Modified items

All recently modified items, latest first.

Standardization of Terrestrial and Wetland Habitat Classification and Mapping: The overall goal of this project was to compare maps and classification systems from various producers to identify opportunities for consolidating the strongest qualities in each mapping system in support of a long-term goal of a ‘best map’ for the Northeastern and Midwestern U.S.

Extending the Northeast Terrestrial Habitat Map to Atlantic Canada: This project developed a comprehensive terrestrial habitat map for the entire extent of the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (NALCC) region by extending the Northeast Terrestrial Habitat Map to Atlantic Canada and southern Quebec. The completed version was released on September 10, 2015.

Virginia Piedmont and Coastal Plain Updates to Northeast Habitat Map: This project updated the Northeast Terrestrial Habitat Map by remapping the Virginia coastal plain and piedmont. (The previous version adopted the Southeast GAP map for these regions.) This resulted in a map that is fully consistent across the 13 state Northeast region (Maine to Virginia and West Virginia).

Decision Support Tool to Assess Aquatic Habitats and Threats in North Atlantic Watersheds and Estuaries: Through a stakeholder-driven process, the project team developed a multi-criteria decision support tool to allow resource managers to visualize and manipulate information on aquatic habitats and threats to prioritize areas for conservation action.

White Mountains to Moosehead Lake Initiative: The purpose of this demonstration project was to show how North Atlantic LCC science products can be used to inform conservation for a Northeast habitat and resilience "hotspot." The Trust for Public Land integrated LCC and other science products into a clearinghouse and analysis tool for parcel-level conservation planning in the 2.7 million acre White Mountains to Moosehead Lake region of Maine and New Hampshire.

North Atlantic LCC Demonstration Project: Marsh Migration: Coastal marshes serve a variety of important functions including flood control, spawning/rearing areas for marine life, and critical habitat for many bird species of conservation concern. The focus of this project was to facilitate local actions in Maine to accommodate the needs of coastal marshes to migrate landward in response to rising sea levels.

Application of the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standards (CMECS) to the Northeast: This project integrated NOAA and NatureServe's Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) and the Nature Conservancy and NatureServe's Northeast Regional Habitat Classification System (NRHCS) in order to extend the latter system to estuarine and marine environments from Maine to Virginia. State, academic, and non-profit partners collaborated to identify and cross-walk existing state marine classification systems. The project examined the scalability of this classification by conducting pilot mapping projects at three different scales relevant to planning and conservation efforts.

Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standards (CMECS) pilot studies: The Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) provides a comprehensive national framework for organizing information about coasts, oceans, and their living systems. But when integrating these data across different scales, is anything lost in translation? This report uses three pilot projects to assess how well the framework functions for classifying estuarine and marine environments at different scales.

Landscape Capability for Representative Species: These datasets depict the potential capability of the landscape throughout the Northeastern United States to provide habitat for a particular terrestrial representative species based on environmental conditions existing in approximately 2010. Landscape capability integrates habitat capability, climate niche, and prevalence, and is a measure of the relative capability of the landscape to support a given species.

Extending the Northeast Aquatic Habitat Map to Canada: This project contributed to the development of a comprehensive aquatic habitat map for the entire extent of the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (NALCC) region by extending the Northeast Aquatic Habitat Map to Canada and southern Quebec.

North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative: Both a network of partners and a source of shared resources, the North Atlantic Aquatic Connectivity Collaborative (NAACC) offers a collaborative framework for taking on the critical task of assessing and upgrading the hundreds of thousands of outdated road-stream crossings across the region that represent barriers to wildlife movement and pose flooding risks to communities. The NAACC offers training in standard protocols for conducting assessments, online tools for prioritizing upgrades based on ecological benefits, and a database of road-stream crossings encompassing the 13 Northeast states.

Northeast Lake and Pond Classification System: The Northeast region is known for its wealth of lakes and ponds — more than 30,000 bodies of water that store freshwater, sustain a diversity of fish, birds, invertebrates, and aquatic plants, and support sport fisheries and recreational activities — and now there is a common way to classify them. Developed by experts from The Nature Conservancy, ten states, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the classification scheme is based upon four key variables that are used to organize aquatic natural communities, and can be mapped consistently across the region and United States.

Restoring Aquatic Connectivity and Increasing Flood Resilience: This project brings together the major partners involved in road-stream crossings to assess river and stream continuity and set priorities for restoring connectivity, and reducing flood damage to road crossings, within the North Atlantic region.

Revisions to the Northeastern Aquatic Habitat Classification: This project updated the 2008 Northeastern Aquatic Habitat Classification (NAHCS) prepared by The Nature Conservancy and the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (NEAFWA). The updates added a tidal component to the classification of streams and rivers and a mapped classification of lakes; the lake classification was revised in 2015.

Vulnerabilities to Climate Change of Northeast Fish and Wildlife Habitats, Phase II: This project completed three assessments of the vulnerability of terrestrial, aquatic, and coastal habitats (ecosystems) to climate change, including sea level rise. One assessment evaluated 13 terrestrial and wetland habitat types, the second evaluated cold water stream habitats, and the third evaluated coastal habitats. A database of coastal climate change projects and tools was also developed.

Assessing Ecological Integrity of Salt Marshes in the Northeast: Designing Sustainable Landscapes (DSL) assesses the capability of current and potential future landscapes to provide integral ecosystems and suitable habitat for a suite of representative species, and provides guidance for strategic habitat conservation.

Healing from the Inside Out: Perspectives from the first Indigenous woman to ever serve as a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Native American liaison