ACE Biodiversity (Rank 5)

Terrestrial Biodiversity Summary is the combined result of three measures of biodiversity in CA Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Areas of Conservation Emphasis (ACE) project. Those pillars that make up this metric include terrestrial native species richness (diversity of all currently tracked species in the state), terrestrial rare species richness (diversity of special status species), and terrestrial irreplaceability (highlights unique endemic species). As such, this dataset describes the relative biodiversity levels for birds, amphibians, plants, mammals and reptiles across each USDA ecoregion.

Rank 5, the highest rank, is used as an exclusion in the biological planning priorities component of the Core and SB 100 Terrestrial Climate Resilience Study Screens. This ensures that areas of technical resource potential identified through screening avoid lands with higher conservation value for biodiversity.

This layer is featured in the CEC 2023 Land-Use Screens for Electric System Planning data viewer.

For more information about this layer and its use in electric system planning, please refer to the Land Use Screens Staff Report in the CEC Energy Planning Library.