Nature’s Network is intended to complement, not replace, other valuable sources of information about the locations and importance of habitats and natural resources that support fish, wildlife, plants, and people in the Northeast region. There are many other resources worth consulting, and we have described some of them below to give you a sense of how they relate to Nature’s Network. If there’s something else that you think should be included on this list, let us know.
Northeast Habitat Guides
Developed by: The Nature Conservancy, Eastern Conservation Science
What is it: This comprehensive document provides a full description of each of the terrestrial and aquatic habitat types that were mapped in our region by The Nature Conservancy, in partnership with the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the North Atlantic LCC. The habitats described in the document and the related maps provide the foundation for nearly all of the data developed for Nature’s Network.
When you should you use it: We encourage anyone interested in conservation to look at the guides simply to appreciate the diversity of habitats in our region, and to recognize that each of the habitats in the document are represented in Nature’s Network. If you are planning to focus your conservation on a particular type of habitat, you can learn about the status and ecology of that habitat type using the guides. You may also find related ecosystem types and associated plants and wildlife. The guides can be helpful for planning restoration because they describe the range of suitable site conditions and ecological processes that may help maintain or restore sites.
How Nature’s Network relates: The habitat maps were developed with support from the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the North Atlantic LCC with the intention of using them as the basis for creating regional conservation design. As such, they provide the foundation for Nature’s Network. Terrestrial and aquatic core areas were delineated by finding the most intact examples of each of the habitats mapped by The Nature Conservancy and described in the guides. Habitats for Imperiled Species were identified by using the wealth of data tracked by Natural Heritage Programs and NatureServe in combination with the habitats described in the guides.
Learn more at:
http://rcngrants.org/sites/default/files/news_files/Northeast%20Aquatic%20and%20Terrestrial%20Habitat%20Guide.pdf
State Wildlife Action Plans
Developed by: Each of the 13 states in the Northeast region
What they are: These comprehensive plans outline exactly what needs to happen in each state to protect fish and wildlife in the face of increasing threats as a way to strategically direct federal conservation funding toward the best long-term investments. The plans were updated in 2016 to reflect the best available state and regional data, and to better foster collaboration across state lines.
When you should use them: If you are planning to do conservation in any of the Northeast states, you should consult that state’s plan first. Wildlife Action Plans offers the best information on threats to species identified as at-risk in a given state, actions needed to protect them, and potential collaborators.
How Nature’s Network relates: Nature’s Network incorporates habitat needs for the all of the fish, wildlife, and plants that have been identified as Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) in State Wildlife Action Plans, and provides regional perspective on state priorities that can help partners work better across jurisdictions to coordinate work to protect species on a landscape scale.
Learn more at: http://northatlanticlcc.org/resources/state-wildlife-action-plans
Connect the Connecticut
Developed by: UMass Amherst Designing Sustainable Landscapes Project, with direction from team of partners representing state and federal agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and universities
What it is: This landscape conservation design outlines a network of priority lands and waters that can support wildlife and natural systems, with multiple pathways for migration, restoration, development, and conservation. The products include networks of terrestrial and aquatic core areas that represent the collective prioritization, as well as datasets and decision-support tools that can be used individually.
When you should you use it: For individuals, organizations, and communities involved in land use and management anywhere in the watershed, Connect the Connecticut provides valuable perspective on the role of a given parcel in helping to sustaining the watershed into the future, and can help justify decisions about conservation, planning, and development.
How Nature’s Network relates: Nature’s Network drew on lessons learned from Connect the Connecticut, and incorporates many of the same datasets scaled to the region rather than the watershed.
Learn more at: www.connecttheconnecticut.org
Landscape Conservation Design in the Appalachians
Developed by: The Appalachian LCC and Clemson University
What it is: The Appalachian LCC’s Landscape Conservation Design is a series of maps or data layers that illustrate the location of key focal landscapes and priority resources that can inform managers and conservations about the quality, quantity, and location of habitat needed to protect biodiversity. It identifies ecologically significant landscapes, aquatic integrity, and corridors for connectivity that are critical to conserving biodiversity in the Appalachians in the face of urbanization, energy development, and other large-scale threats.
When you should you use it: Public land managers, nonprofit organizations, and private landowners in the Appalachian region should use the LCD when they want to incorporate landscape data into local decisions and conservation actions.
How Nature’s Network relates: Nature’s Network and this Appalachian LCC research have overlapping geography in N.Y., Pa., Md., W.V., and Va.
Learn more at: http://applcc.org/research/interactive-conservation-design
Riparian Restoration Decision Support Tool
Developed by: The Appalachian LCC and University of Massachusetts
What it is: This user-friendly tool allows managers and decision-makers to rapidly identify and prioritize areas along the banks of rivers, streams, and lakes for restoration, making these ecosystems more resilient to disturbance and future changes in climate. The tool works by identifying vulnerable stream and riverbanks that lack tree cover and shade in coldwater stream habitats.
When you should you use it: By locating the best spots to plant trees in riparian zones, resource managers can provide shade that limits the amount of solar radiation heating the water and reduce impacts from warmer temperatures.
How Nature’s Network relates: Nature’s Network and this Appalachian LCC research have overlapping geography in N.Y., Pa., Md., W.V., and Va.
Learn more at: http://applcc.org/riparian-restoration
Stream Impacts from Water Withdrawal in the Marcellus Shale
Developed by: The Appalachian LCC and Cornell University
What it is: A study on how the region’s surface freshwater supply – and the health of natural systems delivering this resource – have been impacted and may be altered in the coming years under increasing water withdrawals.The research focuses on the Marcellus Shale region in the Central Appalachians, including portions of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia. In addition to considering the cumulative impacts of water withdrawals, the researchers looked at specific impacts of large water withdrawals with hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale region as one example.
When you should you use it: The overall goal of this research is to provide new information to help resource managers, industry and others make more informed decisions in achieving sustainable river and stream flows that balance the needs of society and healthy ecosystems. Information could also be beneficial for early project design and planning as well as setting a foundation for discussions about associated biological and ecological effects.
How Nature’s Network relates: Nature’s Network and this Appalachian LCC research have overlapping geography in N.Y., Pa., Md., W.V., and Va.
Learn more at: http://applcc.org/research/stream-impacts-water-withdrawals
TNC Conservation Priorities
Developed by: The Nature Conservancy (TNC)
What it is: TNC and partners an “ecoregional” approach to delineate a network of lands and waters that, if adequately conserved, have the highest probability of ensuring the continued persistence of the full range of each ecoregion’s biodiversity. This approach involves assessing relatively large geographic areas delineated by consistent climate, vegetation, geology and other ecological and environmental patterns, to develop a regional-scale, biodiversity-based context for implementing on-the-ground conservation action.
When you should you use it: Use this data layer at statewide and regional scales to inform long term conservation plans and priorities focused on biodiversity conservation. This layer does not necessarily represent areas where The Nature Conservancy or its partners are currently working or intend to work in the near future.
How Nature’s Network relates: TNC Conservation Priorities is a national data set that fully overlaps the Nature’s Network geography. Both the Nature’s Network and TNC Conservation Priority tools can be used to prioritize your landscape based on your conservation goals. Using additional conservation prioritizations can provide information about areas that other analyses have shown to be important, which can further identify the best areas to target for conservation.
Learn more at: http://www.landscope.org/map_descriptions/conservation_priorities/tnc_priority_conservation_areas/18034/
Green Infrastructure
Developed by: Esri
What is it: This set of data products was designed to support the protection of intact habitat throughout the United States by identifying “core” areas that are at least 100 acres large and 200 meters wide based on a combination of the National Land Cover Database (2011) and the US Census Bureau’s TIGER files roads and railroads. Paved roads and railways are considered to be fragmenting features, as are developed and agricultural areas.
When you should you use it: Practitioners working at any scale in the U.S. can use the source datasets that underlie the core areas to construct or modify their own intact habitat areas. The intact habitat cores can also be used to provide regional context for a community that has better or higher resolution data. To create a green infrastructure plan in your community incorporate your goals and data into the six-step planning process.
How Nature’s Network relates: Esri’s Green Infrastructure is a national data set that fully overlaps the Nature’s Network geography. Both the Nature’s Network and Green Infrastructure tools can be used to prioritize your landscape based on your conservation goals. Using additional conservation prioritizations can provide information about areas that other analyses have shown to be important, which can further identify the best areas to target for conservation.
Learn more at: http://www.esri.com/about-esri/greeninfrastructure
