Filtering Out the Fool’s Gold

That's often what you get when you find what you think is a nice piece of vacant land inside the URDL using GIS - someone's side yard (i.e., a parcel not suitable for subdivision), a panhandle with few redeeming qualities other than being vacant, a landlocked parcel, or a parcel that has a lot of acreage because it's incredibly long, but, unfortunately, very narrow.  And that's why we're spending time to refine the model for conservation planning that we've spent so much time developing (AND that so many of you have generously supported with your time, talent and treasure). Another reason for the work, is that some of our most well-loved sites are very small - 3/100 of an acre to 1/4 acre.

The refinements are being undertaken by our consultant, Thayer Young, of Cicada Systems GIS Consulting. Thayer gave a presentation at the 2016 Md. Land Trust Alliance Conference in Linthicum in May in which he introduced the filters that we are adding to our model to make the task of identifying potential parcels for acquisition easier - in other words, to make the "boots on the ground" task of investigating parcels more productive.  We deeply appreciate the support MET and the Md. State Highway Administration have shown for this work and for their award of the Janice Hollmann grant to NeighborSpace this year in the amount of $3,000.

The irony of Thayer's methodology is that what you do with filters to isolate decent open spaces tends to screen out parcels that might be suitable for purposes of trails and environmental greenways, which, as you may remember, are also important goals in our plans for "retrofitting SubURDLia." You've probably guessed that another set of filters must be applied, accordingly. Stay tuned as we bring the project to a close this summer and take a look at Thayer's presentation if you are so inclined. We're planning to provide plenty of opportunities for public input on the final model and its results, which will drive our conservation plans going forward.