This dataset provides a watershed index of surface drinking water importance, a watershed index of forest importance to surface drinking water, and a watershed index to highlight the extent to which development, fire, and insects and disease threaten forests important for surface drinking water. The results of this assessment provides information that can identify areas of interest for protecting surface drinking water quality. The spatial dataset can be incorporated into broad-scale planning, such as the State Forest Action Plans, and can be incorporated into existing decision support tools that currently lack spatial data on important areas for surface drinking water. This project also sets the groundwork for identifying watersheds where a payment for watershed services (PWS) scheme may be an option for financing forest conservation and management on private unprotected forest lands. In perhaps its most important but most basic role, this work can serve as an education tool helping to illustrate the link between forests and provision of key watershed-based ecosystem services.
