Modified items

All recently modified items, latest first.

Base Maps and Ancillary Data

Aquatic design products

Anadromous Fish Index: This dataset identifies large and medium rivers within the Connecticut River watershed that provide habitat for five anadromous fish species: American shad, blueback herring, shortnose sturgeon, alewife, and sea lamprey. Habitat includes the mainstem and major tributaries of the Connecticut River from the mouth of the river upstream to the limit of passability for these species. This layer is derived from a product entitled "diadromous fish habitat in the Connecticut River watershed" developed in 2010 by The Nature Conservancy, Connecticut River Basin Program. Digital data updates were performed by Renee Farnsworth working with USFWS personnel through the NALCC. Specifically, river segments identified and known to be accessible to the five species listed above were extracted from the diadromous data layer, and each river segment was assigned a score from 1-5 indicating the number of species having known access to the segment. In addition, each segment was scored as “free-flowing,” “impounded” or “unknown.” All river sections with a score >0 for the five focal species are included in the final set of lotic cores.

Culvert Upgrade Impacts: This dataset represents opportunities to restore aquatic connectivity by upgrading culverts. Specifically, this product tabulates the results of a model in which each road-stream crossing is systematically upgraded (virtually) to a bridge having the minimum aquatic barrier score, one at a time, and the predicted improvement in aquatic connectedness from the upgrade is recorded. The delta, or difference, in the aquatic connectedness score, before and after the crossing upgrade for each cell within the affected neighborhood, is computed and multiplied by the average index of ecological integrity of the affected neighborhood. The weighting by the Index of Ecological Integrity emphasizes the potential ecological benefits of a crossing upgrade in an area that is otherwise in good condition but depressed by the crossing structure. Conversely, the score is lower where conditions are already so degraded that an upgrade would not improve local ecosystem conditions.

Aquatic Vulnerability to Development: This dataset represents the aquatic vulnerability to development index, which reflects the likelihood of development occurring in places in the uplands that are likely to impact the aquatic cores. Specifically, aquatic vulnerability is the product of the aquatic buffers, which represent the areas estimated to have a strong influence on the integrity of the aquatic cores based on watershed processes, and the integrated future probability of development between 2010-2080. Cells with relatively low watershed influence on the aquatic cores have low vulnerability regardless of their risk of development, since the integrity of the cores will not be degraded too much if they get developed. Aquatic vulnerability is greatest where there is high watershed influence; i.e., uplands in close proximity to the cores as the water flows, and where there is also relatively high probability of development in the future.

Aquatic Selection Index: This dataset represents the selection index used to create aquatic ecosystem-based cores. The selection index is a continuous surface in which every cell is assigned a value (0-1) based on its relative ecological integrity within each HUC6 watershed. Specifically, the selection index is equal to the index of ecological integrity except in headwater creeks where it is the average of IEI and USGS's stream temperature tolerance index. Aquatic core areas are created, in part, by choosing cells above a certain index value and spreading from these "seed areas" through adjacent aquatic cells to build larger, buffered cores of relatively high ecological value.

Aquatic Index of Ecological Integrity: This dataset represents Aquatic index of ecological integrity (IEI), which is a measure of relative intactness (i.e., freedom from human modifications and disturbance) and resiliency to environmental change (e.g., as caused by disturbance and climate change). Raw IEI is a composite index derived from 19 different landscape metrics that measure different aspects of intactness and resiliency. For the derivation of this layer, raw IEI is (quantile) scaled by ecological system and HUC6 watershed so that the poorest cell of each ecological system gets a 0 and the best gets a 1 within each watershed. Aquatic IEI, is provided for convenience in displaying the results of the aquatic conservation design but is otherwise equivalent to Weighted IEI except that it only has values for aquatic cells (all non-aquatic cells are set to nodata), is technically unweighted IEI. IEI is a major component of the terrestrial and aquatic core area selection indices and thus the terrestrial and aquatic network of core areas.

Anadromous Fish Index: This dataset identifies large and medium rivers within the Connecticut River watershed that provide habitat for five anadromous fish species: American shad, blueback herring, shortnose sturgeon, alewife, and sea lamprey. Habitat includes the mainstem and major tributaries of the Connecticut River from the mouth of the river upstream to the limit of passability for these species. This layer is derived from a product entitled "diadromous fish habitat in the Connecticut River watershed" developed in 2010 by The Nature Conservancy, Connecticut River Basin Program. Digital data updates were performed by Renee Farnsworth working with USFWS personnel through the NALCC. Specifically, river segments identified and known to be accessible to the five species listed above were extracted from the diadromous data layer, and each river segment was assigned a score from 1-5 indicating the number of species having known access to the segment. In addition, each segment was scored as “free-flowing,” “impounded” or “unknown.” All river sections with a score >0 for the five focal species are included in the final set of lotic cores.

Aquatic Core Network and Buffers: These datasets represent aquatic cores and aquatic buffers, in combination with terrestrial cores and connectors they spatially represent the ecological network derived from the CTR LCD project. Data included in this download include: River and Stream Cores, Lake and Pond Cores, Aquatic Buffers (raster), and River and Stream Network (Stream Classes, The Nature Conservancy). River and Stream cores represent: 1) streams of relatively high ecological integrity across all lotic ecosystem types, emphasizing rivers and streams that are relatively intact and resilient to environmental changes. 2) headwater streams of relatively high current habitat value for brook trout, emphasizing streams that provide the best habitat conditions under current climate conditions; and 3) large and medium rivers that provide habitat for anadromous fish, including the portions of the main-stem and major tributaries of the Connecticut River from the mouth of the river upstream to the limit of passability for 5 additional fish species. Lake and Pond cores represent: lakes and ponds of relatively high ecological integrity, emphasizing lakes and ponds that are relatively intact and resilient to environmental changes due to their size and connectivity to similar natural environments. Aquatic Buffers spatially represent the areas estimated to have a strong influence on the integrity of the aquatic cores based on watershed processes. Specifically, the buffers represent areas hydrologically connected to the aquatic cores through surface runoff and instream flow processes, such that anthropogenic stressors within the buffers are likely to adversely impact the integrity of the aquatic cores. Unlike the cores the buffers do not necessarily represent areas of high ecological integrity. River and Stream Network is a classified version of the stream network in which streams are classified and mapped along centerlines, even through wetlands and lake and pond systems. This layer is provided for the sole purpose of facilitating the display and mapping of landscape design products, as it is easier to visualize vector features for narrow linear features.

Aquatic design products: Photo Credit: Dave Govatski

Connect the Connecticut

Northatlantic Connect the Connecticut: Connect the Connecticut is a collaborative effort to identify shared priorities for conserving the Connecticut River Watershed for future generations, considering the value of fish and wildlife species and the natural ecosystems they inhabit.

Coastal and Marine

Salinity, Northeast U.S.: The presence of salt water is an important determinant of ecological communities. This dataset modifies the Northeast Terrestrial Habitat Map developed by The Nature Conservancy to denote the presence of salt water or brackish water as follows: -Wetlands and waters classified by the National Wetland Inventory (http://www.fws.gov/wetlands/) as "marine", plus additional ocean waters to a distance from the coast of 10 km, are considered salt water and assigned a value of "1" -Wetlands and waters classified by the National Wetland Inventory as "upper estuarine" are considered oligohaline and assigned a value of "0.5" -Wetlands and waters classified by the National Wetland Inventory as "estuarine" are considered brackish and assigned a value of "0.7" -All other areas, both terrestrial and aquatic, are assigned a value of "0"

Marine Bird Mapping and Assessment: This project is a collection of data, the download includes: the annual probability of observing one individual, the annual probability of encountering a large flock, and the monthly probability of observing one individual, for the full set of 24 marine bird species (in .csv format), and the associated report “Mapping the distribution, abundance and risk assessment of marine birds in the Northwest Atlantic.” NOTE* The Data Basin link takes you to the "Coastal and Marine" gallery, see the "Marine Bird Assessment" folder to view the species data.

Northatlantic Coastal and Marine: Coastal and marine data sets

Climate

Average November-March Snow Depth (mm), Northeast: This dataset represents a 5 year average, November to March 2007/2008 - 2011/2012, snow depth in millimeters. This data set contains output from the NOAA National Weather Service's National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center (NOHRSC) SNOw Data Assimilation System (SNODAS). SNODAS is a modeling and data assimilation system developed by NOHRSC to provide the best possible estimates of snow cover and associated parameters to support hydrologic modeling and analysis. The aim of SNODAS is to provide a physically consistent framework to integrate snow data from satellite, airborne platforms, and ground stations with model estimates of snow cover (Carroll et al. 2001). SNODAS includes procedures to ingest and downscale output from the Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models, and to simulate snowcover using a physically based, spatially-distributed energy- and mass-balance snow model. SNODAS also includes procedures to assimilate satellite-derived, airborne, and ground-based observations of snow covered area and Snow Water Equivalent (SWE).