Great Lakes Restoration Initiative's Terrestrial Habitats & Connectivity Work Group's Pilot Area's Post-Fiscal Year 2021 Open Habitat Connectivity

This dataset is the second installment of a yearly connectivity update for open habitat within the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative's (GLRI) Terrestrial Habitats & Connectivity (TH&C) work group's Pilot Area. The Pilot Area is a region of the northern Great Lakes Basin between Ashland, WI and the Keweenaw Peninsula and is bounded by Lake Superior in the north and the basin boundary in the south, including a 70 km buffer. Each year the TH&C selects project proposals for funding within the pilot area. These proposals involve either restoration, research, or land acquisition aimed at improving or increasing open connectivity in this area. The intended purpose of each year’s update is to understand the effects of funded projects on the ground work and help inform the location and purpose of future projects proposals. These post-fiscal year 2021 open connectivity maps serve as a baseline for comparison from each future fiscal year through FY25. To create the post FY21 installment of GLRI's Terrestrial Habitats & Connectivity work group's pilot area yearly connectivity maps, we identified the geospatial locations where restoration work benefitting open habitats was completed throughout FY21. Using the GAP/Landfire landcover dataset we identified all open landcover grid cells. Open habitat was assigned a low movement resistance; land cover categories were assigned higher movement resistance values the more they deviated from open habitat characteristics. High intensity development was assigned the highest resistance as it was least similar to open habitat. We then used the FY21 restoration geospatial locations, all cells within these locations were assigned the lowest resistance value. This analysis produced two connectivity maps: a cumulative current map and a normalized current map. The cumulative current map shows where potential movement pathways between open patches are located within the pilot area, while the normalized current map shows where obstructed movement, diffuse movement, and channelized open habitat movement occurs within the pilot area. These maps provide important information on how restoration efforts in the pilot area are affecting open habitat connectivity.

本数据集为大湖恢复倡议（Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, GLRI）陆地生境与连通性（Terrestrial Habitats & Connectivity, TH&C）工作小组试点区域内开放生境年度连通性更新的第二批次成果。该试点区域位于大湖流域北部，介于威斯康星州阿什兰（Ashland, WI）与基威诺半岛（Keweenaw Peninsula）之间，北以苏必利尔湖为界，南以流域边界为界，涵盖70公里缓冲带。TH&C工作组每年都会在该试点区域内遴选可获得资助的项目提案，这些提案涵盖修复、研究或土地收购三类，旨在改善或提升该区域的开放连通性。每年度更新的核心目的，是了解资助项目在实地的实施效果，并为后续项目提案的选址与方向提供决策参考。本批2021财年后的开放连通性地图，可作为2021财年至2025财年（FY25）各后续财年开展对比分析的基准基线。为制作GLRI陆地生境与连通性工作小组试点区域年度连通性地图的2021财年后版本，研究团队首先识别了2021财年全年所有惠及开放生境的修复工程的地理空间位置。研究团队依托GAP/Landfire土地覆盖数据集，识别出所有开放土地覆盖网格单元。其中，开放生境被赋予较低的移动阻力值；土地覆盖类型与开放生境特征差异越大，其被分配的移动阻力值越高。高强度开发区域与开放生境特征差异最大，因此被赋予最高的移动阻力值。随后，研究团队针对2021财年修复工程的地理空间位置，将该范围内的所有网格单元均赋予最低的移动阻力值。本次分析生成了两张连通性地图：累积电流图（cumulative current map）与归一化电流图（normalized current map）。累积电流图可展示试点区域内开放生境斑块间潜在移动通道的分布位置；归一化电流图则可展示试点区域内受阻移动、弥散移动以及渠化开放生境移动的发生区域。上述地图可为评估试点区域内修复工程对开放生境连通性的影响提供关键参考信息。