New Wetlands Mapping Standard Precedes National Assessment

"There is no doubt the negative impacts of climate change on fish and wildlife will be significant," said Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, announcing the new standard on August 18.

"A major conservation challenge is predicting the level of those impacts and determining what management actions can be taken to help species adapt," he said. "And open access to accurate, up-to-date geospatial wetlands information is critical to meeting this challenge."

The new wetlands mapping standard will support future national wetlands assessment efforts, the secretary said.

Quality data on wetlands are considered critical for planning effective conservation strategies to benefit fish and wildlife resources now and in the future.

Coastal wetlands of the eastern United States, Gulf Coast and Great Lakes (Map courtesy USFWS)

Wetlands cover about five percent of the surface of the Lower 48 states and are among the nation’s most biologically productive and economically important habitat types.

"We need to know what kinds of wetlands are out there, where they are, and where they might be in the future," said Salazar. "The adoption of a new standard with mapping guidelines will enable partners from all levels of government, academia and the private sector to work together to produce a wealth of updated and accurate wetlands information."

Wetland map products are currently maintained and served by the National Wetlands Inventory. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service uses this wetlands information in its habitat restoration and remediation activities, as well as policy and conservation planning.

The new mapping standard is intended to enable federal, state, tribal, and local agencies to map and efficiently input data into the Service’s National Wetlands Inventory geodatabase.

It facilitates mapping layers that can be used across geopolitical and watershed boundaries and provides updated information to the wetlands layer of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure.

Emerging conservation issues, such as changing temperatures, sea-level rise, increasing storm severity, drought, energy development, and species declines are making the need for contemporary geospatial resource information even more important, the secretary said.

Changes in climatic conditions affecting water availability will influence the nature and function of specific wetlands, including the type of plant and animal species there.

The mapping standard applies to all wetlands mapping activities funded or conducted by the federal government. Federally funded projects that began prior to the mapping standard’s effective date will be exempt. Also exempt are federally funded projects for which contracts have been finalized prior to the effective date; even if the actual work has not begun.

The Wetlands Mapping Standard was developed and formally endorsed by the Federal Geographic Data Committee, FGDC, in response to the need for a higher degree of wetlands data.

This interagency committee, established by the White House Office of Management and Budget and chaired by the Interior Secretary promotes the coordinated development, use, sharing, and dissemination of geospatial data on a national basis.

The Wetlands Mapping Standard was developed by a working group under the FGDC Wetlands Subcommittee, which includes representatives of federal agencies, states, tribes, environmental organizations, management associations, as well as local government associations. The working group encouraged the participation of professionals from the wetlands and geospatial communities.

In developing this mapping standard, an effort was made to identify and accommodate technology and map-scale enhancements that will ensure its long-term usability and minimize the need for revisions and updates.

Nothing in the standard precludes the use of ancillary or collateral data, such as soil data, radar or topographic maps, to enhance wetlands mapping, says the FGDC.

Click here to view the FGDC Wetlands Mapping Standard document.

Copyright Environment News Service, ENS, 2009. All rights reserved.