The Nature Conservancy (TNC)

Managing Changing Landscapes in the Southwestern United States

Natural landscapes in the Southwestern United States are changing. In recent decades, rising temperatures and drought have led to drier conditions, contributed to large-scale ecological impacts, and affected many plant and animal species across the region. The current and future trajectory of climate change underscores the need for managers and conservation professionals to understand the impacts of these patterns on natural resources. In this regional assessment of the Southwest Climate Change Initiative, we evaluate changes in annual average temperatures from 1951–2006 across major habitats and large watersheds and compare these changes to the number of species of conservation concern that are found within these...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: Chihuahuan Desert, English, Madrean, Mojave Desert, Sonoran Desert, All tags... US, assessment, biodiversity, bird, climate, ecoregion, endangered, grassland, groundwater, mammal, management, map, model, monitoring, ownership, plant, priority, protected area, rare, research, resilience, restoration, riparian, river, shrub, stream, threat, threatened, vulnerability, water, watershed, wetland, wildlife, Fewer tags

Wind and Wildlife Assessment Tool

Welcome to the Wind and Wildlife Landscape Assessment Tool (LAT), a collaboration organized by the American Wind Wildlife Institute (AWWI) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC). The LAT is designed as a landscape-level planning tool to identify sensitive wildlife habitat and areas that are likely to have low wildlife risk where wind energy development could be prioritized. Although the siting of individual wind energy projects will require on-the-ground surveys to verify data shown here, our hope is that this tool will provide stakeholders with information that facilitates the siting of wind energy in areas with minimal impacts to wildlife, as well as the development of conservation plans, monitoring plans and mitigation...

Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: English, GIS, US, agriculture, amphibian, All tags... assessment, bird, contamination, development, endangered, energy, fish, grazing, invertebrate, mammal, map, mining, oil, plant, priority, protected area, rare, renewable, reptile, threat, threatened, vegetation, wildlife, Fewer tags

Ecoregion-Based Conservation in the Chihuahuan Desert

A Vision for the Chihuahuan Desert The Chihuahuan Desert, shared by two nations, is one of the most biologically rich desert ecoregions in the world, alive with large mammals, birds, reptiles and an unmatched diversity of cactus species. The desert’s rivers, streams and springs are considered to be of global significance, home to fish species found nowhere else on earth. Our vision is a Chihuahuan Desert where governments, local communities, non-governmental organizations, academic institutions, landowners, and other stakeholders are working together to ensure that the richness and diversity of wildlife, habitats, natural communities, and ecological processes of the Chihuahuan Desert are conserved and, where necessary,...

Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: Chihuahuan Desert, assessment, biodiversity, connectivity, development, All tags... fish, grassland, invasive, invertebrate, map, plant, priority, protected area, rare, spring, threat, water, wildlife, Fewer tags

LANDFIRE Data Viewer

The LANDFIRE Program developed a rich suite of consistent spatial data sets for the entire United States. These spatial data sets were designed for very large landscape, regional and national applications. Two of these spatial layers are particularly unique and interesting, Departure and Uncharacteristic Vegetation. Departure is a metric that indicates how different the current composition and structure of vegetation is from estimated historical conditions. This metric is identical to Fire Regime Condition Class (FRCC) in LANDFIRE (V1.0), and is generally called FRCC in the fire literature (link to FRCC in LANDFIRE). A departure value is computed for each unique historical vegetation type (called Biophysical...

Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: English, GIS, US, fire, invasive, All tags... land cover, map, model, national, vegetation, Fewer tags

Sustaining the Grassland Sea

Grasslands of the Sky Islands region once covered over 13 million acres in southeastern Arizona and adjacent portions of New Mexico, Sonora, and Chihuahua. Attempts to evaluate current ecological conditions suggest that approximately two thirds of these remain as intact or restorable grassland habitat. These grasslands provide watershed services such as flood control and aquifer recharge across the region, and continue to support dozens of species of concern. Prioritizing conservation interventions for these remaining grassland blocks has been challenging. Reliable data on condition and conservation value of grasslands in the region have not been systematically summarized. State and national boundaries further complicate...

Categories: Publication; Types: Citation, Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: Chihuahuan Desert, English, Madrean, Mexico, US, All tags... agriculture, assessment, bird, climate, climate, connectivity, development, ecoregion, endangered, erosion, fire, grassland, grazing, groundwater, invasive, land cover, mammal, management, map, mining, model, monitoring, ownership, plan, plant, priority, protected area, rare, reptile, restoration, riparian, scrub, shrub, stream, threat, threatened, vegetation, vulnerability, water, watershed, wetland, wildlife, Fewer tags