Known Issues

As a living spatial plan, the Blueprint is always a work in progress. We maintain a list of the problems with the Blueprint that have been identified in the review process so far, which we call “known issues”. These known issues are part of our commitment to transparently documenting the Blueprint’s strengths and weaknesses. They also help us prioritize the most important issues to fix in the next update cycle.

Here are the known issues identified with Southeast Conservation Blueprint 2024:

Continental

Terrestrial

Uplands

• Some managed private grasslands are underprioritized. Examples include Prairie Wildlife grasslands west of Vinton, MS. Improvements to the fire frequency and grassland indicators could fix this in the future.
• Some important riverscour grasslands downstream of major dams are underprioritized (e.g., part of the Rockcastle River in Daniel Boone National Forest in KY). Improvements to the reservoir mask, which currently removes these areas from the prioritization, could fix this in the future.
• Parts of some important ecological corridors are underprioritized. Examples include parts of the corridor between Ocmulgee Mounds National Historic Park and Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in GA; parts of the corridor between Fort Campbell, Land Between the Lakes, and Clarks River National Wildlife Refuge in KY and TN; some of the areas from Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge to Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in NC; multiple corridors coming out of Okefenokee Swamp in GA; and the Osceola to Ocala corridor in FL. Improvements to prioritization methods and indicators will likely fix these in the future.
• Some patches of open pine with good local conditions are underprioritized. Examples include parts of Yellow River Marsh Preserve State Park in FL; important gopher tortoise habitat in an area just east of Mauk, GA; and a shortleaf pine site north of Marshes Siding in Daniel Boone National Forest in KY. Ongoing updates to the grasslands and savannas and fire frequency indicators could continue to improve this issue in future updates.
• Some parts of small, low-elevation islands are underprioritized. The exact boundaries of these highly dynamic islands can be hard to predict. The boundaries used in the islands indicator and areas used for critical habitat of key island species don’t always align perfectly—especially in the most dynamic parts of the island. A potential improvement to address this is under investigation. Examples include Tybee Bar in GA, Lanark Reef in FL, and the Chandeleur Islands off of LA.
• Some recently developed areas are overprioritized (e.g., a solar field near Wedgefield, FL and the Moncure Megasite in NC). Updated landcover and indicator updates based on newer landcover should fix this issue.
• Some new conservation areas where restoration has only started recently are underprioritized. Examples include Wolfe Creek Forest in FL, and the Wolf River corridor in MS. Updated landcover and indicator updates based on newer landcover should fix this issue.
• Some important urban natural areas are underprioritized. Examples include Kapok Park in Clearwater, FL; the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance education hub in Atlanta, GA; and Lost Corner Preserve in Sandy Springs, GA. Improvements in indicators related to urban natural areas could fix this in the future.
• Parts of some larger natural areas, especially forested areas, near urban centers are underprioritized (e.g., Western Highland Rim in Nashville, TN). Improving how the indicators address the role these areas play in connecting people to nature and providing climate change solutions to urban areas, as well as updated corridor methods, could help address this in the future.
• Culturally important historic areas are underprioritized through the Blueprint. This is particularly true in areas outside of the Piedmont, Atlantic Coastal Plain, and East Gulf Coastal Plain subregions. Even within these subregions, where there is an indicator for these areas, there are significant gaps. Some low-urban historic areas in these subregions are underprioritized because 1) they are not yet part of the National Register of Historic Places (e.g., Lost Island Farm on Roanoke Island, the likely landing site for the Lost Colony at the mouth of the Chowan River, and Native American sites on the Dan River near the NC/VA border), 2) because their location isn’t publicly shared (e.g., sensitive archeological sites), or because 3) the GIS depiction of their spatial boundaries has significant errors (e.g., sites in GA and AL).
• Some areas with important ecological communities are underprioritized in TX and OK (e.g., shinnery oak scrub).
• Some upland areas in the Upper Coastal Plain of GA are overprioritized. Improvements in prioritization methods could improve this in the future.
• The Trail Ridge area east of Okefenokee Swamp in GA, which has significant longleaf restoration potential and is an important movement corridor for longleaf-associated species, is underprioritized. Improvements in indicators and prioritization methods could improve this in the future.
• Some small or newer quarries are overprioritized (e.g., American Stone Quarry near Chapel Hill, NC). While most quarries are classified correctly as developed, smaller or newer ones don’t have large enough areas of barren landcover in the 2019 National Land Cover Database to be filtered out in the resilient terrestrial sites indicator. If not identified as non-natural, quarries tend to score very highly on landscape diversity given all the elevation change that happens within them. This issue could be fixed in a future update to the resilient terrestrial sites indicator.
• Some oil platforms North of Monahans, TX are overprioritized due to errors in the natural landcover in floodplains indicator that come from the EPA floodplain map. Indicator improvements in the near future could fix this.

Wetlands

• Some important wetlands are underpriorized. Examples include the east and west sides of Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge in AR; Ten Mile Pond Conservation Area in MO; the southeast part of Big Oak Tree State Park in MO; xerohydric flatwoods in Clarks River National Wildlife Refuge in KY; white fringeless orchid habitat in Daniel Boone National Forest in KY; wetlands just east of Macedonia, TN; depressional wetlands southeast of Raeford, NC; and the Stony Run wetlands in northeast Dunn, NC. Improvements to indicators and prioritization methods could fix these in the future.
• Some ephemeral wetlands are underprioritized. New prioritization methods under investigation for next year could address this.
• A small set of bottomland forest areas in areas flooded by dams are underprioritized (e.g., the area between Summerfield and Faircloth, LA and the Little River wetlands in Millwood Recreation Area in AR). These areas are misidentified as open water reservoirs in the current reservoir mask. Improvements to that mask for future Blueprints are under investigation.
• Sections of the Everglades on either side of US Hwy 41 are underprioritized. Indicator improvements under investigation could fix this in the future.
• Important Carolina bays are often included in large patches of medium priority, but the bays and nearby areas should be higher priority. Different methods for resolving this issue are under investigation.
• Some important areas of tidal freshwater marsh are underprioritized (e.g., Mackay National Wildlife Refuge). Indicators that better represent waterfowl habitat needs could improve this in the future.

Species-Specific

• Some important caves for Ozark big-eared bat, Northern long-eared bat, and Indiana bat are underprioritized. A potential indicator to address this is under investigation.
• Some important upland habitat for range-restricted species is underprioritized (e.g., Texas kangaroo rat). Indicator improvements under development could fix that in next year’s update.
• Some coastal marsh areas important for diamondback terrapin are underprioritized (e.g., Cedar Point marsh north of Dauphin Island, AL).
• Some islands particularly important for species that don’t yet have critical habitat spatially mapped (e.g., red knot) or are not federally listed species (e.g., seabirds, heron rookeries) are underprioritized (e.g., Ogeechee Bar in GA and Walker and Robinson Islands in AL).
• Some Florida panther habitat that is important for breeding and movement in South FL is underprioritized.
• Some parts of Cape Sable seaside sparrow critical habitat are being underprioritized. All critical habitat for this species is prioritized in the Blueprint, but it is currently a mix of high and medium priority. Multiple indicator improvements under investigation could fix this in the future.
• Important areas for beach birds that are not on islands are underprioritized in the FL Peninsula and all other Gulf coast subregions.
• Some areas that are important for mottled duck nesting in the edge of the Texas Blackland Prairie and West Gulf Coastal Plain subregions are underprioritized.
• Some coastal habitat important for aboriginal prickly pear in Florida is underprioritized. Future indicator updates could improve this.

Freshwater 

• Some river sections important for aquatic diversity are underprioritized. Underprioritized areas include some sections of Shoe Heel Creek in NC that are important for broadtail madtoms and other endemics; Neuse River waterdog habitat in the Trent River near Croatan National Forest in NC; the VA section of the Nottoway River; the lower section of the Little River in NC; some parts of the lower Neuse River in NC; the headwaters of the Flint River; and sections of the Flint River north and south of the Atlanta airport. Ongoing improvements in the imperiled aquatic species indicators and prioritization methods should improve these issues.
• Some aquatic areas, particularly smaller rivers and streams, are overprioritized. The imperiled aquatic species indicator is at a subwatershed (HUC12) scale while the species hotspots it seeks to depict are often only a part of that subwatershed.
• Some important areas for migratory fish in Gulf of Mexico drainages are underprioritized. The source data for the Gulf migratory fish connectivity indicator didn’t include migratory fish species that are important for the Mississippi Alluvial Valley and all Gulf coast watersheds west of that subregion.
• Some open water areas of artificial waterbodies are underprioritized. In some cases, parts of these waterbodies can provide important species habitat (e.g., American crocodile habitat in cooling canals in South FL and waterfowl habitat in parts of some reservoirs).
• Some river areas are underprioritized in South FL (e.g., the north fork of the St. Lucie River and Ten Mile Creek). Potential aquatic indicator improvements under investigation could fix this in the future.
• Some canals are overprioritized in South FL. Potential aquatic indicator improvements under investigation could fix this in the future.
• While the Blueprint tries to not prioritize the open water parts of reservoirs, a small number of small reservoirs were missed in the layer that estimates reservoir locations (e.g., Tired Creek Lake in GA).

Marine

• Mouths of many priority rivers are underprioritized where they transition into the estuarine ecosystem. Improved estuarine indicators should improve this issue in the future.
• Some marine Blueprint priorities are at a coarser resolution due to the marine birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals indicators. The coarser data results in what looks like parts of large squares or hexagons and unnatural edges in priority. Improvements in indicator resolution should fix this in the future.
• Some marine areas in the far eastern part of the Blueprint, particularly beyond the Blake Plateau, may be underprioritized due a lack of survey data for marine birds and mammals in that region.
• Some areas along the Atlantic shelf break are overprioritized due to overprediction in deep-sea coral richness models (e.g., select areas east of GA). While the models predict high coral richness in these areas, surveys show that they are almost entirely sand. Improvements in the models could fix this in the future.
• Some important areas of the Charleston Gyre upwelling are underprioritized. While the exact location of the upwelling and its high concentration of nutrients and fish larvae isn’t fixed, there are some areas where it commonly occurs that are underprioritized.
• Some parts of the deeper waters off Onslow Bay, NC, which are important for reef fish and many tropical/subtropical species, are likely underprioritized.
• Some areas important for corals in the Gulf are underprioritized (e.g., an area east of the West Florida Escarpment that’s being considered for a Coral Habitat Area of Particular Concern). Future coral indicator improvements will likely fix this.
• Some important areas for Rice’s whale may be underprioritized. The Blueprint currently covers habitat predicted by the GoMMAPPS model for Rice’s whale, but NOAA core distribution polygons cover a much larger area.
• DeSoto Canyon—an important area for corals, fish and nutrient upwellings south of Pensacola, FL—is underprioritized. Future improvements in coral, fish, or marine bird models could improve this in the future.
• Parts of important species movement corridors are underprioritized (e.g., a marine mammal corridor southeast of LA, a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle corridor near the TX border). Improved corridor methods could fix this in the future.

Caribbean 

Terrestrial 

Uplands

• Parts of some protected areas in the east part of St. Croix in USVI (e.g, Point Udall, Jack and Issac Bay) are underprioritized. Indicator and/or method improvements could fix this in the future.
• Some relatively undeveloped areas that are important for maintaining water quality in nearby high priority marine areas are underprioritized (e.g., some areas east of the St. Croix cruise terminal in USVI). Improvements to indicators and/or corridor methods could fix this in the future.
• Some important areas related to Taíno history are underprioritized (e.g., sections of Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve in St. Croix, USVI). Work to better integrate this information into cultural indicators is ongoing.
• Inland corridors are underrepresented in St. Croix, USVI. Due to the patterns of priority, the estimated corridors are all coastal and marine. Improvements to corridor methods could fix this in the future.
• Parts of the coastal hills in eastern PR, important for their unique vegetation composition, are underprioritized.

Wetlands

• The Altona Lagoon area of St. Croix, USVI—an important area for birds, sportfish, and the potential reintroduction of the St. Croix ground lizard—is underprioritized.

Species-Specific

• Some areas important for future Puerto Rican parrot habitat are underprioritized (e.g., northeast of El Yunque in PR; east of Lares, PR). Improvements to species-specific indicators could fix this in the future.
• Some areas important for rare plants are underprioritized (e.g., east of Lares, PR).
• Some areas that are important for coquí species in PR may be underprioritized (e.g., Puerto Rican rock frog [Eleutherodcactylus cooki] habitat southwest of El Yunque). Work on a coquí-specific indicator is ongoing.

Marine

• Some important areas for coral reef restoration are underprioritized (e.g., north of Teague Bay in St. Croix, USVI; north of Christiansted in St. Croix, USVI). Better incorporation of restoration in coral indicators could fix this in the future.
• Some marine areas strongly impacted by point source pollution may be overprioritized (e.g., area of south St. Croix, USVI impacted by Cruzan rum distillery discharge).
• Some marine corridor routes do not sufficiently account for variation in habitat quality between hubs (e.g., corridors south of Culebra, PR; corridors southwest of the big island of PR).