Southeast Region

EPA Southeast Ecological Framework

Using Conservation GIS to Identify Green Infrastructure in a Multi-State Region

The Southeastern Ecological Framework Project is a geographic information systems (GIS) analysis to identify ecological significant areas and connectivity in the southeast region of the United States. The states included in the project are Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. The project was conducted in 1999-2000 by the University of Florida GeoPlan Center and sponsored by the US Environmental Protection Agency Region 4. Project goals and objectives include:

Identifying primary ecological areas that are protected by some type of conservation or ecosystem management program;
Identifying a green infrastructure network that connects these primary ecological areas;
Identifying the important ecological characteristics of the ecological areas and connecting green infrastructure;
Developing an understanding of the spatial scale issues involved in analyzing the ecological connectivity at local, state and regional scales; and
Developing protocol for dissemination of the information.

This analysis was conducted using landscape ecology principles and GIS tools. The product of the study can be used by local, state and federal agencies to develop a regional atlas of environmental issues and threats to the natural ecosystems caused by human environmental impacts. State, local and private entities can utilize the information to address various environmental resource allocation areas.

For more information on the Southeastern Framework: B. Richard Durbrow, Neil B. Burns, John R. Richardson, and Cory W. Berish, 2001. “Southeastern Ecological Framework: A Planning Tool for Managing Ecosystem Integrity,” Proceedings of the 2001 Georgia Water Resources Conference, J. Hatcher, editor, Institute of Ecology, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia.

For more information on this project, see Related Links at bottom right of screen.