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 selection index used to create aquatic ecosystem-based cores. The selection index is a continuous surface in which every cell is assigned a value (0-1) based on its relative ecological integrity within each HUC6 watershed. Specifically, the selection index is equal to the index of ecological integrity except in headwater creeks where it is the average of IEI and USGS’s stream temperature tolerance index. Aquatic core areas are created, in part, by choosing cells above a certain index value and spreading from these “seed areas” through adjacent aquatic cells to build larger, buffered cores of relatively high ecological value.