Terrestrial Cores and Connectors

Included in this download are a set of Tier 1 terrestrial core areas and their connectors, grassland bird core areas, and additional tier 2 cores and tier 3 supporting landscapes. In combination with the aquatic core areas, they spatially represent the ecological network derived from the Connecticut River Landscape Conservation Design (CTR LCD) project. Terrestrial Core and Connectors: The network is designed to provide strategic guidance for conserving natural areas, and the fish, wildlife, and other components of biodiversity that they support within the Connecticut River watershed. Connectors represent “corridors” that could facilitate the movement of plants and animals (i.e., ecological flow) between terrestrial tier 1 core areas. Grassland Bird Cores: Represents a set of terrestrial core areas for grassland birds based on the eastern meadowlark as a representative species for grassland birds. Terrestrial Core Tiers: This layer depicts the terrestrial tier 1 cores (encompassing 25% of the landscape), nested within tier 2 cores (encompassing 50% of the landscape), nested with tier 3 supporting landscapes (encompassing 77% of the landscape). The tiers reflect the arbitrariness in selecting thresholds for designating priority core areas.