CNHP Maps for Download

Free Map Layers

Download free Statewide GIS data layers for NONCOMMERCIAL PURPOSES ONLY, depicting Elements by 7.5 Minute USGS Quadrangle, Potential Conservation Areas, Networks of Conservation Areas and Terrestrial Ecological System Patches below. Click on the Metadata tag to see a detailed description of a map layer. Due to the sensitive nature of some element data, actual species and natural community locations have been generalized to 7.5 minute USGS quadrangles.

For more up-to-date, detailed, specific, and/or commercial information please contact our Data Distribution Coordinator Michael Menefee (970-491-7331, Michael.Menefee@colostate.edu), or use our online form to request data.

Individual Map Files for Download

Map Products	Statewide Elements by Quad	Statewide Potential Conservation Areas	Statewide Networks of Conservation Areas	Terrestrial Ecological System Patches (2011)
ESRI Shapefiles (.zip)	L4 Elements	L4 PCAs	L4 NCAs	-
Metadata (.txt)
Printable Maps (.pdf Letter Size)	L4 Element Map	L4 PCA Map	L4 NCA Map	TESP Map
Associated Reports (.zip, link)	-	L4 PCA Reports OR View Individual PCA Reports (link)	L4 NCA Reports	The State of Colorado’s Biodiversity 2011 (link)
ESRI Geodatabase (.zip)	L4 Geodatabase (includes Elements, PCAs and NCAs)			TESP Geodatabase

Statewide Elements by Quad map layer shows which species or natural communities are currently, potentially or historically located on a quad. Due to the sensitive nature of these data, actual species and natural community locations have been generalized to 7.5 minute USGS quadrangles.

Statewide Potential Conservation Areas (PCA) map layer shows CNHP's best estimate of the primary area required to support the long-term survival of targeted species or natural communities.

1. The size and configuration of a PCA will be dictated by the conservation targets (i.e., those species, communities, or systems we seek to conserve at a given location) and their sustaining physical features and/or ecological features.
2. PCA refers to the ability of a conservation area to maintain healthy, viable, targets over the long term (100+ years), including the ability of the targets to respond to natural or human-caused environmental change.
3. PCAs do not necessarily preclude human activities, but their ability to function naturally may be greatly influenced by them.
4. PCAs at all scales may require ecological management or restoration to maintain their functionality and long term persistence.

Statewide Network of Conservation Areas (NCA) map layer shows areas that fit one of the following definitions.

1. A landscape area that encompasses Potential Conservation Areas (PCAs) that share similar species or natural communities and ecological processes. NCAs include unoccupied or unsurveyed areas that are within the same ecological system that the species or natural communities require. NCAs contain PCAs with an obvious repeating pattern (that is, the same species or natural communities are in each associated PCA).
2. A mostly intact, lightly fragmented landscape that supports wide- ranging species and large scale disturbances. NCAs include unoccupied or unsurveyed areas that demonstrate the connectivity of the landscape. NCAs contain PCAs that may occur at a variety of ecological scales.

Terrestrial Ecological System Patches (TESP) map layer shows large-sized ecological system patches derived from a generalized version of the Southwest Regional Gap Analysis Project landcover dataset (USGS 2004). Terrestrial Ecological Systems are dynamic groupings of plant and/or animal communities that: 1) occur together on the landscape; and 2) are linked by similar ecological processes, underlying abiotic environmental factors, or gradients; and 3) form a readily identifiable unit on the ground (Comer et al. 2003). The ranking system and score categories are based on conservation management status measures developed by The Nature Conservancy. Additional information is available in the report The State of Colorado’s Biodiversity 2011.