National Geographic Framework


	Geographic Areas Conterminous United States. Credit: USFWS

	Geographic Areas Alaska. Credit: USFWS

	Geographic Areas Pacific Islands. Credit: USFWS

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with support and cooperation from the U.S. Geological Survey, has developed a national geographic framework for “putting science in the right places” to conserve our nation’s fish and wildlife resources.

Just as flyways have provided an effective spatial frame of reference to build capacity and partnerships for international, national, state and local waterfowl conservation, the national geographic framework will provide a continental platform upon which the Service can work with state and other partners to connect project- and site-specific efforts to larger biological goals and outcomes. By providing visual context for conservation at “landscape” scales— the entire range of a priority species or suite of species—the framework helps ensure that resource managers have the information and decision-making tools they need to conserve fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats in the most efficient and effective way possible.

The 21 Geographic Areas comprising the framework map (see maps) were developed by aggregating Bird Conservation Regions (BCRs), biologically based units representing long-standing partnerships that facilitate conservation planning and design at landscape scales. BCRs also can be partitioned into smaller ecological units when finer-scale planning and design are necessary. Some BCRs (e.g. Hawaii) were not aggregated and stand-alone as Geographic Areas. The Geographic Areas also incorporate Freshwater Ecoregions of the World as a standard unit for aquatic species considerations—the same framework adopted by the National Fish Habitat Action Plan—as well as existing ecological units (Omernick’s Level II) to account for a variety of terrestrial species’ needs. In most Geographic Areas, the boundaries of key partnerships are left intact to preserve existing conservation and science capacities.

The Service will use the framework as a base geography to locate the first generation of Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) and in planning a second generation of LCCs during the FY 2011 budget formulation process.

LCC Information Bulletin #2 -- Developing the National Geographic Framework

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