Potential landscapes for conservation of the black-tailed prairie dog ecosystem

Aim: To identify potential landscapes for the conservation of the black-tailed prairie dog (BTPD) ecosystem, across their historical geographic range within the United States.
Location: Central Grasslands of the United States.
Methods: We used a structured decision analysis approach to identify landscapes with high conservation potential (HCP) for the BTPD ecosystem. Our analysis incorporated ecological, political, and social factors, along with changing climate and land use to maximize long-term conservation potential. We created scenarios that involved current and future projected suitable BTPD habitat, across the BTPD range within the United States. These were our RANGEWIDE scenarios. Additionally, because conservation policies and funding decisions are often made by political entities, we also identified STATE-LEVEL conservation priorities, under both present and projected future climate. Our STATE-LEVEL analysis sought conservation solutions within each of the states’ boundari..., Description of the data and file structure
Spatial Data Layers Used in Conservation Prioritization Analysis
We used the spatial conservation prioritization method and Zonation software (Moilanen et al. 2005) to evaluate how landscapes varied in their potential for prairie dog ecosystem conservation and restoration across the full range of the species in the United States. Our analysis included a total of 23 environmental input datasets for the full study area, based on the data sources described in Table 1. The most important layer we used to inform our analysis was the BTPD habitat suitability model, as it provided the basis for where, ecologically, the best places are to conserve and restore the BTPD ecosystem (Davidson et al. 2023). This habitat suitability model (HSM) was based on presence and absence data for BTPD occurrences across their geographic range within the United States (McDonald et al. 2015), and quantified how prairie dog occurrences related to climate, soils, topo..., , ## Description of the data and file structure

We compiled a suite of existing spatial data sets and converted them into the nested hexagon framework (NHF 2022). Once all files were converted into the hexagon framework, they were read into the program Zonation to run the conservation prioritization analysis. Here, we provide all of the datasets used in the Zonation analysis and the map products from the analysis that identify the landscapes with high conservation potential for the black-tailed prairie dog (BTPD) ecosystem.

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.wpzgmsbr5](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.wpzgmsbr5)

## **Input Data**

### **FINE SCALE HABITAT SUITABILITY SPATIAL DATA**

#### File: ensemble\_wave\_Jan192021\_HOTR

**Description:**  This set of files (.img.aux.xml, .img.xml, .img, .rrd) represents a raster of an ensemble model of BTPD habitat potential, under current climate. Resolution: 90m. The data is from Davidson et al. 2023.

#### File: eensemble\_Warmwet\_90\_HOTR

**Descri...,