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The index of ecological integrity (IEI) is a measure of relative intactness (i.e., freedom from adverse human modifications and disturbance) and resiliency to environmental change (i.e., capacity to recover from or adapt to changing environmental conditions driven by human land use and climate change) on a 0-1 scale. It is a composite index derived from up to 21 different landscape metrics, each measuring a different aspect of intactness (e.g., road traffic intensity, percent impervious) and/or resiliency (e.g., ecological similarity, connectedness) and applied to each 30 m cell. The IEI acts as an all-encompassing measure of habitat quality, and provides inclusion of both habitat types addressed by the Watershed Agreement (with Management Strategies and Outcomes) and those omitted. |