University of Massachusetts Amherst

Conservation Assessment and Prioritization System

Conservation Assessment and Prioritization System

DSL (North Atlantic Region)

Connecticut | Delaware | Massachusetts | Maryland | Maine | New Hampshire | New Jersey | New York | Pennsylvania | Rhode Island | Virginia | Vermont | West Virginia

The Designing Sustainable Landscapes (DSL) project is a landscape conservation project applied to 13 states in the Northeastern United States. The purpose is to provide guidance for strategic habitat conservation by assessing ecological integrity and landscape capability for a suite of representative species across the landscape. Assessments were done for both the current landscape and potential future landscapes, as modified by an urban growth model and models of climate change and sea level rise.
The DSL project provides much of the basis of the conservation planning tools Nature's Network and Connect the Connecticut. The links below provide access to CAPS and other DSL data, clipped for each of the 13 states in the region. The four zip files available for each state include:

  • Land cover using a DSL classification (states.dslland)
  • Two versions of four Index of Ecological Integrity grids (states.iei)
  • Critical Linkages data for dams and road-stream crossings (states.cl)
  • Landscape conservation design products (states.design)

There are four Index of Ecological Integrity grids resulting from rescaling the results at four different spatial scales: region-wide (13 states), statewide, HUC6 watershed, and ecoregion. Two versions are provided: a single-color version and a 5-color version. The 5-color version uses different color scales for forest (green), freshwater wetland/aquatic (blue), coastal wetland/aquatic (cyan), shrubland (yellow), and coastal uplands (brown).

For documentation of the DSL project and access to complete, region-wide data, go to https://umassdsl.org.


Connecticut

DSL Land Cover: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_dslland_ct.zip

CAPS IEI: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_iei_ct.zip

Critical Linkages: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_critical_linkages_ct.zip

Landscape Conservation Design: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_design_ct.zip


Delaware

DSL Land Cover: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_dslland_de.zip

CAPS IEI: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_iei_de.zip

Critical Linkages: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_critical_linkages_de.zip

Landscape Conservation Design: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_design_de.zip


Massachusetts

DSL Land Cover: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_dslland_ma.zip

CAPS IEI: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_iei_ma.zip

Critical Linkages: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_critical_linkages_ma.zip

Landscape Conservation Design: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_design_ma.zip


Maryland

DSL Land Cover: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_dslland_md.zip

CAPS IEI: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_iei_md.zip

Critical Linkages: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_critical_linkages_md.zip

Landscape Conservation Design: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_design_md.zip


Maine

DSL Land Cover: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_dslland_me.zip

CAPS IEI: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_iei_me.zip

Critical Linkages: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_critical_linkages_me.zip

Landscape Conservation Design: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_design_me.zip


New Hampshire

DSL Land Cover: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_dslland_nh.zip

CAPS IEI: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_iei_nh.zip

Critical Linkages: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_critical_linkages_nh.zip

Landscape Conservation Design: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_design_nh.zip

New Jersey

DSL Land Cover: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_dslland_nj.zip

CAPS IEI: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_iei_nj.zip

Critical Linkages: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_critical_linkages_nj.zip

Landscape Conservation Design: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_design_nj.zip


New York

DSL Land Cover: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_dslland_ny.zip

CAPS IEI: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_iei_ny.zip

Critical Linkages: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_critical_linkages_ny.zip

Landscape Conservation Design: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_design_ny.zip


Pennsylvania

DSL Land Cover: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_dslland_pa.zip

CAPS IEI: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_iei_pa.zip

Critical Linkages: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_critical_linkages_pa.zip

Landscape Conservation Design: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_design_pa.zip


Rhode Island

DSL Land Cover: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_dslland_ri.zip

CAPS IEI: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_iei_ri.zip

Critical Linkages: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_critical_linkages_ri.zip

Landscape Conservation Design: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_design_ri.zip


Virginia

DSL Land Cover: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_dslland_va.zip

CAPS IEI: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_iei_va.zip

Critical Linkages: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_critical_linkages_va.zip

Landscape Conservation Design: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_design_va.zip


Vermont

DSL Land Cover: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_dslland_vt.zip

CAPS IEI: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_iei_vt.zip

Critical Linkages: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_critical_linkages_vt.zip

Landscape Conservation Design: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_design_vt.zip


West Virginia

DSL Land Cover: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_dslland_wv.zip

CAPS IEI: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_iei_wv.zip

Critical Linkages: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_critical_linkages_wv.zip

Landscape Conservation Design: https://landeco.umass.edu/web/lcc/bystate/dsl_states_design_wv.zip