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Connect the Connecticut Landscape Conservation Design

What can we do today to ensure a sustainable future for the Connecticut River watershed? Connect the Connecticut is a collaborative effort to identify the best places to start: a network of priority lands and waters that can support wildlife and natural systems, with multiple pathways for migration, restoration, development, and conservation.

Go to the Product(s)

Connect the Connecticut includes many products that together comprise the landscape conservation design for the Connecticut River watershed. To house the products, information about the motivation for this project, testimonials about how the products are being used to implement the overall design, and other information, the North Atlantic LCC created a website, ConnecttheConnecticut.org.

Technical description

Combining geospatial data, biological information, and models, a landscape conservation design identifies opportunities to protect species, habitats, and environmental processes across an entire landscape. A design can offer guidance for organizations and agencies working at different scales in the same area, and can help foster collaboration among them to achieve shared conservation goals.

The development of a landscape conservation design for the Connecticut River watershed was driven by two overarching goals agreed upon by the partnership:

  • To sustain a diverse suite of intact, connected, and resilient ecosystems that provide important ecological functions and services that benefit society, such as clean water, flood protection, and lands for farming, forestry, and recreation.
  • To sustain healthy and diverse populations of fish, wildlife, and plant species for the continuing benefit and enjoyment of the public.

Case Studies and News Stories

"Connecting the Connecticut" - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Conserving the Nature of the Northeast blog

"Partners use Connect the Connecticut to inform priorities for protecting Long Island Sound"  - North Atlantic LCC Conservation in Action case study

See the News section on the project website for stories about Connect the Connecticut.

Project Contact(s):

, Director of the Landscape Ecology Lab, University of Massachusetts Amherst

LCC Staff Contact(s):

, North Atlantic LCC Science Coordinator [General Questions]

, North Atlantic LCC Communications Coordinator [Media Questions]

, North Atlantic LCC GIS Specialist [Conservation Planning Atlas Questions]
PROJECT PAGE:
Product Type(s):
Foundation Information
Maps, Spatial Datasets, and Databases
Assessments and Research Results
Reports
Decision Support Tools
Conservation designs, blueprints, and plans
Resource Type: Amphibians, Birds, Ecosystems, Fish, Mammals, Plants, Reptiles
Conservation Targets: Terrestrial and non-tidal wetland, Freshwater aquatic
Conservation Framework: Biological Planning, Conservation Design
Threats/Stressors: Climate change impacts, Development/Urban Growth
Conservation Action: Site/area protection, Site/area management, Habitat and natural process restoration, Species management

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