Data Management Plan

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires the Federal government to designate critical habitat, areas of habitat essential to the species' conservation, for ESA listed species. This dataset is a compilation of the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service designated critical habitat in coastal areas. Critical habitat is defined as: Specific areas within the geographical area occupied by the species at the time of listing that contain physical or biological features essential to conservation, which may require special management considerations or protection; and specific areas outside the geographical area occupied by the species if the agency determines that the area itself is essential for conservation. It is important to keep in mind that maps published before May 31, 2012 were only for illustrative purposes and the Federal Register text descriptions should be used for authoritative purposes. For designations published after May 31, 2012, the maps (and any clarifying textual descriptions) are the definitive source for critical habitat boundaries. See metadata for online linkages to reference full listings of proposed and final critical habitat areas.

Process Steps:

• 2017-03-01 00:00:00 - + Go to http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/criticalhabitat.htm and download all zip files referenced on the page + Convert shapefiles and kml files to feature classes and project into NAD83 into a file gdb + Group feature classes based on location and work on each area at a time + For each area, merge features into a single feature class and organize attributes to retain all information found in section 7 of this document and delete any superfluous attributes + Explode all features + Shorelines were then adjusted to fix miss-aligning features to the others in the same area + Merge these resulting feature classes into a single feature class and note in the attributes the authority as NMFS + For hawksbill turtle, green turtle, gulf sturgeon, leatherback turtle, and smalltooth sawfish, data will need to be converted from line to polygon, then added into the main feature class + Go to http://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/report/table/critical-habitat.html and download the two zip files at the top of the page + From the individual species zip, add all polygon shapefiles to a new map + Remove any shapefiles that are not in a coastal area, all shapefiles that are duplicated by the NMFS data, and all shapefiles located in Hawaii + For all that remain, export and project into NAD83 in a file gdb + Group feature classes based on location and work on each area at a time + For each area, merge features into a single feature class and organize attributes to retain all information found in section 7 of this document and delete any superfluous attributes + Explode all features + Merge these resulting feature classes into a single feature class and note in the attributes the authority as USFWS + For Hawaii, add the CRITHAB_POLY.shp to a map and select all features in the Hawaii and NWHI areas (except Hawaiian Monk Seal) and export into a file gdb and project into NAD83 + Merge features into a single feature class and organize attributes to retain all information found in section 7 of this document and delete any superfluous attributes + Explode all features and note in the attributes the authority as USFWS + For species in Hawaii, common names were updated for species where the common name was repeated over many species, or for those with "No Common Name" + Merge NMFS, USFWS, and Hawaii feature classes into a single feature class and explode all features + Fill out missing attribute information from USFWS and NMFS species websites + Delete all superfluous fields + Check geometry and project data into WGS 1984 Auxiliary Sphere + Double check status of species listed as "proposed" using https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp/ + Export and delete confirmed species that area "proposed"

zip download and REST map service