Date: Wednesday, December 10, 2003
Time: 3:20 - 4:20 pm
Room: Monarch Room H

The Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program (PNHP) researches, collects, and manages information on Pennsylvania's natural ecological resources. PNHP information is critical to ecosystem management, land use planning, environmental review, and numerous other activities related to biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) is currently providing a significant upgrade to the existing PNHP information system.

The Heritage GIS system is a spatially enabled, statewide, enterprise heritage information solution that is being designed to meet a diverse set of user needs., including industry, conservation organizations, state and federal government agencies, local government, land trusts, home builders, museums and scientific organizations. The new system will facilitate the coordination of data collection, data sharing, data access, and the meeting of data standards within the PNHP program. The effort focuses on (1) converting PNHP data to GIS format, (2) constructing a database that has built-in intelligence related to PNHP environmental review decisions, and (3) broadening the accessibility of PNHP data, with appropriate security, to all users in the Commonwealth through internet access.


Presenter:

Sally Just
Director
Office of Conservation Science
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

Sally Just currently serves as the director of the newly created executive level Office of Conservation Science in the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Sally has had a lifetime passion for natural resource conservation. She was involved in the development of the Environmental Master Plan for Pennsylvania, was lead and author of the strategic plan for state parks, Pennsylvania State Parks 2000: Directions for the Next Century, played a key role in the bureau of forestry’s Penns Woods, Sustaining Our Forests, and was DCNR lead in developing the Pennsylvania Stream Releaf plan. Most recently Sally chaired an internal DCNR team to develop the Biodiversity Workgroup Report to define DCNR’s role in biodiversity, is project manager for developing a Heritage GIS on-line system for the Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program, and is involved in developing the newly created office to advance science as a foundation for decision-making within the department. She has a degree in geography and spent a year in Basel, Switzerland where she studied the water quality of the Rhine River and other environmental issues.