Our Data

EcoAtlas aggregates data from many different sources. Key data and their sources are described below.

Beneficial Uses

The California State Water Resources Control Board is improving the functionality and accessibility of information residing in their Water Quality Control Plans or Basin Plans, such as the statewide water quality objectives, beneficial uses, and applicable TMDLs. The beneficial uses GIS layer contains hydrography features derived from a 2012 snapshot of the high-resolution (1:24000 scale) National Hydrography Dataset with added attribution for various textual and numeric data from the Regional Basin and State Plans. The extent of the dataset covers the state of California and the non-spatial tables reflect the information and elements from the various plans used up to 2020.

You can view the beneficial uses for a particular waterbody or filter for a beneficial use(s) within a Basin Plan region.

For more information on the Basin Plan Beneficial Use Viewer: https://gispublic.waterboards.ca.gov/portal/home/item.html?id=116f7daa9c4d4103afda1257be82eb16..

Last update: 2021

California Vegetation (CALVEG)

CALVEG is a USDA Forest Service product providing a comprehensive spatial dataset of existing vegetation cover over California. The data were created using a combination of automated systematic procedures, remote sensing classification, photo editing, field based observations.

Analyses are based on a crosswalk of the CALVEG classifications to the California Wildlife Habitat Relationships (CWHR). CWHR is a state-of-the art information system for California's wildlife developed upon the life history, geographic range, habitat relationships, and management information on species of amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals known to occur in the state. CWHR products aid in understanding, conserving, and managing California's wildlife.

For more information on CALVEG: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/r5/landmanagement/resourcemanagement/?cid=stelprdb5347192.

For more information on CWHR: https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Data/CWHR.

Last update: 2013

California Aquatic Resource Inventory (CARI)

The California Aquatic Resource Inventory is a standardized statewide map of surface waters and related habitat types, including wetlands, rivers, streams, lakes, and their riparian areas.

CARI is a compilation of the best available local, regional, and statewide maps, including the National Wetland Inventory (NWI) of the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) of the US Geological Survey, as well as maps from regional and local agencies. These maps vary in detail and accuracy, and represent different time periods, areas of the state, and classification systems. These differences greatly complicate efforts to measure changes in the abundance, diversity and condition of surface waters over time. However, these measures will improve as new automated mapping approaches are developed by statewide experts and implemented regionally to meet the needs of local land use planners and managers.

Regional Aquatic Resource Inventories

There are several regional inventories included in CARI that provide more detailed mapping to support local land use planning and wetland condition assessments, including: San Francisco Bay Area Aquatic Resources Inventory (BAARI); Laguna de Santa Rosa Plain (NCARI); Lake Tahoe Basin (TARI); Delta Aquatic Resource Inventory (DARI); San Diego Aquatic Resource Inventory (SDARI); and Baylands Habitat Map 2020 (BHM2020).

Salinity Modifier

Six salinity classes are applied to the estuarine polygons in CARI: Fresh (<0.5 ppt), Oligohaline (0.5-5 ppt), Mesohaline (5-18 ppt), Saline (>18 ppt), Bar-built (Variable), or Undefined. The salinity modifier is of particular significance for blue carbon quantification, as it differentiates between saline and brackish salinity categories, which function differently with respect to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, yet until now have been aggregated in a single “Estuarine” class in statewide wetlands mapping datasets. This information can be updated over time and used to inform broader questions related to climate impacts on wildlife habitat, water quality, agricultural productivity, and other topics. The development of the scripts to apply the salinity modifier to CARI was funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

CARI Editor Tool

Local data stewards can contribute to the detail and accuracy of CARI by using the CARI Editor Tool to submit suggested updates, deletions or additions of stream and wetland features. It is important to have the mapped aquatic resources as accurate as possible, since amounts are summarized in various reports and the Landscape Profile Tool.

For more information on CARI and to download the dataset and CARI mapping methodology: https://www.sfei.org/cari.

For more information on the CARI stream and wetland classes displayed in the map legend: https://ecoatlas.org/cari-metadata/.

For more information on the methods used to assign the salinity modifiers: https://www.sfei.org/documents/adding-salinity-modifiers-cari-methods-brief.

Last update: CARI v3.0 released June 2024. Source year varies by dataset and feature.

California Conservation Easement Database (CCED)

CCED is a GIS database defining easements and deed-based restrictions on private land. These restrictions limit land uses to those compatible with maintaining it as open space. Lands under easement may be actively farmed, grazed, forested, or held as nature reserves. Easements are typically held on private lands with no public access. CCED includes easements held by land trusts and nonprofit organizations; local jurisdictions (city and county); and state and national governmental agencies.

For more information on CCED: https://www.calands.org/cced/.

Last update: 2019

California Environmental Data Exchange Network (CEDEN)

The California Environmental Data Exchange Network is a central online location to find and share environmental data for California. Many interests in California contribute data on water quality, aquatic habitat, and wildlife health to CEDEN to help ensure good stewardship of the state’s natural resources. CEDEN aggregates these data and makes them accessible to the public.

Water quality and toxicity data uploaded to CEDEN are made available in EcoAtlas. Water quality datasets can be downloaded by test material from a station's pop-up box. Water and sediment toxicity data collection sites are categorized as non-toxic or having some, moderate, or high toxicity based on a common analytical process involving multiple samples taken at a site and multiple tests conducted on the samples. Methods used for categorizing toxicity data are available in the state’s Toxicity in California Waters report and in this diagram. Methods used for categorizing toxicity data are available in the state’s Toxicity in California Waters report and in this diagram.

For more information on CEDEN and to download the data: http://www.ceden.org.

Last update: Weekly

California Integrated Water Quality System (CIWQS) Projects

The California Integrated Water Quality System (CIWQS) is used by the State and Regional Water Quality Control Boards to track information about places of environmental interest, manage permits and other orders, track inspections, and manage violations and enforcement activities. Only projects from Wetlands/401 Certification programs regulating dredging, filling, mining, mitigation, and restoration activities are displayed on EcoAtlas. The Waste Discharger Identification (WDID) number is assigned to a permittee by the State Water Resources Control Board during the application for Notice of Intent.

For more information on the CIWQS projects visit https://www.waterboards.ca.gov/ciwqs/.

Last update: Monthly

California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB)

Data are available at the 7.5′ Quadrangle and County level only.

CNDDB is a collection of certified sightings of special status species that represents the most complete set of information available on the state's declining and/or vulnerable plant and animal species. The data sources for CNDDB are restricted to museum and herbarium specimens, published literature sources with location data, field survey data reviewed by CNDDB, and data from unpublished "gray" literature such as contracted reports. CNDDB is not an exhaustive and comprehensive inventory of all special status species statewide. CNDDB concentrates its work on areas with active Natural Community Conservation Plans or Habitat Conservation Plans, as well as high priority areas identified by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and other natural resource agencies. No inference can be made regarding lands that have not been surveyed, and it is never appropriate to conclude that an area contains no special status species based on the CNDDB.

The Landscape Profile Tool uses publicly available data provided by the California Natural Diversity Database relating to the status and approximate locations of special status species of plants and animals in California. These species are rare, threatened, or endangered. All special status species from quadrangles that overlap any part of the area demarcated in the Landscape Profile are reported in the Landscape Profile Report, although the species reported may not necessarily inhabit all or any part of the demarcated area. CNDDB data are updated monthly and the data provided in the Landscape Profile Report represent the most recent CNDDB update.

For more information on CNDDB and to download the data: https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Data/CNDDB/Maps-and-Data.

Last update: Monthly

California Protected Areas Database (CPAD)

The California Protected Areas Database (CPAD) contains GIS data about lands that are owned in fee and protected for open space purposes by over 1,000 public agencies or non-profit organizations. CPAD Includes national/state/regional parks, forests, preserves, and wildlife areas; large and small urban parks that are mainly open space (as opposed to recreational facility structures); land trust preserves; and special district open space lands (watershed, recreation, etc.) and other types of open space.

In EcoAtlas, CPAD “holdings” are displayed by access type (e.g., open, restricted or closed). Holdings are equivalent to assessor parcels, however the CPAD holdings may not fully align with such parcels.

For more information on CPAD: https://www.calands.org/cpad/.

Last update: 2019

California Rapid Assessment Method (CRAM)

The California Rapid Assessment Method is a standardized, cost-effective tool for assessing the overall health of wetlands, streams, and their riparian areas in California. CRAM generates numerical scores based on field evaluations for multiple attributes of physical and biotic condition. Scores are relative to the best achievable condition based on statewide surveys. There are different modules of CRAM for different types of wetlands and streams, as classified in the California Aquatic Resource Inventory (CARI). CRAM can be used to plan and assess restoration and mitigation projects. It can also be used to assess ambient baseline conditions at any spatial scale, from statewide to local watersheds. As a standard method for assessing projects, CRAM can be used to evaluate how ambient conditions are affected by projects.

For more information on CRAM: https://www.cramwetlands.org.

CRAM data can be downloaded from: https://ecoatlas.org/regions/ecoregion/statewide/?cramt=1.

Citation: California Wetlands Monitoring Workgroup (CWMW). "California Rapid Assessment Method for Wetlands and Riparian Areas (CRAM)." EcoAtlas. Accessed [date]. [URL].

Last update: Frequently

California Stream Condition Index (CSCI)

Data are for statewide assessment purposes only and are not intended for regulatory purposes.

The California Stream Condition Index (CSCI) is a statewide tool that translates complex data about individual benthic macroinvertebrates (BMIs) living in a stream into an overall measure of stream health. CSCI scores are categorized into four categories for statewide monitoring sites sampled from 1999 through 2015.

For more information view The California Stream Condition Index (CSCI): A New Statewide Biological Scoring Tool for Assessing the Health of Freshwater Streams SWAMP Technical Memo.

To download the data, visit the Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program’s (SWAMP) website: http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/swamp/bioassessment/csci_scores_map.shtml

Last update: Monthly

Census

The Landscape Profile Tool incorporates US census data developed by the Fire and Resource Assessment Program (FRAP) of CAL FIRE. FRAP acquired the data from the US Department of Commerce, US Census Bureau, Geography Division. Using methods recommended by the Bureau, FRAP developed a GIS layer of population and housing counts by census block. FRAP further refined the analysis of population density on habitable lands reported in this GIS layer. The data summaries generated by the Landscape Profile Tool for population density are estimates only.

Percentages of languages spoken at home are based on the 2008-2012 American Community Survey (ACS), an ongoing statistical survey that samples a small percentage of the population every year.

For more information on the FRAP dataset: http://frap.fire.ca.gov/data/frapgisdata.

For more information on the US Census data and to download the data: https://www.census.gov/2010census/data.

For more information on the American Community Survey: https://www.census.gov/acs/www/.

Last update: 2010; 2008-2012(ACS)

Climate Regions

The analysis of climate variability and trends is necessary in managing natural resources and monitoring and understanding the role of climate change. California has a diverse climate, driven by its latitudinal extent, proximity to the Pacific Ocean and cold coastal waters, and complex terrain that are best monitored at a regional scale, while collective information about the state may be valuable as well.

California Climate Regions produced by the Western Regional Climate Center are displayed in EcoAtlas as an overlay and are summarized in the printed Landscape Profile report.

For more information: https://wrcc.dri.edu/Climate/Tracker/CA/.

Last update: 2019

Coastal Zone

The Coastal Zone used in EcoAtlas was developed by aggregating the boundaries from the California Coastal Commission Coastal Zone, Sacramento-San Joaquin Legal Delta, and primary Operational Landscape Units (OLUs) for the San Francisco Bay. This layer is used to determine the coastal habitat resources summarized in the Coastal Habitat Profile.

The four Coastal Regions summarized in the Coastal Habitat Profile include North (north of the Golden Gate), San Francisco Bay/Delta (San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta), Central (south of the Golden Gate to Point Conception), and South (from Point Conception the US border).

For more information on the Coastal Commission’s Coastal Zone Boundary: https://www.coastal.ca.gov/maps/czb/

Last update: 2022

Congressional Districts

Congressional Districts from the 114th Congress are displayed in EcoAtlas. Users can generate a Landscape Profile report based on a selected Congressional District, as well as display the Congressional District boundaries as an overlay.

For more information visit the US Census Bureau website: https://www.census.gov/geo/maps-data/data/cbf/cbf_cds.html.

Last update: 2015

Conservation/Mitigation Banks

A conservation or mitigation bank is privately or publicly owned land managed for its natural resource values. In exchange for permanently protecting, managing, and monitoring the land, the bank sponsor is allowed to sell or transfer habitat credits to permittees who need to compensate for the environmental impacts for a project.

The banks displayed in EcoAtlas are from RIBITS, the Regulatory In lieu fee and Bank Information Tracking System developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Federal Highway Administration, and NOAA Fisheries to provide better information on conservation/mitigation banking and in-lieu fee programs across the country. RIBITS allows users to access information on the types and numbers of conservation/mitigation bank and in-lieu fee program sites, associated documents, mitigation credit availability, and service areas.

For more information: https://ribits.usace.army.mil/.

Last update: 2019

Ecoregions

EcoAtlas recognizes ten ecoregions in California for visualizing the condition and extent of surface waters. These ecoregions originated with the thirteen US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Omernik Level III ecoregions and were later modified to reflect the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) CalVeg ecoregions. The modifications involved collapsing and renaming some ecoregions; separating the Central Valley into two ecoregions (Sacramento Valley and San Joaquin Valley); and creating a new Bay/Delta ecoregion from adjoining parts of the North and Central Coast ecoregions.

For more information visit the USGS Ecoregions of California and USDA Vegetation Classification & Mapping web pages.

Last update: 2011

Eelgrass Aquatic Resources

Data are not comprehensive for all areas of California.

Eelgrass (Zostera marina and Z. pacifica) is recognized as an important ecological resource in nearshore open coast areas, shallow bays, and estuaries throughout coastal California. Access to regional maps and related monitoring reports for eelgrass is crucial to monitor the extent of eelgrass habitat and how it is changing over time, evaluate the effects of coastal development projects on eelgrass habitat, and inform interested stakeholders and the public about eelgrass distribution. A system for tracking changes in the distribution and abundance of eelgrass may inform the effectiveness of ongoing conservation and restoration efforts.

All eelgrass data provided by EcoAtlas, including maps of mitigation projects and associated monitoring reports, were provided by third party consultants and compiled by the Long Beach Office of the Protected Resources Division, National Marine Fisheries Service West Coast Region. The regional survey maps for eelgrass represent the best available data about eelgrass distribution in coastal embayments and estuaries in California for the period 1994-2015. These data have been collected using a variety of methods and the survey results are not comprehensive. The data incorporated into these maps were derived from a restricted subset of surveys that have been conducted in different regions. This information is intended only for regional planning purposes and not for site-specific impact assessment purposes.

The date slider adjusts the visibility of system-wide eelgrass surveys according to the desired time period. The frequency and coverage of system-wide surveys vary.  For those systems with multiple year survey periods, the use of a wide date range may provide an indication of the maximum extent of eelgrass in the system.  However, the absence of eelgrass in a given year may be a product of limited survey observations rather than actual absence of eelgrass.

For more information, contact Bryant Chesney ([email protected]), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) West Coast Region, Long Beach office of the Protected Resources Division.

For more information about regional eelgrass monitoring efforts, please view the Recommendations for a Southern California Regional Eelgrass Monitoring Program Technical Report.

To download the data visit SFEI's Data Center page: http://www.sfei.org/data/eelgrass-survey-gis-data

Last update: 2018

Locations of eelgrass systems along California's coast

Habitat Projects

The Habitat Projects data layer contains habitat restoration, mitigation, and conservation projects across the State. In the San Francisco Bay Area, North Coast, and Lahontan regions, project information is collected for all projects that have received a 401 Certification and/or Waste Discharge Order from the Regional Water Quality Control Board. The Partners page provides a list of the federal, state, local agencies, and non-governmental organizations that contribute project information to EcoAtlas.

Projects can be viewed in the landscape context along with other data layers on an interactive map. Individual project information pages summarize the status, events, contacts, funding, and habitat plan for each project. Some projects consist of multiple sites, each of which may have a different status. Approximate boundaries are indicated by a circle that represents the approximate area of the project. In addition, supporting materials including monitoring reports, permits, photos, videos, and links to other websites can be uploaded and stored in a project's file repository.

Project Tracker is an online data entry tool for submitting new projects to EcoAtlas. Once approved by regional managers, project boundaries are displayed on the map and can be viewed within the larger landscape context. Project information is summarized on individual project pages and in the Landscape Profile Tool.

Project data can be downloaded using EcoAtlas' Habitat Projects Tool or REST API.

Citation: California Wetlands Monitoring Workgroup (CWMW). "Habitat Projects." EcoAtlas. Accessed [date]. [URL].

Last update: Daily

Historical Aquatic Resources and Terrestrial Plant Communities

Since the 1990s, a variety of partnerships including federal, state, local agencies, and non-governmental organizations have been developing maps and other information about the distribution, abundance, and diversity of aquatic habitat types and terrestrial plant communities at the time of European contact in various regions of California. Most of these efforts follow a methodology of historical ecology research developed by the San Francisco Estuary Institute-Aquatic Science Center (SFEI-ASC). The data included in EcoAtlas are derived from twelve research projects spanning the period 1998 to 2013. The goals of these projects include providing information for habitat restoration, watershed management, flood protection, and local education.

For more information visit http://www.sfei.org/he.

To download the data visit SFEI's Data Center page: http://www.sfei.org/data-center.

Last update: 2013

Hydrologic Regions (HUC)

A Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) identifies a watershed within a hierarchical system dividing drainage basins into progressively smaller nested geographic areas. The size of the hydrologic unit decreases as the level of HUC subdivision increases: a HUC8 unit consists of one or more HUC10 units, each of which consists of one or more HUC12 units. In EcoAtlas, users can generate a Landscape Profile report based on a selected HUC8, HUC10, or HUC12 boundary, as well as display these hydrologic regions as an overlay.

For more information visit the USGS website: https://nhd.usgs.gov/wbd.html.

Last update: 2012-2013 (HUC8 and HUC10); 2013 (HUC12)

National Land Cover Dataset

The 2011 National Land Cover Database (NCLD) produced by the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium (MRLC) is a map of land cover classified into 16 classes with a spatial resolution of 30 meters. This dataset was developed using unsupervised spectral image classification of the Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) circa 2011 satellite imagery.

For more information on NLCD: https://www.mrlc.gov/.

To download the data: https://www.mrlc.gov/data.

Last update: 2011

One Water Plan and Profile

Valley Water’s One Water Watershed Profile is a compilation of information from its One Water Countywide Framework and One Water watershed-specific plans. This includes data on the abundance, diversity, and condition of aquatic resources, as well as flood risk reduction and water supply for Santa Clara County, California.

The purpose of the Profile is to share specific water resources related data that may support public policies and programs that protect aquatic resources. Additional information will be incorporated into future versions of the One Water Watershed Profile Tool, based on advice from its user community.

The computational time required to generate a One Water Watershed Profile Report increases with the size of the profile area and the complexity of its aquatic resources.

One Water Watershed Profile

Valley Water's One Water Watershed Profile has been developed to provide a visual, transparent, data-rich tool to highlight water resources throughout Santa Clara County. The Profile is based on One Water goals (reliable water supply, improved flood protection, healthy and resilient ecosystems) and the following objectives:

  • Protect and maintain water supplies
  • Protect and improve surface and groundwater quality
  • Reduce flood risk
  • Protect, enhance and sustain natural ecosystems
  • Mitigate and adapt to climate change

The Profile allows the user to:

  • Check various baseline conditions for aquatic and terrestrial habitat
  • Assess where baseline conditions vary from target conditions
  • View information on water supply conditions such as conservation
  • View information on flood risk
  • See the distribution of existing actions taking place across the watershed

For more information on Valley Water’s One Water Plan and process, visit https://www.valleywater.org/your-water/one-water-plan

Last update: 2022

Operational Landscape Units (OLUs)

To delineate individual OLUs, we first identified three major geomorphic unit types along the shore: (1) headlands and small valleys, (2) alluvial fans and alluvial plains, and (3) wide alluvial valleys. These distinct units are distinguished by different underlying geology and resulting landscape morphometrics, such as slope of the shoreline, the width of the baylands, and watershed size. Once determined, geomorphic units were further divided into individual Baylands OLUs by different methods for each unit type based on topographic and bathymetric considerations in addition to landscape morphology considerations.

For more information and detailed methods on how each geomorphic unit type and Baylands OLU was delineated, see the San Francisco Bay Shoreline Adaptation Atlas (2019) report.

Last update: 2019

Riparian Management

The Riparian Management data layer summarizes watershed prioritization recommended actions to support the protection of streams and associated riparian habitats across California. Recommended management actions for a stream reach include the categories of Protect; Risk Reduction; Restoration; Management; and Restoration and Management. Restoration actions involve modifying the physical or biological structure of the stream and/or floodplain to improve its ability to provide habitat and support ecosystem functions. Management actions involve reducing stressors (or the effect of stressors) in or adjacent to the stream or in the catchment. Similar stressor reduction actions at intact condition sites would constitute “risk reduction”. Intact streams with low levels of stress are considered to have low vulnerability and were therefore categorized for “protection” and periodic monitoring.

For more information on the project: Prioritizing Stream Protection, Restoration and Management Actions Using Landscape Modeling and Spatial Analysis Technical Report and Journal Article.

For more Information on the data layers: https://dataportal.sccwrp.org/pages/watershed-prioritization-recommended-actions.

To download the data, visit the SCCWRP Data Portal Interactive map: https://arcg.is/aHzGG.

Last update: January 2023

Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Marsh

This overlay includes both the primary and secondary zones of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta) as defined in the California Water Code Section 12220, and the primary and secondary management areas of the Suisun Marsh as adopted by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission on January 20, 1978. The California Department of Water Resources compiled this information and created shapefiles.

The Delta Protection Act (1992) includes mandates for the designation of primary and secondary zones within the legal Delta and the completion of a Land Use and Resource Management Plan for the Primary Zone of the Delta. The Primary Zone consists of approximately 500,000 acres and the Secondary Zone of approximately 238,000 acres. The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission’s Suisun Marsh Protection Plan (1976) proposes a Primary Management Area encompassing 89,000 acres of tidal marsh, managed wetlands, adjacent grasslands, and waterways, and a Secondary Management Area of approximately 22,500 acres of significant buffer lands.

For more information on the Delta Protection Act: http://www.delta.ca.gov/commission/delta_protection_act/

For more information on the Land Use and Resource Management Plan for the Primary Zone of the Delta: http://www.delta.ca.gov/land_use/land_use_plan/

For more information on the Suisun Marsh Protection Plan and to download maps: http://www.bcdc.ca.gov/plans/suisun_marsh.html

Last update: 2002 (Delta Primary Zone); 2009 (Delta Secondary Zone and Suisun Marsh)

San Francisco Bay Segments

The current Bay segments used by the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco (RMP) are based on the original 1987 segments designed through consultations with USGS and other Bay scientists, and are based on depth, salinity, ecology, and anthropogenic discharges. They were modified in 2002 by the RMP Redesign Workgroup after considering other agencies' defined sub-regions, scientists’ professional recommendations, and statistical clustering and graphical analyses of water and sediment quality data.

In EcoAtlas, users can select the San Francisco Bay Segments as an overlay on the map.

For more information visit the RMP website: https://www.sfei.org/programs/sf-bay-regional-monitoring-program.

Last update: 2002

Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO) Hydric Soils

SSURGO depicts information about the kinds and distribution of soils on the landscape. The soil map and data used were prepared by soil scientists as part of the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s National Cooperative Soil Survey. EcoAtlas displays the percent of hydric soils and the soil taxonomies present at a location.

Hydric soils are defined as those soils that form under conditions of saturation, flooding, or ponding long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper part of the soil. Under natural conditions, hydric soils are either saturated or inundated long enough during the growing season to support the growth and reproduction of wetland vegetation. This information can be used to help identify places that have been or likely will be wetlands, and determine what types of vegetation will be supported by the soils.

Information was collected at scales ranging from 1:12,000 to 1:63,360. Soil components are typically composed of multiple horizons (layers), and component attributes are aggregated to a map unit level for visualization.

For more information on SSURGO and to download the data:
https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/survey/?cid=nrcs142p2_053627

For more information on hydric soils, refer to the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s publication Field Indicators of Hydric Soils in the United States.

Last update: 2018

Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program (EIP) Projects

Launched in 1997, the Lake Tahoe Environmental Improvement Program (EIP) is a partnership of federal, state, and local agencies, private interests, and the Washoe Tribe, created to protect and improve the natural and recreational resources of the Lake Tahoe Basin. While the EIP has several focus areas, only projects from the Watersheds, Habitat, and Water Quality Focus Area are displayed in EcoAtlas.

Project information is obtained using a web service developed by the Sitka Technology Group. These projects appear as points with a link to the EIP project summary and are color-coded based on their stage status. However, EIP projects cannot be downloaded or filtered through the Habitat Projects Tool in EcoAtlas.

For more information on the EIP projects visit https://eip.laketahoeinfo.org/.

Last update: Monthly

US Geological Survey (USGS) StreamStats

StreamStats is a web service provided by the US Geological Survey used to delineate an upstream catchment from a user-defined pour point. Basins delineated by StreamStats are appropriate for use in planning and management, but they are not survey-grade. USGS combines digital elevation models (DEMs), 100,000 scale hydrology data from the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD), and existing watershed boundaries from the Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) to generate on-the-fly watershed delineations. This approach is dynamic and reasonable accurate in moderate to steep terrain. For relatively flat or gradual landscapes with minor streams or subsurface drainage, StreamStats can produce inaccurate watershed delineations. This generally occurs in urban areas and large valleys, such as the Central Valley. For best results in these landscapes, we recommend hand-delineation (heads-up digitizing) by using the draw your area of interest option in the Landscape Profile Tool. It should also be noted that StreamStats relies on a 10m node DEM that is coarser than some DEMs used in CARI. As a result, watershed boundaries generated by StreamStats might not align exactly with the boundaries evident in CARI.

For more information on USGS StreamStats: https://streamstats.usgs.gov.

Last update: Daily