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Beyond biodiversity and scenic values,we will also integrate priority areas that have already been <br /> established during several meetings held in 2015.These include: Doolan Canyon, between the Cities of <br /> Dublin and Livermore; Springtown Alkali Sink, north of the City of Livermore; the Tesla/Corral Hollow area, <br /> east of Livermore; Cedar Mountain,in the southeast corner of the County; Brushy Peak, north of Livermore; <br /> and the Altamont Wildlife Corridors,east of Livermore. Finally,a set of analyses,and maps called the East <br /> Alameda County Conservation Strategy was prepared under the auspices of various Alameda County <br /> governmental bodies and districts as well as state and federal agencies and these priority areas will be <br /> integrated as well. <br /> Other aspects that may be important to conservation <br /> While protecting native biodiversity, scenic views and community priority areas are first order task, <br /> other aspects may also be important for conservation. For example, the potential for recreational uses <br /> or if a parcel has strategic value as part of a broader conservation plan may both impact the value of a <br /> parcel for conservation. As the team at UC Berkeley develops their databases and becomes familiar <br /> with the study area,we expect to find parcel attributes that may provide value for conservation but are <br /> not currently listed as priorities.Therefore, in our meetings with ALOSAC we expect to consistently <br /> have a dialog concerning what other features we should include in the scoring and ranking system. <br /> Scoring and ranking <br /> Prioritization systems should be based on a scoring and ranking of all parcels based on their <br /> contribution to Alameda County. Inherently, ranking non-comparable goods(such as habitat quality <br /> and viewsheds) requires a value judgement on the part of the researcher.Therefore, it is important <br /> that any scoring system be transparent and separable.A transparent scoring system allows for <br /> sensitivity analysis to understand how weighting scores differently impacts a parcel's score and rank.A <br /> separable scoring system allows people to view each component of the score individually and therefore <br /> understand what is driving the ranking. We expect the development of the scoring system to be an <br /> interactive process with input from ALOSAC along the way. <br /> We can imagine a hypothetical scoring system based on a habitat score,viewshed score,and <br /> community priority area score. An alternative ranking may include additional scores,such as from the <br /> threat of development in the absence of conservation action.The habitat score would be made up of <br /> many components,for example two points could be given to a parcel for each: presence of rare plants, <br /> presence of rare animals,connectivity to other open space,connectivity to other parkland and <br /> nearness to populations centers. Adding up all component scores would give a total score for Habitat. <br /> Similar methods could be used to give scores to viewsheds and community priority areas and threat of <br /> development. <br /> In this hypothetical example(Table 1.)we can see each components contribution to the total score and <br /> overall ranking. By comparing the primary score and rank(which includes only the three main <br /> components of the analysis)to the secondary score and rank we see the differences that including a <br /> new variable (threat to development)can make in the overall ranking. It is important to emphasize, <br /> however,that the ranking should be used for guiding purchases, but not to rigidly find the"best" parcel <br /> available. Rankings are scientifically informed,yet subjective since we do not account for parcel <br /> attributes. It is the crucial role of the ALOSAC to use this information and their own judgement to make <br /> the final decisions concerning what parcels should be pursued. <br />