Deer land cover utility (LCU) score datasets (TRS, township, and county)

This file contains the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) land cover utility score (deer LCU score) datasets for every TRS (township, range, and section), township, and county in Illinois, USA. The file is an Excel spreadsheet with a metadata sheet, separate sheets for the deer LCU scores for each spatial level, and a sheet with the data required to replicate how the deer LCU score approach was validated. The deer LCU score is a unitless value, with larger scores corresponding to a spatial unit with more and/or better deer habitat.

* New in this V2: The National Land Cover Database (NLCD) released land cover data for every year, rather than every 2-3 years like the previous deer LCU metrics were based on, so updated datasets are provided for the annual data for all spatial levels and years. In addition, more metadata and file options are provided in this version.