Gulf Coast Prairie LCC Conservation Blueprint V1.0

Catchments were ranked for (i) Headwaters & Streams and (ii) Rivers & Lakes based on the identification of desired ecological conditions by members of the GCP Science Team. These desired ecological conditions include the risk of these habitats being degraded, the risk of negative alterations in base flow, stream impairment status (i.e., 303d), the amounts of impervious surface, canopy coverage, and row crops in catchments, and physical characteristics of these systems (i.e., sinuosity). Estimates for the remaining BDH were created largely with land cover data. For each of these BDH, catchments were ranked based on the proportion of the catchment that currently is or has the ecological potential to be that BDH after accounting factoring for growth in developed land and sea level rise that may negatively impact the catchment. Products for these BDH are not a result of defining desired ecological conditions such as path size, configuration, connectivity, condition. A logical next iteration of these land cover-based projections is to move them beyond mere aggregations of habitat and into the context of habitats in desired ecological condition.