Landscape Partnership Resources Library
Application: Family Forestland Short-course - Focusing on Land Transfer to Generation "NEXT"
Please join us for a hands-on workshop with free legal guidance from professionals experienced in intergenerational land transfer and landowner testimonials of estate planning steps & strategies they have used.
Tennessee River Basin Network Agenda
Detailing presentations, discussions, and outcomes for the Tennessee River Basin Network Meeting.
Fact Sheet: Online Resources to Inform Natural Resource Management
Research from the Appalachian Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) and the U.S. Forest Service is integrating society’s value of ecosystems with future risks, to inform natural resource planning and management across the Appalachians and help decision makers, industry and the public adopt policies that protect and invest in these resources.
Connect the Connecticut - Fact Sheet
High-level overview of the landscape conservation design project. May 2016.
Connect the Connecticut Report
Connect the Connecticut Report - report summarizing the process and results of the project. May 2016.
Draft Connect the Connecticut Report
Current version of Connect the Connecticut report for Core Team review
Final Report: Climate Change Vulnerability Assessments in the Appalachian LCC
The Appalachian LCC tasked NatureServe with a two-phase project that explores the understanding of climate change in the Appalachian landscape. The first phase focused on assembling a panel of experts to provide guidance on a) prioritizing species and habitats to assess for vulnerability to climate change; b) selecting approaches to conduct vulnerability assessments, and c) identifying appropriate climate data to use in the assessments. Guided by the recommendations of the Panel, Phase II analyzes the results of 700 existing species assessments, and conducts vulnerability analyses on 41 additional species and 3 habitats. We used the recommendations of the Expert Panel, as well as the existing compilation to guide our recommended list of additional species and habitats to be assessed in Phase II. Criteria included a focus on the Interior Low Plateau and on plants, neither of which were well represented in existing assessments, as well as species of high conservation significance, keystone or species otherwise important to the habitat, and those of high value as indicators of climate change. This report summarizes Phase II of this effort.
Previous Habitat Assessments within the Appalachian LCC
This spreadsheet provides the results of habitat assessments from five previous research projects. These include two projects in the Central Appalachian and Cumberland - Southern Appalachian portion of the LCC; habitat assessments completed in the North Carolina portion of the Cumberland - Southern Appalachian subregion; habitat assessments in the northeastern portion of the Central Appalachian subregion; and a draft assessment for a habitat in the Interior Low Plateau.
Southern Interior Low Plateau Dry Mesic Oak Forest
This habitat of upland hardwood-dominated forests occurs in the Interior Low Plateau region of the southeastern United States along ridgetops and slopes of various aspects. The floristic expression of different stands included in this habitat varies considerably with aspect and soil type. Included here are a variety of associations ranging along a moisture gradient from submesic to drier ones. The submesic to dry-mesic expressions tend to be found on midslopes with northerly to easterly aspects, and the drier ones on southerly to westerly aspects and on broad ridges. Parent material can range from calcareous to acidic with very shallow, well- to excessively well-drained soils in the drier expressions and moderately well-drained soils in the submesic to dry-mesic ones. The canopy closure of this system ranges from closed to somewhat open in the drier examples. Historically, these examples may have been more open under conditions of more frequent fire.
Central Interior Highlands Calcareous Glade and Barrens
This habitat is found primarily in the Interior Highlands of the Ozark, Ouachita, and Interior Low Plateau regions with scattered occurrences in northern Missouri. It occurs along moderate to steep slopes and steep valleys on primarily southerly to westerly facing slopes. Limestone and/or dolomite bedrock typify this system with shallow, moderately to well-drained soils interspersed with rocks. These soils often dry out during the summer and autumn, and then become saturated during the winter and spring. Fire is the primary natural dynamic, and prescribed fires help manage this system by restricting woody growth and maintaining the more open glade structure.
Cave/Karst Resources Across the Appalachian LCC: A Visual Guide to Results PDF
This visual guide documents 18 months of work gathering and analyzing data on caves and karst resources in the Appalachian LCC. The maps and files provide a comprehensive overview of data available for examining relationships between environmental factors and biological diversity and distribution within karst areas in the region. This visual survey is intended to be a guide to what the researchers have accomplished, and a guide to what new questions and results would be interesting to end-users.
Guidelines for Using the NatureServe Climate Change Vulnerability Index
Motivated by the need to rapidly assess the vulnerability of species to climate change, NatureServe developed a Climate Change Vulnerability Index. The Index uses a scoring system that integrates a species’ predicted exposure to climate change within an area and three sets of factors associated with climate change sensitivity, each supported by published studies: 1) indirect exposure to climate change, 2) species-specific sensitivity and adaptive capacity factors and 3) documented response to climate change. Our primary goal for the Index is to provide valuable input for key planning documents, such as revisions of state wildlife action plans, to allow consideration of climate change impacts together with other stressors. We also hope this tool will help land managers develop and prioritize strategies for climate change adaptation that lead to actions that increase the resilience of species to climate change.
