Bay Area Open Space Council
The Bay Area Open Space Council is a network of 65 nonprofits and public agencies that serve tens of millions of people each year in the San Francisco Bay Area. Founded in 1990 by a group of land conservation practitioners, the Open Space Council provides information, tools, and connections for its members. Examples of member organizations include land conservation organizations, land trusts, water districts, and park districts.
The Open Space Council holds an annual conference - typically in May - where over 400 people gather to discuss current events and topics in land conservation. They also hold smaller gatherings four times a year on topics relevant to land conservation in the Bay Area. Though the Open Space Council's office is located in Berkeley, California, member organizations represent all nine counties of the San Francisco Bay Area plus Santa Cruz County.
One of the Open Space Council's projects is the Conservation Lands Network, a vision for the region's efforts to preserve biodiversity. Part of a five-year science-based study by over 125 organizations and individuals, the project was tasked to identify the most essential lands needed to sustain the natural infrastructure of the region. The Conservation Land Network studied over 4.3 million acres (17,000 km2) and over 1,000 variables, such as redwood forests and California red legged frog habitats. Along with the Subtidal Habitat Goals Project and the Baylands Ecosystem Goals Project, this project is part of a science-based, regional approach to protecting biodiversity of the Bay Area.
The Council has collaborated with Greeninfo Network to develop a GIS database of protected areas in the nine county San Francisco Bay Area called Bay Area Protected Lands Database (BPAD). In 2010, Santa Cruz County was included for the first time, adding a tenth county to the nine Bay Area counties.
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