Methodology and Interpretation

Percent forest
The percentage of forest land cover is calculated by dividing the number of forest land cover cells in the reporting unit by the total number of land cover cells in the reporting unit minus those cells classified as water (i.e., total land area). Forests may remove or reduce the amount of pollutants entering streams and lakes. Forests also provide habitat for a wide variety of plant and animal species.

Natural Breaks: Classes are based on natural groupings of data values. Natural break points are identified by looking for groupings and patterns inherent in the data. The features are divided into classes whose boundaries are set where there are relatively large jumps in the distribution of data values.

Metric input GIS data:

• United States Hydrologic Units (8-digit HUCs) - Metadata

• United States Coastal Change Analysis Program (CCAP) - Metadata

• Canada Hydrologic Units (Subsubdivisions) - Metadata

• Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Data Set - Metadata