Project Overview

LandScope America — a collaborative project of NatureServe and the National Geographic Society — is a new online resource for the land-protection community and the public. Developed with generous support from the West Hill Foundation for Nature, LandScope America is designed to increase the pace and effectiveness of conservation action and investment throughout the United States.

Planned for release in fall 2008, LandScope America will bring together maps, data and information about our environment from many sources and present them to the public in dynamic and accessible formats. Its interactive mapping and reporting tools will support the work of land trusts and other conservation groups. The website will also tell compelling stories about America’s living, working and wild lands, and the people who work to preserve them. LandScope America’s comprehensive information about the nation’s natural lands will provide land trusts, state and local governments, and private landowners with a definitive online guide for protecting the best of America’s precious natural heritage.

Five pilot states are participating by contributing their data for real-time mapping and analysis, assisting in the creation of editorial content, and integrating their own web resources with LandScope America. Beginning in 2009, the project’s second phase will extend its coverage to the rest of the nation, expanding the depth and range of the site’s content while supporting the development of additional science-based methods and technologies.

LandScope America Will Provide . . .

• An interactive experience that informs and inspires conservation action through multimedia explorations of America’s working and wild lands.
• A user-friendly site that integrates data-rich maps portraying conservation priorities across all scales, from localities and states to regions and the nation.
• A wide-ranging set of useful tools for conservation planning and priority-setting.