Abstract: Vermont’s State Wildlife Action Plan identifies 329 animal and 673 plant Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN). It is neither practical nor possible to conserve all species on an individual basis while also keeping common wildlife common. To facilitate more viable conservation priorities, Vermont Center for Ecostudies will utilize species distribution models to systematically test the efficacy of Vermont’s current conservation framework, Vermont Conservation Design (VCD), to protect biodiversity in the face of global climate change. These models are developed with primary biodiversity data housed at the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, and 85 high-resolution (30x30m) environmental variables. By validating our existing models using ground-truthing surveys in Vermont, and developing a quantitative model to improve conservation prioritization based on our results, this comprehensive effort will; 1) improve the assessment and prioritization of species in need of focused conservation action in Vermont and across Northern Forest states, 2) establish a framework to periodically re-evaluate the effectiveness of VCD for conserving biodiversity and SGCN as climate changes and new threats emerge, 3) provide a tool that enables practitioners to include biodiversity indices when developing conservation plans, and 4) identify regions that provide an outsized conservation benefit with their protection. The tools and deliverables from this project will significantly enhance and increase the use of VCD by partners and the public. Spatially explicit data products will be included in a publicly available Vermont Species Distribution database and made accessible to conservation practitioners throughout the Northeast to facilitate land-use decision-making, species conservation, and habitat restoration.