Biological Diversity Resource AreasIt has become clear to the conservation community that an effective reserve network design must implement multiple strategies. The Vermont Biodiversity Project's assessment of biodiversity took three different tracks, and we now had three powerful sets of information. VBP's analysis of aquatic habitats had given us a list of "best reference" sites for biological communities in running waters and standing waters around the state. We had used the Nongame and Natural Heritage Program database to identify biological "hotspots", special areas where there is a concentration of rare or endemic species and exemplary communities. And we had a set of "representative landscapes", the result of the analysis of physical diversity. These landscapes, it was felt, would offer protection to much of Vermont's native biodiversity if they were incorporated into a reserve design.
No attempt had yet been made to assess the ecological condition or context of these sites of high biodiversity potential. This was intentional, as we did not want to bias the delineation of special areas. We performed such an assessment now, guided by two data sets. The first was a map representing "core habitat," [link] land areas in forests or in wetlands, talus slopes, and other natural openings, at least 100 meters from a disturbance edge of human origin (agricultural openings, roads, or built-up areas, for example). It offered a picture of the level of habitat fragmentation, and was complemented by a map of local road density [link]. Based on this information, we subdivided BDRAs into sections of class A, B, or C, corresponding to zones of natural, restorable, or degraded ecological condition [link to map: same area as previous 2].
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These three data sets were now combined. The result was a network of 