The GCP Science Strategy identified 17 broadly defined habitats (BDH) for which are represented by 28 focal species. The GCP draft Conservation Blueprint Version 1.0 (Blueprint) identifies catchments where these BDH are likely to and have the greatest potential to occur after accounting for the threats of growth of developed land and sea level rise. The draft Blueprint includes estimates for 11 of the 17 BDH within catchments in the GCP geography. The GCP draft Conservation Blueprint Version 1.0 identifies the highest 20% of ranked catchments for each BDH representing ~53% of the US portion of the GCP.
Catchments were ranked for (i) Headwaters & Streams and (ii) Rivers & Lakes based on the identification of desired ecological conditions by members of the GCP Science Team. These desired ecological conditions include the risk of these habitats being degraded, the risk of negative alterations in base flow, stream impairment status (i.e., 303d), the amounts of impervious surface, canopy coverage, and row crops in catchments, and physical characteristics of these systems (i.e., sinuosity).
Estimates for the remaining BDH were created largely with land cover data. For each of these BDH, catchments were ranked based on the proportion of the catchment that currently is or has the ecological potential to be that BDH after accounting factoring for growth in developed land and sea level rise that may negatively impact the catchment. Products for these BDH are not a result of defining desired ecological conditions such as path size, configuration, connectivity, condition. A logical next iteration of these land cover-based projections is to move them beyond mere aggregations of habitat and into the context of habitats in desired ecological condition.