| Title: New Hampshire Wildlife Connectivity and Corridors | |
| Time Period of Content: 10/13/2020-10/25/2021 | Publication Date: 10/25/2021 |
| Originator: NH Fish and Game Department in cooperation with the NH Transportation and Wildlife Workgroup | |
| Abstract: The NH Wildlife Connectivity Model is a basic, GIS-based, landscape permeability model that predicts broad-scale wildlife connectivity zones across the state. This analysis can identify both key areas for land protection efforts and strategic locations for restoring connectivity in currently fragmented landscapes. Resistance curves were used to model intense, moderate, and mild effects of distance from roads, land cover, slope, and distance from riparian areas. Sixteen species were chosen to represent a range of variation in dispersal behavior. Relative influence of the four landscape factors was determined based on literature review; and final scoring was peer-reviewed by biologists familiar with the species. Preliminary validation of the NH wildlife connectivity model utilized available data from tracking and telemetry studies. Visual assessment of these data provided a sufficient level of confidence in the model to accept the resulting cost surface for general conservation planning purposes. Land cover data is based on 10m resolution NH Wildlife Action Plan habitat dataset, based on 2016 NOAA C-CAP high res land cover. Traffic volume provided by: McGarigal K, Compton BW, Plunkett EB, DeLuca WV, and Grand J. 2018. Designing sustainable landscapes: traffic metric. Report to the North Atlantic Conservation Cooperative, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Northeast Region. Output is not actual locations of wildlife corridors, but a display of how a model of habitat suitability and movement behavior translates into patterns of landscape connectivity. It is strongly encouraged that users incorporate best available local data sources and ground-truth results of corridor analyses, which is essential for identifying critical connectivity zones. | |
| Theme Keywords: Wildlife, Connectivity | |
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