At the statewide scale, we are looking for patterns of habitat distribution that dominate large landscapes. This can be thought of as a view of the land from 50,000 feet above the Earth’s surface. This view is interpreted through the behaviors and natural histories of some of Washington’s more mobile vertebrate wildlife, using computer models and our best understanding of what influences these species in their movement choices and the ways in which landscape features contribute to their survival and well-being. At this scale, we have analyzed the landscape with two approaches: a functional focal species approach and a structural landscape integrity approach.
The statewide analysis is a first-step toward identifying regionally important areas using relatively coarse-scale data. The analysis also helps to prioritize areas that need additional attention to address important habitat connectivity concerns at a more localized ecoregional scale, using finer-resolution data and field assessment approaches.