Condition of the Northeast Terrestrial and Aquatic Habitats

Abstract

The goal of this project was to assess the condition of 116 terrestrial and aquatic habitats in the Northeast and provide tools for state agencies and conservation organizations to evaluate the condition of specific habitats within their state. The project is based on the Northeast Terrestrial Habitat Map (Ferree and Anderson 2011) and the Northeast Aquatic Habitat Classification (Olivero and Anderson 2008) and their accompanying datasets, which allow for each habitat to be evaluated across its entire range in the region. The project used region-wide spatial datasets that illustrate a facet of the region’s ecological condition such as predicted loss to development, securement from development, forest stand age and number of dams. This report has two major sections: 1) Condition Metrics: A description of 14 ecological condition metrics and comparative results of the metric as applied to the terrestrial and aquatic habitats, and 2) Geospatial Units and Tools: a database and tool to query the region for habitats that meet specific criteria, or to evaluate a particular area for its habitats and condition attributes.

Additional Resources

Download the input datasets that were used in this condition analysis.

Download the result datasets that were used in this condition analysis.

Citation

Anderson, M.G., Clark M., Ferree C.E., Jospe A., and Olivero A. (2013). Condition of the Northeast Terrestrial and Aquatic Habitats: a geospatial analysis and tool set. The Nature Conservancy, Eastern Conservation Science, Eastern Regional Office. Boston, MA.