Connectivity Linkages and Condition, DRECP

Current condition of linkages is represented by terrestrial intactness scores at 1km resolution, calculated by version 15a of CBI’s EEMS fuzzy logic model, which integrates multiple measures of landscape development and vegetation intactness (including agriculture development, urban development, linear development, OHV recreation areas, energy and mining development, vegetation departure,  invasive vegetation, and measures of natural vegetation fragmentation calculated using FRAGSTATS, Dataset link: http://databasin.org/datasets/958719f2359e40b99ca683d1a473ba8d).

Linkages (which do not include wildland or habitat blocks) evaluated in the fuzzy logic model include the following:

1) Linkages identified by SC Wildlands as part of the California Desert Connectivity Project (http://databasin.org/datasets/85d73316b5ab4816b56ed21787ed78a2). These data represent linkages where maintenance or restoration of ecological connectivity is essential for conserving biological diversity within the DRECP area. 

2) Desert Tortoise TCA habitat linkages, representing least cost pathways that connect all desert tortoise conservation areas identified in the US Fish and Wildlife Service's (USFWS) recovery plan for the desert tortoise (http://databasin.org/datasets/df8194c0ea964312ac4bef6a1e923ebc).

3) Desert bighorn sheep linkages not represented in either the tortoise or SC Wildlands linkages, and described in the DRECP BHS Biological Goals and Objectives" document, Apppendix 2 (Desert Bighorn Sheep Mountain Range Herd Unit Intermountain Linkages within each Metapopulation Fragment within the DRECP Outside of Department of Defense and National Park Service).