Carbon County awarded OSI grant to build climate‑informed conservation plan and parcel‑prioritization tool

The Carbon County Open Space advisory board heard that the county was awarded an Open Space Institute Appalachian Landscapes Project Catalyst Grant to develop a climate‑informed conservation plan and a GIS‑based decision support tool that ranks parcels by ecological and climate suitability.

Maggie, the project presenter appearing with Wildlands, told the board the grant will support climate‑informed planning ‘‘to accelerate land protection across the greater Appalachian region’’ and described a tool that compares climate‑ and ecology‑related datasets against county parcels to assign suitability scores. She said the grant funds the project work — ‘‘the money is to pay for Maggie’s time of putting the plan together’’ — with a contract expected to last about one year and a plan completion targeted for early next year.

Maggie asked the board to review the datasets and scoring approach, noting she incorporated categories such as climate resilience and connectivity, water and hydrology, and other ecological layers. She said some items in the board’s existing scoring matrix (for example, feasibility questions) are not available as GIS layers and must be captured through application materials rather than automated layers. The preliminary map shared in the handout highlights higher‑scoring parcels in darker green, Maggie said, and she asked whether any datasets were missing or should be reweighted.

Board members asked technical questions about soils, Natural Resources Conservation Service data and geophysical conditions. One member suggested contacting the NRCS field office; Maggie said many datasets are public and she will follow up on adding or clarifying layers that reflect local conditions. Members also noted the map omits some already‑protected lands because of the base map chosen and requested protected‑lands labels be included in future runs.

The group discussed how the tool will be used. Board members emphasized the tool is intended to prioritize outreach and identify high‑priority properties for targeted conversations with municipalities and willing landowners, not to automatically decide funding. "It’s going to show us the high priority projects to protect, so when we go out do our outreach to municipalities we can take this to them and say, hey, here are these really important properties," one member said. Maggie agreed the tool is primarily for outreach at this stage; whether the map outputs become a shared GIS layer or a planning office document will require permissions and further logistics work.

Board members also raised practical questions about stakeholder engagement — including municipal planning commissions, the Carbon County Bar Association, rod and gun clubs, and large landowners — and whether map outputs should be made publicly browsable or limited to county staff. Maggie invited members to provide additional input by email and to flag local datasets she should consult.

The board did not take a formal vote on policy changes tied to the plan at this meeting. The presenter asked for and received additional technical guidance and contact leads; next steps are to refine datasets based on the board’s feedback and continue outreach and mapping work over the summer.

The presentation began during the agenda item on the Carbon County climate‑informed conservation plan and continued through the Q&A portion of the meeting. The board discussed next procedural steps and stakeholder outreach; the plan’s timeline was reported as roughly one year for contract work with a draft targeted for the following winter.