Forest Resource Priorities in the Highlands Region

<span style='font-family:&quot;Avenir Next W01&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next W00&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next&quot;, Avenir, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif; font-size:16px;'>This layer represents forest resource priorities in the Highlands region. This layer is intended to inform grant proposals for the Highlands Conservation Act. The Highlands Conservation Act authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to provide financial assistance to the States of Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania (Highland States) to preserve and protect high priority conservation land in the Highlands region.</span><div style='font-family:&quot;Avenir Next W01&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next W00&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next&quot;, Avenir, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif; font-size:16px;'><br /></div><div style='font-family:&quot;Avenir Next W01&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next W00&quot;, &quot;Avenir Next&quot;, Avenir, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, sans-serif; font-size:16px;'>This layer ranges from 0 to 14 (with 14 being highest priorities for forest conservation in the region). The layer prioritizes areas that are important for forest connectivity (using the UMassDSL forest connectivity layer), high forest carbon storage in 2050 (using the TNC forest layer), and part of large core forest blocks (using Housatonic Valley Association’s forest core layer). Forest cores and forest landcover in townships with less than 14.7% forest cover are also up-ranked (based on NLCD 2021).</div>

本图层展示了高地地区（Highlands region）的森林资源优先级分布。本图层旨在为《高地保护法案》（Highlands Conservation Act）的资助提案编制提供信息支撑。《高地保护法案》授权美国内政部长向康涅狄格州、新泽西州、纽约州及宾夕法尼亚州（高地州）提供财政援助，用于保护高地地区内具有高优先级的保育用地。

本图层的优先级取值区间为0至14，其中14代表该区域内森林保育的最高优先级。该图层的优先级评估涵盖三类核心区域：依托马萨诸塞大学数据科学实验室（UMassDSL）森林连通性图层识别的森林连通关键区域、基于大自然保护协会（TNC）森林图层测算的2050年高森林碳储量区域，以及隶属于大型核心森林斑块的区域（数据源自胡萨托尼克谷协会的森林核心图层）。此外，森林覆盖率低于14.7%的乡镇辖区内的森林核心区与森林土地覆盖区，其优先级也将得到提升（数据基于2021年国家土地覆盖数据集（NLCD 2021））。