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2015 Northeast Regional Conservation Synthesis
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Revised 2015-12-31
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State Wildlife Action Plans
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State Wildlife Action Plans
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Overview of SWAPs and links to each Northeastern states' draft or final revised Wildlife Action Plan
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Northeast Lake and Pond Classification System
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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.
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Northeast Fish & Wildlife Habitat Vulnerability Assessment
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This product assesses how vulnerable the Northeast's major terrestrial and wetland habitats are to climate change. Thirteen major ecosystem types occurring from Maine to Virginia and West Virginia were systematically evaluated through a collaborative process. The findings can be used in preparing for and adapting to a changing climate.
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Northeastern Coastal Habitats Vulnerability Assessment
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While sea level rise represents a looming threat to a range of coastal resources in the Northeast, the specific risks it poses to different species and habitats are difficult to predict. Determining which resources are most vulnerable, and understanding why, is critical for developing effective management strategies to sustain these resources into the future. By synthesizing current research on the vulnerabilities of fish and wildlife habitats in the coastal zone, identifying the major sources of uncertainty, and suggesting future research that can help support the ongoing conservation of coastal ecological resources, this report offers a valuable reference for individuals, organizations, and communities working to plan for and address sea level rise across the region.
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Northeast Cold Water Fish Habitat Vulnerability Assessment
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Species that depend on cold-water river habitat are vulnerable to warming from climate change, but just how vulnerable? Lingering uncertainties about the relationship between changing air and water temperatures, the capacities of different fish species to adapt to exposure, and the ways climate change will affect other environmental stressors like diseases, make it difficult to predict. In order to make informed decisions about protecting fish habitat, resource managers must understand the degree of the threat. This review offers a comprehensive overview of what is known, what remains uncertain, and what measures that can be taken now to reduce the future impacts of warming on cold water fish habitat.
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Marine Bird Mapping and Assessment
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With the growing interest in offshore energy development along the eastern seaboard, it is increasingly important to determine the associated risks for the bird species that rely on this habitat. Although many efforts have been made to identify important habitat areas for marine birds, each focused on a different geography, and followed different protocols. Using an innovative modeling approach to synthesize historic data on 24 species of marine birds, this report and accompanying maps offer new insight for researchers and marine spatial planners about how these species use offshore waters.
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Estuarine Fish Habitat Assessment and Winter Flounder Pilot Study
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As part of a suite of aquatic habitat assessments and tools designed to support conservation efforts in the Northeast region, the environmental consulting firm Downstream Strategies developed predictive models for estuarine habitat in Narragansett Bay and Long Island Sound, using winter flounder as the focal species to pilot the approach. This study describes the development of a flexible modeling process that can help scientists better understand the distribution, status, threats, and relative abundance of resources in dynamic aquatic habitats.
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Decision Support Framework for Sea-level Rise Impacts
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Loss of land as a result of increasing sea level is among the gravest threats that climate change poses to coastal areas, and one of the most difficult to prepare for because different beaches, barriers, and marshes can respond to sea level rise in various dynamic ways. By distinguishing between areas in the Northeast that are likely to experience flooding as a result of sea-level rise and those that are likely to respond dynamically to sea-level rise by moving or changing, this report offers a resource to support coastal management decisions at both regional and local scales in the context of accelerated change.
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Terrestrial Habitat Map for the Northeast U.S. and Atlantic Canada
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Ecological processes don't stop at international borders, and neither will climate change. In order to understand how climate change will impact forested, agricultural, and wetland systems, resource managers on both sides of the border need to be able to see a continuous landscape. This web mapping tool lets users look at the full habitat picture from the North Atlantic United States to Atlantic Canada and southern Quebec, based on field-collected data and national and provincial datasets.
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