Southeast Conservation Blueprint 2023: Priorities for a connected network of lands and waters

The Southeast Conservation Blueprint is the primary product of the Southeast Conservation Adaptation Strategy (SECAS). It is a living, spatial plan to achieve the SECAS vision of a connected network of lands and waters across the Southeast and Caribbean. Southeast Blueprint 2023 identifies priority areas based on a suite of 61 natural and cultural resource indicators representing terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems. A connectivity analysis identifies corridors that link coastal and inland areas and span climate gradients.

The Blueprint is regularly updated to incorporate new data, partner input, and information about on-the-ground conditions. The 2023 Blueprint expanded consistent methods and indicators to Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the surrounding nearshore marine environment, as well as to the full extent of U.S. waters in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. For the first time, this Blueprint used a consistent approach across the full geography and did not have to stitch together any subregional inputs.

The Southeast Blueprint covers 50% of the SECAS geography:

• Highest priority: Areas where conservation action would make the biggest impact, based on a suite of natural and cultural resource indicators. This class covers roughly 10% of the Southeast Blueprint geography.
• High priority: Areas where conservation action would make a big impact, based on a suite of natural and cultural resource indicators. This class covers roughly 15% of the Southeast Blueprint geography.
• Medium priority: Areas where conservation action would make an above-average impact, based on a suite of natural and cultural resource indicators. This class covers roughly 20% of the Southeast Blueprint geography.
• Priority connections: Connections between priority areas that cover the shortest distance possible while routing through as much Blueprint priority as possible. This class covers roughly 5% of the Southeast Blueprint geography.

The data can be accessed through three primary pathways:

• Start simple in the Blueprint Explorer, an easy-to-use online viewer that allows you to create custom reports and discover what’s driving the Blueprint priorities
• Visit the Blueprint page of the SECAS Atlas to dig deeper into the Blueprint and underlying data layers, and make your own maps
• Download the Blueprint data for direct use in your desktop GIS (there is also a Caribbean-only download package to reduce file size)

The Southeast Blueprint 2023 Development Process documents how this version of the Blueprint was created.