Landscape conservation plans and conservation priority maps or "greenprints" (PDF)(opens in new tab) demand the best available science and data on ecosystems, natural communities, and species. Of key importance is data in a spatially-explicit format, produced in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as individual data layers that can be combined and communicated as maps for decision-making.
This page is intended as a guide to the correct use and availability of some of the major GIS data layers and decision support tools for large-scale conservation planning both within California and in the Western United States. Also included here are descriptions of non-spatial data sets for conservation planning.