Conservation Targets by Land Types and State
The current land cover percent’s shown in the dashboard are from the National Land Cover Database (NLCD). Dewitz, J. (2021). National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2019 Products [Data set]. U.S. Geological Survey. For this analysis, “Forest” is defined as NLCD 2019 classes: 41 Deciduous Forest, 42 Evergreen Forest, 43 Mixed Forest, 52 Shrub/Scrub, and 90 Woody Wetlands. Current conservation status is mapped using the New England Protected Open Space dataset. Harvard Forest. (2021). New England Protected Open Space (1.1.0 (April)) [Data set]. Zenodo. Data Description.
Future projections of conservation are linear projections from the 2019 current conditions to the state level targets. These figures are based on Harvard Forest (2030-2060) projections starting with the 2019 National Land Cover Database and are rounded for display. The goal for wildland conservation is for at least 10% in wildland preserves, with many organizations pursuing higher targets. Source Data
Accelerating the Pace of Conservation
“Today’s Pace” is a calculation that totals the acres of all forestland protected in the past 25 years (1995-2020) according to the NEPOS data and the 2020 landcover data, and dividing the sum by 25, yielding a straight-line average of acres of forest protected per year.
“Pace Needed” subtracts the states’ current protected forest acres (2020-from NEPOS and landcover layer) from the acres of wildlands and woodlands needed in 2060 and then divides by 40 years (years between 2020 and 2060).
