The Chesapeake Conservancy has developed a web application that lets users create, compare, and download prioritization maps to identify restoration and conservation opportunities for species habitat in the northeast United States. The application leverages datasets made available through partners in the Nature’s Network collaborative facilitated by the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative.
The North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative and other contributing partners work together to develop tools and strategies to support natural resource conservation actions across the region. The interactive Prioritization Tool is a web application for identifying the best opportunities to restore rare and threatened habitats for Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN) and other species in the northeast. The goal underlying the development of the restoration tool was to identify areas of degraded habitat having high restoration potential, which if restored would contribute to the network of connected, intact, and resilient sites for biodiversity conservation mapped by Nature’s Network. In order to effectively prioritize watersheds for conservation and restoration opportunities, the tool brings together the best available regional datasets, collected from other Nature’s Network work groups and contributing partners. The tool lets users display a series of prioritization maps developed for a set of pre-defined “scenarios” (e.g., American woodcock), and create their own scenarios using a catalog of nearly 400 metrics.
The application enables effective data sharing and analysis among groups with shared interests in order to maximize the impact of conservation and restoration efforts.
