diff --git a/NAMESPACE b/NAMESPACE
index 20abaa6..707099f 100644
--- a/NAMESPACE
+++ b/NAMESPACE
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ export(collect_analyses)
 export(combine_subspecies)
 export(filter_bbs_species)
 export(filter_ts)
+export(get_bbs_route_region_data)
 export(get_cowley_lizards)
 export(get_cowley_snakes)
 export(get_default_data_path)
diff --git a/R/bbs_cleaning_functions.R b/R/bbs_cleaning_functions.R
index 13d7568..8413de9 100644
--- a/R/bbs_cleaning_functions.R
+++ b/R/bbs_cleaning_functions.R
@@ -6,12 +6,13 @@
 #' @param start_yr num first year of time-series
 #' @param end_yr num last year of time-series
 #' @param min_num_yrs num minimum number of years of data between start_yr & end_yr
+#' @param selected_set optional, a subset of the BBS communities to use (to speed up development). As c(1:X)
 #' @inheritParams get_mtquad_data
 #' @return NULL
 #' @export
 
 prepare_bbs_ts_data <- function(start_yr = 1965, end_yr = 2017, min_num_yrs = 10,
-                                path = get_default_data_path()){
+                                path = get_default_data_path(), selected_set = NULL){
     bbs_data_tables <- import_retriever_data("breed-bird-survey", path = path)
     
     bbs_data <- bbs_data_tables$breed_bird_survey_weather %>%
@@ -48,6 +49,10 @@ prepare_bbs_ts_data <- function(start_yr = 1965, end_yr = 2017, min_num_yrs = 10
     }
     bbs_routes_regions_list = apply(bbs_routes_regions, MARGIN = 1, FUN = make_list)
     
+    if(!is.null(selected_set)) {
+        bbs_routes_regions_list = bbs_routes_regions_list[selected_set]
+    }
+    
     lapply(bbs_routes_regions_list, FUN = subset_bbs_route_region_data, bbs_data_table = bbs_data, species_table = bbs_data_tables$breed_bird_survey_species, path = path)
     
 }
@@ -105,8 +110,6 @@ subset_bbs_route_region_data <- function(route_region, bbs_data_table, species_t
     
     saveRDS(this_bbs_result, file = file.path(storage_path, paste0("route", route, "region", region, ".Rds")) )
     
-    return()
-    
 }
 
 
diff --git a/R/build_plans.R b/R/build_plans.R
index 942d927..c10eb99 100644
--- a/R/build_plans.R
+++ b/R/build_plans.R
@@ -65,6 +65,7 @@ build_analyses_plan <- function(methods, datasets, ...)
 #' @param data_path where to get the downloaded retriever datasets
 #' @param include_downloaded_data whether to also include downloadable datasets
 #' @param include_bbs_data whether to include BBS data
+#' @param bbs_subset optional, a subset of the BBS communities to use (to speed up development). As c(1:X)
 #' 
 #' @return a drake plan (i.e. a tibble) specifying the targets and commands 
 #'   for gathering datasets
@@ -73,7 +74,8 @@ build_analyses_plan <- function(methods, datasets, ...)
 #' 
 build_datasets_plan <- function(data_path = get_default_data_path(), 
                                 include_downloaded_data = FALSE,
-                                include_bbs_data = FALSE)
+                                include_bbs_data = FALSE,
+                                bbs_subset = NULL)
 {
     datasets <- drake::drake_plan(
         maizuru_data = get_maizuru_data(),
@@ -97,7 +99,12 @@ build_datasets_plan <- function(data_path = get_default_data_path(),
     }
     
     if (include_bbs_data) {
-        bbs_datasets = build_bbs_datasets_plan()
+        bbs_datasets = build_bbs_datasets_plan(data_path = data_path)
+        
+        if(!is.null(bbs_subset)) {
+            bbs_datasets = bbs_datasets[bbs_subset, ]
+        }
+        
         datasets <- datasets %>%
             dplyr::bind_rows(bbs_datasets)
     }
@@ -107,7 +114,7 @@ build_datasets_plan <- function(data_path = get_default_data_path(),
 
 #' @title Generate a Drake Plan for BBS Datasets
 #' 
-#' @param data_path path
+#' @param path path
 #' @param from_raw whether to re-prep BBS data
 #' 
 #' @return a drake plan (i.e. a tibble) specifying the targets and commands 
@@ -115,19 +122,19 @@ build_datasets_plan <- function(data_path = get_default_data_path(),
 #' 
 #' @export
 #' 
-build_bbs_datasets_plan <- function(path = get_default_data_path())
+build_bbs_datasets_plan <- function(data_path = get_default_data_path())
 {
-    if(!file.exists(file.path(path, "breed-bird-survey-prepped", "routes_and_regions_table.csv"))) {
+    if(!file.exists(file.path(data_path, "breed-bird-survey-prepped", "routes_and_regions_table.csv"))) {
         prepare_bbs_ts_data()
     }
 
-    routes_and_regions = read.csv(file.path(path, "breed-bird-survey-prepped", "routes_and_regions_table.csv"), stringsAsFactors = F)
+    routes_and_regions = read.csv(file.path(data_path, "breed-bird-survey-prepped", "routes_and_regions_table.csv"), stringsAsFactors = F)
     
     routes_and_regions = routes_and_regions %>%
     dplyr::mutate(bcr = as.character(bcr), route = as.character(route))
     
     bbs_datasets <- drake::drake_plan(
-        bbs_data_rtrg = target(get_bbs_route_region_data(route, region, path = get_default_data_path()),
+        bbs_data_rtrg = target(get_bbs_route_region_data(route, region, path = !!data_path),
                                transform = map(route = !!rlang::syms(routes_and_regions$route),
                                                region = !!rlang::syms(routes_and_regions$bcr)
                                )
diff --git a/man/build_bbs_datasets_plan.Rd b/man/build_bbs_datasets_plan.Rd
index 26d4d40..b243ffc 100644
--- a/man/build_bbs_datasets_plan.Rd
+++ b/man/build_bbs_datasets_plan.Rd
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 build_bbs_datasets_plan(path = get_default_data_path())
 }
 \arguments{
-\item{data_path}{path}
+\item{path}{path}
 
 \item{from_raw}{whether to re-prep BBS data}
 }
diff --git a/man/build_datasets_plan.Rd b/man/build_datasets_plan.Rd
index c3581cf..ce7db31 100644
--- a/man/build_datasets_plan.Rd
+++ b/man/build_datasets_plan.Rd
@@ -5,7 +5,8 @@
 \title{Generate a Drake Plan for Datasets}
 \usage{
 build_datasets_plan(data_path = get_default_data_path(),
-  include_downloaded_data = FALSE, include_bbs_data = FALSE)
+  include_downloaded_data = FALSE, include_bbs_data = FALSE,
+  bbs_subset = NULL)
 }
 \arguments{
 \item{data_path}{where to get the downloaded retriever datasets}
@@ -13,6 +14,8 @@ build_datasets_plan(data_path = get_default_data_path(),
 \item{include_downloaded_data}{whether to also include downloadable datasets}
 
 \item{include_bbs_data}{whether to include BBS data}
+
+\item{bbs_subset}{optional, a subset of the BBS communities to use (to speed up development). As c(1:X)}
 }
 \value{
 a drake plan (i.e. a tibble) specifying the targets and commands 
diff --git a/man/filter_ts.Rd b/man/filter_ts.Rd
index 4e7c113..0fb3756 100644
--- a/man/filter_ts.Rd
+++ b/man/filter_ts.Rd
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 % Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
-% Please edit documentation in R/get_retriever_data.R
+% Please edit documentation in R/bbs_cleaning_functions.R
 \name{filter_ts}
 \alias{filter_ts}
 \title{Filter BBS to specified time series period and number of samples}
diff --git a/man/get_bbs_route_region_data.Rd b/man/get_bbs_route_region_data.Rd
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..534bac1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/man/get_bbs_route_region_data.Rd
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+% Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
+% Please edit documentation in R/get_retriever_data.R
+\name{get_bbs_route_region_data}
+\alias{get_bbs_route_region_data}
+\title{Get cleaned BBS data}
+\usage{
+get_bbs_route_region_data(route, region, path = get_default_data_path())
+}
+\arguments{
+\item{route}{Route number}
+
+\item{region}{Region number}
+
+\item{path}{Data storage path}
+}
+\value{
+list of abundance, covariates, and metadata
+}
+\description{
+Gets prepped BBS data (as a list of abundance, covariates, and metadata) for a specified route and region. First run `prepare_bbs_data` to create these files from the raw BBS data tables
+}
diff --git a/man/prepare_bbs_ts_data.Rd b/man/prepare_bbs_ts_data.Rd
index 9fe231b..d889085 100644
--- a/man/prepare_bbs_ts_data.Rd
+++ b/man/prepare_bbs_ts_data.Rd
@@ -1,11 +1,11 @@
 % Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
-% Please edit documentation in R/get_retriever_data.R
+% Please edit documentation in R/bbs_cleaning_functions.R
 \name{prepare_bbs_ts_data}
 \alias{prepare_bbs_ts_data}
 \title{Prepare BBS population time-series data}
 \usage{
 prepare_bbs_ts_data(start_yr = 1965, end_yr = 2017, min_num_yrs = 10,
-  path = get_default_data_path())
+  path = get_default_data_path(), selected_set = NULL)
 }
 \arguments{
 \item{start_yr}{num first year of time-series}
@@ -15,6 +15,8 @@ prepare_bbs_ts_data(start_yr = 1965, end_yr = 2017, min_num_yrs = 10,
 \item{min_num_yrs}{num minimum number of years of data between start_yr & end_yr}
 
 \item{path}{where to load the raw data files from}
+
+\item{selected_set}{optional, a subset of the BBS communities to use (to speed up development). As c(1:X)}
 }
 \description{
 Modified from https://github.com/weecology/bbs-forecasting
diff --git a/man/subset_bbs_route_region_data.Rd b/man/subset_bbs_route_region_data.Rd
index 1cd259d..e5d7370 100644
--- a/man/subset_bbs_route_region_data.Rd
+++ b/man/subset_bbs_route_region_data.Rd
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 % Generated by roxygen2: do not edit by hand
-% Please edit documentation in R/get_retriever_data.R
+% Please edit documentation in R/bbs_cleaning_functions.R
 \name{subset_bbs_route_region_data}
 \alias{subset_bbs_route_region_data}
 \title{Subset BBS data by route and reigon