This dataset is a component of a complete package of products from the Connect the Connecticut project. Connect the Connecticut is a collaborative effort to identify shared priorities for conserving the Connecticut River Watershed for future generations, considering the value of fish and wildlife species and the natural ecosystems they inhabit. Click here to download the full data package, including all documentation.

This dataset represents the aquatic vulnerability to development index, which reflects the likelihood of development occurring in places in the uplands that are likely to impact the aquatic cores. Specifically, aquatic vulnerability is the product of the aquatic buffers, which represent the areas estimated to have a strong influence on the integrity of the aquatic cores based on watershed processes, and the integrated future probability of development between 2010-2080. Cells with relatively low watershed influence on the aquatic cores have low vulnerability regardless of their risk of development, since the integrity of the cores will not be degraded too much if they get developed. Aquatic vulnerability is greatest where there is high watershed influence; i.e., uplands in close proximity to the cores as the water flows, and where there is also relatively high probability of development in the future.