The Livingston County Planning Department’s Principal Planner Rob Stanford researched, written and produced in-house an approximately 100-page document of analysis and corresponding beautiful and informative maps created by Livingston County GIS Technician Sandon Lettieri that identifies, ranks and maps High-Quality Natural Areas throughout Livingston County.
The assessment represents an extensive update to the County Planning Department’s initial 2004 study entitled “Livingston County High Quality Natural Areas.” Computing technology, data availability, and mapping products and processes have improved tremendously since 2004, which has allowed us to do much more in depth analysis then was previously available.
The process used for this publication was established by the Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI), which recommends that local municipalities throughout Michigan incorporate this information into their master plans and zoning ordinances. The site map and ranking data can be used by local municipalities, land trusts, and other agencies to prioritize conservation efforts and assist in finding opportunities to establish an open space system of linked natural areas and habitats in the region. A new mapping application for high-quality natural areas will be developed and added to the Livingston County GIS Map Gallery. Highlights of the plan include:
The identification of over 980 High-Quality Areas in Livingston County ranked as Low, Medium or High priority.
A comparison of County Planning’s 2004 Livingston County High Quality Natural Features Report with the new 2022 assessment, documenting the loss of 9,839 acres of conservation lands.
High-Quality Natural Areas are defined as places on the landscape dominated by native vegetation that have various levels of potential for harboring high quality natural areas and unique natural features. In addition, these areas may provide critical ecological services such as maintaining water quality and quantity, soil development and stabilization.
Conservation data for each Livingston County municipality such as total High-Quality Area acreage and acreage upgraded, degraded or lost over the 17 year time period.
Numerous maps such as land use, land cover, green infrastructure, biological rarity, Livingston County High-Quality Areas, and High-Quality Area changes over time.
This beneficial new Potential Conservation Areas Assessment can be found on the Livingston County Planning Department website.
