National Fish Habitat Action Plan (NFHAP) 2010 HCI Scores and Human Disturbance Data (linked to NHDPLUSV1) for Virginia: ESRI Service Definition
Dates
Publication Date
2011-04
Start Date
2000
End Date
2007
Summary
This service definition contains landscape factors representing human disturbances summarized to local and network catchments of river reaches for the state of Virginia. This dataset is the result of clipping the feature class 'NFHAP 2010 HCI Scores and Human Disturbance Data for the Conterminous United States linked to NHDPLUSV1.gdb' to the state boundary of Virginia. Landscape factors include land uses, population density, roads, dams, mines, and point-source pollution sites. The source datasets that were compiled and attributed to catchments were identified as being: (1) meaningful for assessing fish habitat; (2) consistent across the entire study area in the way that they were assembled; (3) representative of conditions in the [...]
Summary
This service definition contains landscape factors representing human disturbances summarized to local and network catchments of river reaches for the state of Virginia. This dataset is the result of clipping the feature class 'NFHAP 2010 HCI Scores and Human Disturbance Data for the Conterminous United States linked to NHDPLUSV1.gdb' to the state boundary of Virginia. Landscape factors include land uses, population density, roads, dams, mines, and point-source pollution sites. The source datasets that were compiled and attributed to catchments were identified as being: (1) meaningful for assessing fish habitat; (2) consistent across the entire study area in the way that they were assembled; (3) representative of conditions in the past 10 years, and (4) of sufficient spatial resolution that they could be used to make valid comparisons among local catchment units. In this data set, these variables are linked to the catchments of the National Hydrography Dataset Plus Version 1 (NHDPlusV1) using the COMID identifier. They can also be linked to the reaches of the NHDPlusV1 using the COMID identifier. Catchment attributes are available for both local catchments (defined as the land area draining directly to a reach; attributes begin with "L_" prefix) and network catchments (defined by all upstream contributing catchments to the reach's outlet, including the reach's own local catchment; attributes begin with "N_" prefix). This service definition also includes habitat condition scores created based on responsiveness of biological metrics to anthropogenic landscape disturbances throughout ecoregions. Separate scores were created by considering disturbances within local catchments, network catchments, and a cumulative score that accounted for the most limiting disturbance operating on a given biological metric in either local or network catchments. This assessment only scored reaches representing streams and rivers (see the process section for more details).
Please use the following citation: Esselman, P., D.M. Infante, L. Wang, W. Taylor, W. Daniel, R. Tingley, J. Fenner, A. Cooper, D. Wieferich, D. Thornbrugh and J. Ross. (April 2011) National Fish Habitat Action Plan (NFHAP) 2010 HCI Scores and Human Disturbance Data (linked to NHDPLUSV1) for Virginia. National Fish Habitat Partnership Data System. http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.5066/F7CJ8BG0
These data were collected for multiple purposes. First, they were gathered in support of conducting a condition assessment of fluvial waterbodies throughout the United States in support of the National Fish Habitat Action Plan (NFHAP). Second, these data were intended to be made available to NFHAP Partnerships as well as other users interested in acquiring consistently-organized information available characterizing river systems over larger regions. This work was supported by local, state, and federal partners of NFHAP, including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Geological Survey. Because the condition assessment was conducted over such a large geographic region, we adopted a landscape approach for assessment which assumed that anthropogenic disturbances as well as natural characteristics in the watersheds affect a given unit of habitat which in turn would affect fishes. It was necessary to use a landscape approach because landscape data are available for every location in of the United States whereas local measures of habitat or biological indicators of habitat condition are only available at a very small percentage of locations around the country.