These data are an appended version of the Landscape Integrity Core Areas vector map developed as part of the Washington Habitat Connectivity Working Group (2010) landscape integrity analysis. The average mean annual temperature, standard deviation of mean annual temperature, and additional statistics were calculated for the pixels in each core area and appended to the core area attribute table.
Mean annual temperature statistics were appended to the Landscape Integrity Core Areas map as part of climate connectivity analyses produced by Tristan Nuñez for a Master’s thesis (Nuñez 2011) while a student at the School of Forest Resources at the University of Washington. The dataset was produced in part to assist the Climate Change Subgroup of the Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Working Group (WHCWG). The WHCWG is a voluntary public-private partnership between state and federal agencies, universities, tribes, and non-governmental organizations. The WHCWG is co-led by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) and the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT). The core areas in the map lie in Washington State and neighboring areas in British Columbia, Idaho, and Oregon. This vector-format dataset should be used to indicate core area locations used in the climate corridor analysis in Nuñez (2011).
Information about the process through which the Landscape Integrity Core Areas were identified can be found in the document:
Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Working Group (WHCWG). 2010. Washington Connected Landscapes Project: Statewide Analysis. Washington Departments of Fish and Wildlife, and Transportation, Olympia, WA. Online linkage:
Temperature data used in identifying core area temperature statistics were derived from the following sources:
Wang, T., A. Hamann, D. L. Spittlehouse, and S. N. Aitken. 2006. Development of scale-free climate data for western Canada for use in resource management. International Journal of Climatology 26:383-397. See http://www.genetics.forestry.ubc.ca/cfcg/ClimateWNA/ClimateWNA.html
Daly, C., M. Halbleib, J. I. Smith, W. P. Gibson, M. K. Doggett, G. H. Taylor, J. Curtis, and P. P. Pasteris. 2008. Physiographically sensitive mapping of climatological temperature and precipitation across the conterminous United States. International Journal of Climatology 28:2031-2064. See http://www.prism.oregonstate.edu/
The climate corridors mapped between these core areas are described in the thesis:
Nuñez, Tristan A. June 2011. Connectivity Planning to Facilitate Species Movements in Response to Climate Change. Master’s Thesis. School of Forest Resources, University of Washington. Joshua J. Lawler, advisor. Available online at
