Groundspeak Portal

I was just browsing the list of categories which might be related to protected natural areas and am finding a need for a new category. 

For example, in Germany you have Naturschutzsbegiete which are usually rather small islands of land which have special administrative protection due to having some natural characteristic worthy of special protection (flora or fauna).  They are not parks, nor are they nature centers.  They may or may not be signed.  There is rarely any building on the site although in some cases there may be interpretive trails.

I'm finding the same is true in France. 

These are generally great places to go to locate and photograph special/rare plant or animal species.

Does anyone see a reason not to create such a new category? 

Would these fall under the "Public Access Lands" Category?

It seems as if there may be a signage requirement for Public Access Lands although otherwise it does appeaer to fall under the category. 

My feeling, however, is the Public Access Lands is too broad a category.  Within this category you could have recreational areas mixed with nature refuges.  Further differentiation seems to be merited in my opinion. 

Well, there is a US Natural Wildlife Refuge category, and I don't see a world wide counterpart (or similar).  I do not see why not creating a category of national protected lands - world wide, sans US. 

You might get an arguement to include the US and its US Forest Lands, but that is up to you.

The hardest thing will be to define what will be acceptable and where you want the waymark.  In Missouri we have a Natural Areas program which has 167 areas ranging in size from one acre to 5,000+ acres.  These are well defined, carefully screened and selected and are often specific parts of parks, conservation areas, national forests or along National Scenic Riverways. (None are in National Wildlife Refuges that I know of).    These Natural Areas I think would be the types of areas you are looking for, however not all states have similar programs.  These areas are different from the typical green spaces, forest preserves, game refuges, or the parks in general.  Missouri Natural Areas

Sounds a bit like a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in the UK???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Site_of_Special_Scientific_Interest

Thanks all for giving me further reference points. In Germany the NSGs are well documented on the internet.  I have to look further in France to understand all of the agencies involved.

I think one of the required variables would be to specify the agency or organization in charge of managing the site.  And then maybe also a web site which demonstrates a link between the agency/organization and the site.

I will continue to mull this over.

Maybe this website can help in defining this category...

http://www.unep-wcmc.org/protected_areas/categories/index.html

and

http://www.unep-wcmc.org/protected_areas/categories/eng/index.html
http://www.unep-wcmc.org/protected_areas/categories/fra/index.html

Happy Waymarking,
Edo