Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Staunton-Augusta-Waynesboro Interactive Conservation Map

[Note to Midway Farm fans: this is a test entry for a work web page….]

Welcome to the local water quality and conservation map of the Staunton-Augusta-Waynesboro area, funded by the Campbell Foundation and the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund (Bay Plates)!

SAW interactive mapClick on the map to learn more about…

  • · Who has done note-worthy rain gardens or innovative low impact development (LID) projects in your neighborhood.
  • · Who has won awards for their historic reuse or exemplary conservation design.
  • · Where the protected lands, conservation easements, and agricultural districts are in your area.
  • · And much more!

How it works…

  • · Click on a point on the map for more information. If the pop-up box is obscured by your screen, use the mouse to pan the map to get a better view.
  • · Press the zoom Zoom button button in the upper left corner of the screen to zoom in or out.
  • · Press the layerLayer buttonbutton in the upper right corner of the screen to choose which layers to display at a time.  Click the box next to each layer to turn it on or off.

Additional Information on Map Layers

  • The streams layer in the interactive map does not have all stream names listed in it.  To explore streams in more depth go to USGS’s Streamer interactive web map.
  • Ag/Forestal Districts are rural zones reserved for the production of agricultural products and timber and the maintenance of open space land. In essence, a district constitutes a voluntary agreement between landowners and the government that no new, non-agricultural uses will take place in the district. An agricultural/forestal district provides much stronger protection for farmers and farmland than does traditional zoning, but is not permanent.
  • Conservation easements provide permanent protection from development. Land that is under conservation easement is restricted from future development.
  • LID is short for Low Impact Development and includes practices like permeable pavers, rain gardens, rain barrels, bioretention facilities and other landscape features to deal with storm water as close to the source as possible.
  • Better Models for Development are a series of awards given by VCC since 2001 to recognize outstanding public and private projects that exemplify the principles of better development.

For more information, contact the Valley Conservation Council.