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Appalachian LCC 2013 Annual Report
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As an integral part of the National Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) Network, the Appalachian LCC is transforming the landscape conservation vision into action. The Appalachian LCC has taken great strides this year in serving as the catalyst for a collaborative network, assembling foundational data and information; providing decision support tools and products; supporting outreach, capacity, and enhancing the visibility of conservation actors; and staying relevant and evaluating progress. This report highlights these key achievements taking place across the broader Appalachian region and National LCC Network.
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Cooperative
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Publications & Outreach
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Appalachian LCC 2012 Annual Report
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Landscape conservation is about bringing people, expertise, and resources together across a region to effectively respond to environmental challenges and attempt to create sustainable ecosystems. The Appalachian LCC has built a strong foundation to provide greater support toward landscape conservation that will achieve lasting benefit for the environment, wildlife, natural resources, and the people of the Appalachians.
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Cooperative
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Publications & Outreach
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Appalachian LCC - First Annual Report 2011
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This report details the formation and achievements of the Appalachian LCC in its first year. During this year, the Appalachian LCC set in place the governance and decision-making Interim Steering Committee body, identified partners and partnerships that would be critical to achieving its mission, and made a number of important decisions to set the direction and tone of the partnership. Each of these decisions is leading to progress toward the primary goal of improving the science foundation for conservation work in the Appalachians.
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Cooperative
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Publications & Outreach
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Fact Sheet: AppLCC Overview
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Today a range of monumental conservation challenges confronts the Appalachians. This includes the loss and fragmentation of natural habitats; disruptions in natural disturbance regimes; and expanding major land-use changes that are occurring on a grand scale. Climate change will further exacerbate these challenges. The magnitude of these landscape-level changes requires a shift from traditional local and single-species conservation approaches toward a more comprehensive scale to protect species, habitats, and ecosystems. The Appalachian Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) serves as a catalyst for conservation collaboration by providing the tools, products, and data, resource managers and partners need to address the environmental threats that are beyond the scope of any one agency.
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Cooperative
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Publications & Outreach
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Fact Sheets
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Environmental Flows from Water Withdrawals in the Marcellus Shale Region
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The Appalachian LCC collaborated with Cornell University to study the environmental impacts of water withdrawals in the Central Appalachian region. The rivers and streams of the Central Appalachians are home to more than 200 species of fish and other aquatic life. They also provide a reliable source of drinking water, recreational opportunities and associated economic benefits to people living in large cities and surrounding communities. This research looks at 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. It focuses on the Marcellus Shale region in the Central Appalachians, including portions of NY, PA, OH, MD, WV and VA.
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Research
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Species and Habitat Vulnerability Assessments of Appalachian Species and Habitats
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Future climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies will be dependent on the best available projections of how the regional climate will change and the impacts those changes will have on the region’s natural and cultural resources. Understanding the vulnerability of various species and habitats to climate change within the Appalachian LCC is of critical importance for making effective conservation decisions. The AppLCC funded a Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment research project that addresses several factors: 1) how the Cooperative should acquire information about the climate vulnerability of Appalachian species and habitats to develop vulnerability assessments for a suite of key species and habitats to share with partners; 2) compilation of known vulnerability assessments of species and habitats, and 3) new climate change vulnerability assessments of selected species and habitats in the AppLCC region.
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Research
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Data Needs Assessment
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The Data Needs Assessment research project was undertaken to review the variety of resources on conservation planning to provide packages of products, data, and identified data gaps to improve conservation planning in the Appalachian LCC. A suite of core conservation planning products and data from principal investigators at Clemson University are now available to the Cooperative.
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Research
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Assessing Future Energy Development Across the Appalachians
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Assessing Future Energy Development across the Appalachian LCC used models that combined data on energy development trends and identified where these may intersect with important natural resource and ecosystem services to give a more comprehensive picture of what potential energy development could look like in the Appalachians. Ultimately this information is intended to support dialogue and conservation on how to effectively avoid, minimize, and offset impacts from energy development to important natural areas and the valuable services they provide.
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Research
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Riparian Restoration to Promote Climate Change Resilience in Eastern U.S. Streams
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Provision of shade via riparian restoration is a well-established management adaptation strategy to mitigate against temperature increases in streams. Effective use of this strategy depends upon accurately identifying vulnerable, unforested riparian areas in priority coldwater stream habitats. An innovative riparian planting and restoration decision support tool is now available to the conservation community. 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.
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Riparian Restoration
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A Stream Classification System for the Appalachian Landscape Conservation Cooperative
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Unifying state-based stream classifications into a single consistent system, principal investigators at The Nature Conservancy developed a hierarchical classification system and map for stream and river systems for the Appalachian LCC that represents the region’s natural flowing-water aquatic habitats. This river classification information is needed to develop and implement instream flow standards and management recommendations so that environmental flows can become integral to all water management decisions from the onset.
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Research
