Southeastern US Ecological Framework Project

The Southeastern Ecological Framework Project is a GIS-based analysis to
identify ecologically significant areas and connectivity in the southeast
region of the US. The states included in the project are Florida, Georgia,
Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky

The project began in October 1998 and was completed in December 2001 by the
University of Florida GeoPlan Center and sponsored by the US Environmental
Protection Agency Region 4. Region 4 Planning & Analysis Branch continues to
use this data to facilitate EPA programs and to work with state and federal
agencies and local groups to make sound conservation decisions. Efforts to
apply this methodology to other EPA Regions is being considered.

The Southeastern Ecological Framework Final Report is available for
download as a .PDF. This document requires Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 software
for viewing, which can be downloaded for free from the Adobe website.

Project Goals and Objectives:

1. identify primary ecological areas that are protected by some type of
conservation or ecosystem management program,

2. identify a green infrastructure network that connects these primary
ecological areas,

3. identify the important ecological characteristics of the ecological areas
and connecting green infrastructure,

4. develop an understanding of the spatial scale issues involved in analyzing
the ecological connectivity at local, state and regional scales, and

5. develop protocol for dissemination of the information.

This analysis was conducted using landscape ecology principles and Geographic
Information Systems (GIS) tools. The product(s) of this study can be used by
local, state and federal agencies in developing a regional atlas of
environmental issues and conflicts and threats to the natural ecosystems caused
by human environmental impacts. State, local and private entities can utilize
the information to address various environmental resource allocation issues.

[Summary provided by the University of Florida]