WSDOT - Habitat Connectivity Investment Priorities

Habitat Connectivity Investment Priorities are represented by two completely independent ranks, Ecological Stewardship and Wildlife-related Safety, and a third, Maximum Rank, that is simply the highest value found in Ecological Stewardship and Wildlife-related Safety ranks. These ranks were developed for the state highway system by 1-mile highway segment. The Ecological Stewardship rank reflects a highway segment’s overlap with the ranges of select Endangered or Threatened wildlife and its proximity to connected networks of habitat identified by the Washington Habitat Connectivity Working Group. The listed species selected for inclusion in the ranking process were those species known to be most affected by highways, either due to road mortality or behavioral avoidance or both. Lacking overlap with listed species’ ranges, a base score could still be given to highway segments that overlapped an area of high landscape integrity as identified by the Washington Habitat Connectivity Working Group (WHCWG). If a base score for any of these factors was assigned, rank values were then subject to multipliers for traffic volume and nearby blocks of public land. Highways that carry greater traffic volumes generally have a greater harmful effect on wildlife, both in terms of mortality and the barrier effect caused by behavioral avoidance. Protected lands (many public lands and private lands held in preserves or under protective easements) tend to offer a stable habitat base into the distant future and WSDOT investments in durable infrastructure are more likely to have long term benefits where public lands are present on one or both sides of the highway. The Safety Rank is a reflection of carcass removal and wildlife collision rates or simple overlap with the range of one of Washington’s larger wild animals. Identified carcass removal or collision problem areas were given higher numerical ranks than areas within the ranges of species but without a documented problem. The Maximum Rank is simply the highest of the other two ranks. Rankings updated in January 2018.

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Source https://geo.wa.gov/maps/WSDOT::wsdot-habitat-connectivity-investment-priorities
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Shared (this field will be removed in the future) Open
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GUID https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=176270dc6d4e4430a59b84872602f157&sublayer=2
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dcat_issued 2018-11-26T19:18:57.000Z
dcat_modified 2023-08-29T23:42:51.749Z
dcat_publisher_name Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), Environmental Services Office (ESO)
harvest_object_id cd977f42-3ce0-4952-a860-842bfba86aba
harvest_source_id 03016d16-b963-4f6a-99b0-8a37574f4576
harvest_source_title Washington Geospatial Open Data Portal