“When you make connections between different conservation partners and identify shared goals, you create a potential for greater conservation outcomes.”
David Paulson, Massachusetts Divison of Fisheries and Wildlife
“It’s valuable to have a holistic approach that is also objective so you can better justify why particular areas may be more important than others.”
Patrick Comins, Audubon Connecticut
“Tools like this not only help us think about functionality and integrity at an ecosystem scale, but give us the ability to strategically improve these aspects across the landscape.”
Georgia Basso, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
“There are so many wells to dip into for information, so the fact that this is comprehensive and comprehensible to those who are not power users of data is really valuable.”
Andrew Fisk, Connecticut River Conservancy
“If you are working locally, you should know what’s going on regionally – where there is going to be energy for conservation.”
Bill Labich, Highstead Foundation
“As the landscape changes, thinking changes, and priorities change, the core components of this model can continue to be run and provide updated information.”
Scott Jackson, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Tier 1 core areas and the connectors between them
Land cover map used for this project
The Nature Conservancy’s geophysical settings map
Roads by class
Connect the Connecticut is supported by The North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative, an applied science and management partnership that builds upon a long history of conservation in the region to unite stakeholders around common goals for sustaining natural and cultural resources, and to develop tools and strategies to achieve those goals in the face of threats and uncertainty.