Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;font-size:12pt"><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN><SPAN>Location of known state significant natural community occurrences from the </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;"><SPAN>Vermont Natural Heritage Inventory</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN>, overseen by the </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;"><SPAN>Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN>. Includes the highest quality examples of each natural community type and most rare community occurrences. Natural community data may come from one or more sources, including state and federal studies, consultants, researchers, and collections. Natural communities are classified and ranked using </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;">Wetland, Woodland, and Wildlife and the Vermont Natural Community Ranking Specifications</SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;">.</SPAN></P><P /><P STYLE="margin:0 0 11 0;"><SPAN><SPAN>For more information visit the Vermont Natural Heritage Inventory </SPAN><A href="https://vtfishandwildlife.com/conserve/conservation-planning/natural-heritage-inventory" STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN>webpage</SPAN></A><SPAN>: </SPAN></SPAN></P><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN /></P><P /><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN><SPAN>For more information visit the Vermont Natural Heritage Inventory webpage: </SPAN></SPAN><A href="https://vtfishandwildlife.com/conserve/conservation-planning/natural-heritage-inventory" STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN>https://vtfishandwildlife.com/conserve/conservation-planning/natural-heritage-inventory</SPAN></SPAN></A></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;font-size:12pt"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN>Location of known rare species from the Vermont Natural Heritage Inventory,</SPAN><SPAN><SPAN> including state and/or federally threatened or endangered species. These species have a high risk of extirpation and may have less than 20 populations statewide. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P /><P STYLE="margin:0 0 11 0;"><SPAN><SPAN>For more information visit the Vermont Natural Heritage Inventory </SPAN><A href="https://vtfishandwildlife.com/conserve/conservation-planning/natural-heritage-inventory" STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN>webpage</SPAN></A><SPAN>: </SPAN></SPAN><A href="https://vtfishandwildlife.com/conserve/conservation-planning/natural-heritage-inventory" STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN>https://vtfishandwildlife.com/conserve/conservation-planning/natural-heritage-inventory</SPAN></SPAN></A><SPAN><SPAN>.</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;font-size:12pt"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN>Location of known uncommon species occurrences from the </SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;"><SPAN>Vermont Natural Heritage Inventory</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN>. These species have a moderate risk of extirpation.</SPAN></SPAN></P><P /><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN><SPAN>For more information visit the Vermont Natural Heritage Inventory webpage: </SPAN></SPAN><A href="https://vtfishandwildlife.com/conserve/conservation-planning/natural-heritage-inventory" STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN>https://vtfishandwildlife.com/conserve/conservation-planning/natural-heritage-inventory</SPAN></SPAN></A><SPAN><SPAN>.</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;font-size:12pt"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN>Vernal pools that have been identified and confirmed by the</SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;"><SPAN> Vermont Vernal Pool Mapping Project, </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN>Native Geographic, LLC, or</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN> members of the Hinesburg Phase-1 Natura Resource Inventory Team. </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN>Vernal pools are an important breeding habitat for multiple Species of Conservation Need. Confirmed pools have documented breeding activity of vernal pool-dependent species. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P /><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN><SPAN>For more information visit the </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;"><SPAN>Vermont Vernal Pool Mapping Project</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN> webpage: </SPAN></SPAN><A href="https://vtecostudies.org/projects/forests/vernal-pool-conservation/vermont-vernal-pool-mapping-project/" STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN>https://vtecostudies.org/projects/forests/vernal-pool-conservation/vermont-vernal-pool-mapping-project/</SPAN></SPAN></A><SPAN><SPAN>.</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Description: Initiated in 2009, the overarching goals of the Vermont Vernal Pool Mapping Project (VPMP) were to advance vernal pool conservation planning at the state and local levels, and raise awareness about the value of vernal pools while developing momentum for statewide conservation. The project had three primary objectives:To identify and map the location of potential vernal pools in Vermont using color-infrared (CIR) aerial photo interpretation;Conduct a series of training workshops throughout the state to recruit a corps of skilled volunteers to field-verify the precise location and attributes of a sub-set of mapped potential vernal pools;Through volunteer efforts and outreach, increase the knowledge and awareness of these critical habitats in Vermont’s conservation community as well as the general publicThis dataset represents Remote CIR aerial photo derived or Third Party (KNOWN) pools without enough information to conclusively confirm through VPMP QA review. Additional field review is required for confirmation.
Service Item Id: 6333a89fbe3e471f8e2e0e4c5926f6c0
Copyright Text: Arrowwood Environmental, Vt. Center for Ecostudies
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;font-size:12pt"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN>Hardwood or mixed-wood forest that has a significant amount of mature, nut-producing beech, oak, or other mast trees with evidence of current or historic bear feeding. Mast areas are an important resource for bear and other wildlife species. In 2001, across the state, Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife mapped known mast areas using anecdotal information from wardens, foresters, and wildlife biologists. In 2020, Native Geographic visited a selection of the mast areas and deleted prior records that now longer support significant mast production. Also in 2020, Native Geographic surveyed additional areas for mast production and bear feeding. This is not a systematic study of bear habitat but does represent the best available data.</SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;font-size:12pt"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN>Areas with coniferous forest cover, mixed forest cover, and/or warm westerly, southerly or southwesterly aspects where deer may yard or concentrate during inclement weather. These areas were originally mapped and reviewed by Vermont Fish and Wildlife deer biologists in 2008. Based on 2018 Vermont Ortho aerial imagery, Native Geographic refined the deer wintering area boundaries to exclude areas of recent development, forest clearing, and large areas of deciduous forest on cool northerly, easterly, or northeasterly aspects. </SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;font-size:12pt"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN>Shrub-dominated or young forest habitats with the potential to support Species of Conservation Need. These sites have not been verified in the field but were remotely mapped by Native Geographic using 2018 and 2016 aerial imagery and wetland data. Generally delineated at a scale of 1:5,000 or finer. </SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Description: 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 a set of terrestrial core areas for grassland birds based on the eastern meadowlark as a representative species for grassland birds. In combination with the terrestrial tier 1 and 2 core areas they spatially represent the ecological core area network derived from the CTR LCD project. The CTR LCD planning team decided that eastern meadowlark and the grasslands they represent warranted separate treatment from the other terrestrial representative species due to their unique association with a culturally created and maintained habitat. Consequently, eastern meadowlark and the grasslands they represent were not explicitly included in the derivation of the tier 1 and 2 core areas. However, some grasslands did get included in the tier 1 and 2 cores areas due to other considerations, such as meeting the needs of other representative species (e.g., wood turtle) that also use grasslands to some extent, and growing out cores from their seeds through lower-valued areas that included grasslands. Grassland bird cores were derived from the eastern meadowlark landscape capability layer, which is a measure of habitat capability and climate suitability for the species. Briefly, for each disjunct patch of habitat (defined as contiguous cells having landscape capability index >0.03), we computed the maximum landscape capability index value. Next, we rank-ordered the habitat patches from highest value to lowest maximum value and selected the top number of patches in which the cumulative landscape capability value (i.e. ,the sum of the landscape capability index in the patches) equalled 50% of the species' total landscape capability value for the CTR watershed. Thus, the final set of 1448 eastern meadowlark cores captured 50% of the landscape capability for this species and represented 1.15% of the CTR landscape. Considerations for Using Data LayerThe terrestrial tiered cores and connectors in combination with the grassland bird cores canserve as a starting point for a regional conservation network that can be used incombination with other sources of information to direct action.Although the grassland bird core areas are presented as discrete entities, it is important torecognize that their boundaries are, in fact, "fuzzy" and are best interpreted as generalplaces to focus attention.Lastly, as noted previously for the tier 1 cores and connectors, all three tiers can and doinclude some low-intensity development, minor roads and agriculture.
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;font-size:12pt"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN>Stream/riparian, wetland, or forested areas that provide connections between patches of significant wildlife habitat (Map 14) in the Hinesburg Town Plan. Developed and maintained by the town with contributions from Vermont Fish and Fish Wildlife and other consultants, including revisions by Alex Weinhagen (Director of Planning & Zoning, Town of Hinesburg) and David Hirth (HCC). The layer was originally mapped in 2008 by Polly Harris (Stantec), Jens Hilke (VT Fish and Wildlife), Natalie Steen (LandWorks), and Gerry Livingston (HCC). </SPAN></P><P /><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN><SPAN>For more information visit the </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;"><SPAN>Hinesburg Town Plan </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN> webpage:</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN> </SPAN></SPAN><A href="https://www.hinesburg.org/townplan/" STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN>https://www.hinesburg.org/townplan/</SPAN></SPAN></A><SPAN><SPAN>.</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;font-size:12pt"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN>Includes the town</SPAN><SPAN><SPAN>’</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN>s interconnected network of streams, rivers, ponds, and lakes and the immediately adjacent riparian and valley bottom forests, wetlands, and other natural/semi-natural covers. These areas were identified by state ecologists and biologists during an early update of the </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;"><SPAN>Vermont Conservation Design</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN>. These areas are critical to natural stream, river, and floodplains processes; contribute to broader ecological connectivity across the landscape; and provide important wildlife and plant habitat and travel corridors. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P /><P STYLE="margin:0 0 11 0;"><SPAN><SPAN>For more information about riparian wildlife connectivity visit the </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;"><SPAN>Vermont Conservation Design</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN> webpage:</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN> </SPAN></SPAN><A href="https://vtfishandwildlife.com/conserve/vermont-conservation-design" STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN>https://vtfishandwildlife.com/conserve/vermont-conservation-design</SPAN></SPAN></A></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;font-size:12pt"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="font-weight:bold;margin:0 0 4 0;"><SPAN>Core wildlife habitats are large tracts of forest and wetlands and smaller areas of interior forest with few roads or houses. These areas are identified has as a wildlife habitat of special concern in the Hinesburg Town Plan and included in Map 14 of the Plan. This dataset was developed by the Town of Hinesburg around 2012 and consists of blocks 700 acres or larger, and interior areas (100m meters from edge) of smaller blocks. </SPAN></P><P /><P STYLE="margin:0 0 0 0;"><SPAN><SPAN>For more information visit the </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;"><SPAN>Hinesburg Town Plan </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN> webpage:</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN> </SPAN></SPAN><A href="https://www.hinesburg.org/townplan/" STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN>https://www.hinesburg.org/townplan/</SPAN></SPAN></A><SPAN><SPAN>.</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Description: <DIV STYLE="text-align:Left;font-size:12pt"><DIV><DIV><P STYLE="font-weight:bold;margin:0 0 4 0;"><SPAN>Subset of forest blocks that provide the highest quality interior forest functions and/or connectivity functions across the state and broader northeast region. These priority forest blocks were identified by state ecologists and biologists during the </SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;">Vermont Conservation Design</SPAN><SPAN>. In 2020, Native Geographic, LLC remapped the Hinesburg blocks to reflect current conditions and improve the data resolution. </SPAN></P><P STYLE="margin:0 0 4 42;"><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN>Highest Priority:</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN> The highest ranked interior forest and/or connector blocks in the surrounding biophysical region. </SPAN></SPAN></P><P STYLE="margin:0 0 4 42;"><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN>Priority:</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN> Also highly ranked interior forest and/or connector blocks relative to the surrounding biophysical region. These blocks provide interior forest habitat, connectivity, and are also important for maintaining function in nearby highest quality blocks.</SPAN></SPAN></P><P /><P STYLE="margin:0 0 4 0;"><SPAN><SPAN>For more information about interior forest and connector blocks visit the </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN STYLE="font-style:italic;"><SPAN>Vermont Conservation Design</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN> webpage:</SPAN></SPAN><SPAN><SPAN> </SPAN></SPAN><A href="https://vtfishandwildlife.com/conserve/vermont-conservation-design" STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN STYLE="text-decoration:underline;"><SPAN>https://vtfishandwildlife.com/conserve/vermont-conservation-design</SPAN></SPAN></A><SPAN><SPAN>.</SPAN></SPAN></P><P /></DIV></DIV></DIV>
Name: Highest Priority Interior and Connector Blocks
Display Field: biophysreg
Type: Feature Layer
Geometry Type: esriGeometryPolygon
Description: Act 174 requires plans to identify potential areas for the development and siting of renewable energy resources and areas that are unsuitable for siting those resources or particular categories or sizes of those resources. It furthermore requires that the standards address the potential generation from the potential siting areas. Lastly, it requires that � in order to receive an affirmative determination � regional plans allow for the siting in the region of all types of renewable generation technologies. The Vermont Conservation Design Forest Block components identify areas of forest blocks that would be considered a possible constraint for renewable energy siting projects under ACT 174. Dataset is clipped to show only features in Hinesburg.