Conservation Assessment and Prioritization System (CAPS) Highlands Communities Initiative PHASE 1 Final Report June 9, 2005 Landscape Ecology Program, Department of Natural Resources Conservation, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Kevin McGarigal, Associate Professor, Department of Natural Resources Conservation. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003. Phone: (413) 577-0655; email:
[email protected] Bradley W. Compton, Research Associate, Department of Natural Resources Conservation. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003. Phone: (413) 577-2179; email:
[email protected] Scott D. Jackson, Program Director, UMass Extension Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation Program. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003. Phone: (413) 545-4743; email:
[email protected] Kasey Rolih, Research Associate, Department of Natural Resources Conservation. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003. Phone: (413) 577-2179; email:
[email protected] Eduard Ene, Research Associate, Department of Natural Resources Conservation. University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003. Phone: (413) 577-2179; email:
[email protected] Introduction Planners and conservationists have long sought better ways to proactively conserve the most significant natural areas before they are lost or irreversibly fragmented, but it is difficult to identify which areas are in the greatest need of protection, or which ones provide the greatest ecological value for the cost of protection. Analyzing a landscape’s