Western Oregon Areas of High Conservation Value

This dataset represents areas in western Oregon with high conservation value. Identification of areas with high conservation value can help land managers strategize during planning efforts to better meet goals, such as viability of northern spotted owls. A large proportion of the areas identified as high conservation value fall on public lands, some areas of which are currently undergoing management plan revisions. Combination of this dataset with datasets depicting land ownership and protection status, such as the Protected Areas Database, can reveal areas of high conservation value which are not currently protected. High conservation value was evaluated using the Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) tool, which uses fuzzy logic to determine the level of support for a given logical proposition within a logic model. Spatial analyses were performed at the township range section level. High conservation value aggregates two primary topics, terrestrial and aquatic value, each of which is based on a series of underlying ecosystem values. Terrestrial value integrates forest value, which is based on the amount, intactness, and connectivity of late-seral forest, and terrestrial species value, which is based on suitability for spotted owl and marbled murrelets, amount of deer and elk management units, and amount of specially-managed species within the analysis unit. Aquatic value is based on watershed quality, as defined by stream condition and degree of forest cover within watersheds, and fish value, which is based on the amount of fish-bearing streams and watersheds identified as crucial to at-risk salmon species. The data underlying this dataset were developed for the manuscript: Staus, N.L., J.R. Strittholt, and D.A. DellaSala. 2008. Evaluating high conservation value in western Oregon: application of a decision support model. Submitted to Ecological Applications 3/2008.