Designing Sustainable Landscapes: HUC6 Terrestrial Core-Connector Network

The HUC6 terrestrial core-connector network is one of the principal Designing Sustainable Landscapes (DSL) landscape conservation design (LCD) products, and it is best understood in the context of the full LCD process described in detail in the technical document on landscape design (McGarigal et al 2017). This particular product was initially developed for the Connecticut River watershed as part of the Connect the Connecticut project (www.connecttheconnecticut.org) — a collaborative partnership under the auspices of the North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (NALCC), and subsequently developed for the entire Northeast region as part of the Nature's Network project (www.naturesnetwork.org). The HUC6 terrestrial coreconnector network represents a set of terrestrial core areas and the connectors between them. In combination with the aquatic core areas, they spatially represent the ecological network designed to provide strategic guidance for conserving natural areas, and the fish, wildlife, and other components of biodiversity that they support within the Northeast