COA Boundaries FINAL 2020

Draft Conservation Opportunity Areas (COAs) for the state of Arkansas were developed in 2019 through collaboration between the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, with input from stakeholders and partners in conservation, including Quail Forever, The Nature Conservancy, and Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission. Input data layers were associated with three broad categories: habitat condition, species occupation, and partner priorities. Landscape units were ranked high, medium, and low in each category, creating a map of landscape ranks. Landscape Ranks were summarized by watersheds (12-digit Hydrological Unit Code) for aquatic systems and by 1000 Hectare hexagon units for terrestrial systems. Areas in this draft map represent how conservation partners responded to the Aquatic and Terrestrial Landscape Ranks maps to delineate areas with the greatest opportunity for wildlife conservation. This is the fourth iteration of the map, each iteration incorporating revisions suggested by partners.