and 20-60 in winter Ocean pH levels 0.3-0.4 units more acidic Source: Coastal Resources Center RI Sea Grant, 2012. STEP THREE: DETERMINE THE VULNERABILITY OF IMPORTANT RESOURCES AND ASSETS There are a variety of vulnerability assessment methodologies emphasizing different starting points, strategies, and scales. All of these approaches include some combination of specifying likely climate impacts, estimating exposure to these impacts, accounting for non-climate stressors, and examining the sensitivity of priority resources or assets to these stresses. Gi e a u e tai ties ─f o the a ou t of glo al a i g to the i pa ts o species and their interactions ─ it is diffi ult to dete i e ho ha itats a d e os ste s ill espo d. Ho e e , understanding ecological vulnerabilities provides valuable information that may be used to better inform existing decision processes and may also suggest new policies or actions to reduce future impacts. GUIDING QUESTIONS

1. What potential climate factors might impact your