4_7Parks to Peaks Plan - Inland Northwest Trails Coalition

Parks to Peaks Plan
April 7, 2003
Dr. Kerry Brooks
Stacey Merryman
Michael Bishopp
Parks to Peak Initiative
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Imagine, connect, protect
Imagine a network of green spaces and special natural places spanning Spokane and
Kootenai Counties; from neighborhood parks to Mt. Spokane, from Rathdrum Prairie
to Spirit Lake, and from the Centennial Trail to outlying wild lands. Connecting green
spaces and special natural places in a network that reaches from our backyards to
the backcountry is the mission of Parks to Peaks.
White Cloud Council's Parks to Peaks Project: Connecting Our Backyards to
the Backcountry
Through the Parks to Peaks Project, White Cloud Council is working in partnership
with citizens and leaders in Kootenai and Spokane Counties to carry out a vision that
connects green spaces, open spaces and wild places. With local support, White
Cloud Council provides a regional Parks to Peaks coordinator who works with citizen
groups, public agencies, businesses, and associations, helping to identify and create
linkages. The coordinator provides access to professional expertise in public
participation, economic and community development, planning, and trails.
In addition, Parks to Peaks is embarking on a regional GIS project to identify
networks of green spaces and corridors linking the important ope n spaces of
Spokane and Kootenai Counties. The region work group will use attributes of culture,
recreation, environment, development, and agriculture to define this green space
connection.
Parks To Peaks Goals
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Establish a network of green spaces connection suburban
backyards and urban parks to rural open spaces and public lands;
protect linkages between the build environment and natural places
Promote the preservation of unique natural areas, showcase
treasured natural places and support efforts to protect water
resources, forests, wetlands, wildlife habitat and open spaces.
Collaborate with conservation, recreation, government, and
economic development organizations to achieve the regional Parks
to Peaks vision.
Analyze data, including public input, to determine priority projects.
Patch and Corridor Data
Large Patches: state parks, government
owned land
n Small Patches: city and county parks,
private land, parcels data
n Corridors: pedestrian/bike trails,
Centennial Trails
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Mapping Methodology
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Relative Wildness in Spokane and Kootenai
County. Based on TWS method with WSU
refinements.
Components of Wildness
Solitude
¨ Remoteness
¨ Uncontrolled Processes
¨ Natural Composition
¨ Unaltered Structures
¨ Pollution
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Solitude Methodology
Solitude Description
This gauged by measuring population
density. We look to represent some
measure of the probability of encountering
others.
n Solitude Data
We determined this information by using
population density from the census
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Solitude
Map
Remoteness Methodology
Remoteness Definition
Land may be assigned a value depending
on the distance from roads of various
types, assuming that roads vary in their
impact on remoteness.
n Remoteness Data
Primary and Secondary Highways, and
Improved Roads
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Remoteness
Map
Uncontrolled Processes Methodology
Uncontrolled Processes Definition
Measure at which disturbance, hydrology,
nutrient cycling. Long-range migration and
other ecological processes have changed
the landscape
n Uncontrolled Processes Data
Land cover for Agricultural and Urban, and
railroads
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Uncontrolled
Processes
Map
Natural Composition Methodology
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Natural Composition Definition
Determining the degree to which native
species composition has changed as a
result of human agency.
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Natural Composition Data
Land cover for “natural” and “unnatural”
(i.e. urban, agricultural)
Natural
Composition
Map
Unaltered Structures Methodology
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Unaltered Structures Definition
As with composition, the measurement of
alteration of structure is fairly straightforward.
Roads, dams, airstrips, mines, stock ponds, and
other built structures diminish naturalness.
Unaltered Structures Data
Muni/City, airports, railroads, roads, Agricultural
Pollution Methodology
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Pollution Definition
Wilderness carries with it an expectation of
purity: clean water, fresh air, clean soil,
darkness. When air, streams, and the night sky
are dirtied with coal exhaust, road dust, bovine
feces, and distant industrial light, it diminishes
the naturalness of the land.
Pollution Data
Percent impervious in sub basins, major point
source pollution
Pollution
Map
Final
Map
Phase One of Mapping:
Origin Points
Identify Core
Areas
Destination
Points
Data
Preparation
Reclassify Land
Cover
Create Value
Cost Surface
Model Edge
Effects
Phase Two of Mapping: Done
Corridor
Analysis
Develop
Initial Corridor
Phase Three of Mapping
Expand
Corridor
Corridor
Refinement
Model Interior
Suitability
Phase Four of Mapping
Acreage
Corridor
Evaluation
Connectivity
Phase Completion
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Data Preparation
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Use the final wildness map as the main input to the Value Cost
Surface
Create barriers map and merge with value cost surface
Corridor Analysis
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Develop Initial Corridors which, will attempt to connect urban
natural areas with large natural areas on the boundary edge.
Expand the narrow initial corridors into the larger corridors,
using the natural areas from the wildness index.
Possibly overlay corridors with Spokane county parcels to
identify key parcels. Possibly use intersections of corridors to
identify key parcels.