Department of Conservation and Recreation
Conserve. Protect. Enjoy.
Department of Conservation and Recreation
Model last updated June 2021.
Data downloads and a technical report for the 2021 model are now available; see below.
If you are willing to fill out a quick survey about your use of this and other Virginia ConservationVision models, please click here. This will also enable you to sign up for notifications about model updates.The purpose of the Nature-based Recreation Access Model is to quantify the availability of opportunities for nature-based recreation on Virginia's public lands and waters, and to identify areas where more opportunities are needed. We developed two sets of metrics to evaluate land- and water-based recreation needs. The land-based recreation metrics include:
Model metrics were scored, weighted, and combined to compute composite measures of land-based and water-based recreation need. The model is a contribution to the digital conservation planning atlas known as Virginia ConservationVision. It is intended to assist land planners prioritizing lands for conservation and recreation access, and is used by granting organizations such as the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation to help allocate funding for various conservation and recreation projects. It is also intended to be used in conjunction with ConserveVirginia, Virginia's official land conservation strategy.
Details of the model methods and results are available in a technical report.
Additional model information materials include:
An interactive web map, including all recreation need scores, is available on ArcGIS Online. The composite score layers are also available on Natural Heritage Data Explorer in the "Conservation Planning" section.
The following raster datasets (TIF format, 30-m resolution) are available for download:
If you are interested in intermediate data products not listed above, please contact Kirsten Hazler to inquire about availability.
The Virginia Recreation Access Model is fundamentally a regional/statewide model. For more detailed, city-level analysis related to parks access, you may be interested in the "ParkScore" analysis provided by the Trust for Public Land. ParkScores are available for several cities in Virginia:
Analyses for other cities may be found by using the search box at the bottom of any of the above pages.The Trust for Public Land also provides the ParkServe online mapping service to help park planners determine the best locations for adding new local parks. The goal is to strategically place parks to ensure that all city dwellers can walk to a public greenspace within 10 minutes.
For more information please contact Shiva.Torabian@dcr.virginia.gov, phone: 804-225-2820.
Page last updated 7/2021.
