Terrestrial Wildlife Habitat Models

Project Objectives

This project is intended to address a high priority science need for the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC): the need to enhance the capacity of partners to assess and design sustainable landscape conservation for wildlife across the eastern United States. Specifically, this project is intended to address elements 1b) of a broader Designing Sustainable Landscapes project:

1. Assess the current capability of habitats in the North Atlantic LCC to support sustainable wildlife populations

a. Select representative terrestrial wildlife species 
b. Develop habitat relationship models for representative species
c. Predict capability of current landscape to support populations of representative species

2. Predict the impacts of landscape-level changes on the future capability of these habitats to support representative species
3. Target conservation programs to most effectively and efficiently achieve habitat objectives and evaluate progress
4. Enhance coordination among partners to make conservation design more effective

LCC Staff Contact: Scott Schwenk

• Schwenk, Scott

• University of Massachusetts Amherst

Complete. The University of Vermont collaborated with UMass Amherst to develop and document habitat capability models for four representative species: Blackpoll Warbler, Louisiana Waterthrush, Wood Thrush, and Wood Turtle. The models are being used in the NALCC-sponsored Designing Sustainable Landscapes project. Through 2017, UMass Amherst made substantial enhacements to these models and added a number of additional representativ species, all of which are available on the North Atlantic LCC's Conservation Planning Atlas on DataBasin (except Wood Turtle; contact the North Atlantic LCC for information on access to this dataset).

These models (as subsequently expanded and enhanced by UMass) have been incorporated into two North Atlantic LCC-sponsored projects, "Connect the Connecticut" and "Nature's Network."

NALCC Funding:   $90,005

Blackpoll Warbler Model Documentation - Designing Sustainable Landscapes

Wood Thrush Model Documentation - Designing Sustainable Landscapes

View Landscape Capability for Blackpoll Warbler, Version 3.0, Northeast on Data Basin (reflecting substantial enhancements by UMass Amherst through 2017)

View Landscape Capability for Louisiana Waterthrush, Version 3.0, Northeast U.S. on Data Basin (reflecting substantial enhancements by UMass Amherst through 2017)

View the Landscape Capability for Wood Thrush, Version 3.0, Northeast U.S. on Data Basin (reflecting substantial enhancements by UMass Amherst through 2016)

For access to the Wood Turtle landscape capability, please contact Scott Schwenk.