GIS & Planning
Conservation Planning
Conservation planning identifies and prioritizes lands that encompass important natural or cultural resources across the landscape (e.g., critical watersheds, habitat for rare or threatened species) and develops protection and management strategies for these lands. It is a process where science is at the core of planning, but the science is informed by groups of stakeholders using their on-the-ground knowledge and expertise.
Landscape Partnership Map Products
A collection of map products that feature depictions of various land cover types, distribution of public lands, and locations of natural gas deposits, etc.
Documentation on Open Source GIS Tools and the AppLCC Portal
Documentation on Open Source GIS Tools and the AppLCC Portal - Read More…
Data Access
A dynamic index of data available on the Appalachian LCC Cloud
Introduction
In the coming weeks and months the Appalachian LCC will be serving up curated and georeferenced spatial data for partners working in our geography. Some of these data will be made available following funded projects while other foundational datasets are available now. In addition, newly developed and customized decision support tools will be served up using an open-source platform through our portal. These tools will allow managers/conservation practitioners to make dynamic and scenario-based decisions using the best and most current scientific data. A sampling of the datasets/themes are listed below. For a more detailed list of available data (with descriptions) please see:
Vector Data
- Protected Areas of the United States Database
- National Conservation Easement Database
- Hazardous Waste/Inventory : Imperiled Watersheds (EPA)
- Forest Biomass by County
- Coal / Natural Gas fields
- Cave/Karst Formations
- National Wetland Inventory
Raster Data
- Terrestrial Habitat Classifications
- USGS Gap Data
- Nature Serve Species Distribution
- Index of Human Modification
- Housing Density
- Climate Impacts
- Priority Areas (Short-term) for Conservation Action
GUI
Spatial data will be uploaded to the cloud using an S3 client. There are a variety of free and open source S3 clients such as
Cyberduck and DragonDisk. Documentation will be provided for our preferred clients.
Each spatial data archive will be uploaded as a zip file, and will have an associated SpacialData content-item in Plone which stores the metadata as well as preview image, etc.
Spatial data will be linked in the S3 archive to their associated content-items in Plone by using the following methods:
- An AJAX widget will be created that attaches to the SpatialData content-type's URL field. This AJAX widget will read the XML index page of the S3 storage location, and provide auto-complete functionality. For example, when someone starts typing "Cave" they will get the matches for the Cave/Karst dataset(s). They will simply click the item they want in those AJAX search results and the URL field will be filled in. From that point forward, we are using the Plone content-items to manage and display the spatial data items. The display will be similar to the Projects section with title, description, preview (map) image, etc.
- The XML directory view from S3 will be parsed, and matched against the SpatialData items currently in the portal. A page of all items in S3 that don't already match any SpatialData items in Plone will be presented. This way, people can simply look at a list of nicely-presented file names in Plone, and click on any one to create a SpatialData item for it. Once the Plone content-item has been created, it will disappear from the list.
Landscape Partnership Datasets
A dynamic index of data and tools
Introduction
In the coming weeks and months the Landscape Partnership will be serving up curated and georeferenced spatial data for partners working in our geography. Some of these data will be made available following funded projects while other foundational datasets are available now. In addition, newly developed and customized decision support tools will be served up using an open-source platform through our portal. These tools will allow managers/conservation practitioners to make dynamic and scenario-based decisions using the best and most current scientific data. A sampling of the datasets/themes are listed below.
Foundational Data
(Datasets which are common to conservation planning efforts)
- (2006 NLCD): contains the 2006 national land cover dataset extracted using the AppLCC + a buffered boundary to include effected watersheds.
- (Human Footprint): raster dataset for the human footprint (Last of the Wild, version 2, 2005). This raster dataset has also been extracted to a buffered AppLCC buffer boundary. In this raster’s attributes the cell values indicate the extent of human impact with 0 being the least and 100 being the greatest (on a normalized scale).
- (Hydrologic Units): dataset that has the USGS hydrologic Unit Code level 8 watersheds that influence or are influenced by the core AppLCC area. The watersheds in this dataset are selected by their intersection with any part of the AppLCC area.
- (Impervious Surface): raster dataset that has the percent impervious as the value for each cell. This dataset is extracted from one of the layers created by the national land cover process.
- (Nature Serve Ecological Systems):Natureserve updated their ecologic systems data in the Spring of 2013 and this updated dataset was extracted for the AppLCC buffer area. The attribute data with this dataset contains many more vegetation descriptions than the national land cover data alone. These vegetative descriptions might be translated into habitats for various species of interest by conservation planners
- (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index): The national NDVI dataset is updated annually and it contains multiple datasets in raster format pertaining to seasonal phenology; we provide the following 3 raster datasets with their layer files that pertain to the beginning, end, and maximum flowering in the Eastern U.S.
- (National Hydrological Dataset): vector (polyline) data that is the flowlines from the USGS national hydrologic dataset at medium resolution. Theses have been clipped to the AppLCC buffer boundary. The attribute data identifies each line segment, its stream name, flow direction and so on.
- (Housing Density): vector data (polygons) of the counties intersected by the base AppLCC boundary. Each county has the 2010 population count and housing count Census Bureau data added to its attribute table. These values were derived by summing the census blocks for each county that were posted in the Census Bureau’s data for 2010, thus each record is for a whole county.
- (Socioeconomic Index): vector data (polygons) of the counties intersected by the base AppLCC boundary. In addition to the County name, State, and FIPS codes, this layer has Estimated poverty and percent for each county. Each record also has an estimated median household income for 2011. This data was downloaded from the Census Bureau’s SAIP site as a table and permanently joined to the county shapefile using the FIPS code in the two datasets.
- (Habitat Classification): Nature Conservancy’s habitat classification data for the Northeastern U.S. It does not cover the entire AppLCC area, but uses a technique that might be of interest and could be extended to cover the whole AppLCC area. These habitats could then be used to examine the species of interest for conservation planning.
- (National Wetlands Inventory): U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s national wetlands inventory dataset clipped to the AppLCC buffer boundary. Almost all of the AppLCC area has been processed for the national wetlands inventory. This data maps and classifies the wetlands in the area by 7.5 minute quadrangle.
- (National Elevation Dataset): This dataset contains 30 meter square cells with the elevation of the surface for the entire AppLCC buffer area. This layer is in the same projection as the other layers. This data can be used to calculate contours, and a number of surface drainage layers.
- (Protected Areas - US): USGS version of the protected area data. It contains both the public and privately owned protected areas for which the data is publicly available. It also contains codes to indicate the level of protection given to each parcel according to their management. These levels are indicated by both GAP category and IUCN codes.
- (Species Distribution): Several potential species for selection as indicators are included and county maps of their range with any other information that was available. Most were found in existing GAP datasets and those missing were mapped (by county) from their graphic maps by registering them to county datasets.
- Alleg_woodrat:
- Amer_Blackbear:
- AmericanBlackDuck:
- GAP_Amer_Woodcock:
- Gap_longtailed_salamander:
- Gap_Cerulean_warbler:
- Non-GAP_Salamanders
- (Land Fire): Landfire dataset (vegetation) extracted to the AppLCC buffer boundary.
- (Biomass): vector polygons for annual methane, crops, and forest products by county for the entire LCC geography. Data provided from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
- (Ecoregions): vector data with hierarchical classification of ecoregions throughout Appalachia following the Omernik classification scheme.
- (Imperiled Watersheds): vector data depicting EPA classified imperiled watersheds.
- (Superfund Priority Sites (CERC)): The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly known as Superfund, was enacted by Congress on December 11, 1980. This law created a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided broad Federal authority to respond directly to releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances that may endanger public health or the environment.
- (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System sites from the Permit Compliance System (PCS)): The Permit Compliance System (PCS) and Integrated Compliance Information System (ICIS) databases provide information on companies which have been issued permits to discharge wastewater into rivers. You can review information on when a permit was issued and expires, how much the company is permitted to discharge, and the actual monitoring data showing what the company has discharged.
- (Toxics Release Inventory sites): Registered sites are linked with TRI information for years reported, Federal Registry System (FRS) facility information, and a corresponding Risk Screening Environmental Indicator (RSEI) report that provides a quantitative, relative estimate of risk posed by the facility based on the chemical released and potential exposure pathways.
LCC or Partner Funded Data
(Datasets which can aid in conservation planning but are either new or not widely available)
- (Energy): data layers depicting wind, coal, and shale deposits and projected land impacts (funded through the Appalachian LCC). Example datasets include both raster and vector data:
- Gas Well Point Locations
- Wind Turbine Point Locations
- Center for Watershed Projection Impairment Areas
- Future Gas Development Projections
- Future Wind Development Projections
- Marcellus Gas Well Development Probabilities
- (Central Appalachian Priority Areas): TNC’s priority areas (vector) for the Central Appalachian Range including projects in Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Tennessee.
- (Red Spruce Picea rubens Distribution in WV): Central Appalachian Spruce Restoration Initiative (CASRI) and its partners have completed a red spruce distribution map that covers the state of west Virginia and is current as of 2013.
- (Priority Areas for Golden Wing Warbler and Cerulean Warbler): Appalachian Mountain Joint Venture has identified priority areas for restoration throughout their geography for two key bird species.
- (Important Bird Areas): A global initiative of BirdLife International, implemented by Audubon and local partners in the United States, the Important Bird Areas Program (IBA) is an effort to identify and conserve areas that are vital to birds and other biodiversity. By working with Audubon chapters, landowners, public agencies, community groups, and other non-profits, Audubon endeavors to interest and activate a broad network of supporters to ensure that all Important Bird Areas are properly managed and conserved.
- (Marcellus Fish Collection Database): The Marcellus Fish collection database was built the existing MARIS fish database as a template for compiling fish data from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. MARIS fish data was combined for NY (1976-2007), PA (1975-2007), and WVA (1997-2010) with additional data from Ohio EPA (1978-2012), the USEPA EMAP program (1993-1998), and the USGS NAWQA program (1993-2012). There are 35512 locations represented within the database. There are 14707 unique fish collection locations within the Marcellus Shale boundary with 10238 locations having at least one fish record. There are 437045 fish records within the database with 150507 individual species counts recorded from sites within the Marcellus Shale boundary. The database can be queried using any number of criteria related to location, time, sampling methods, etc.
Decision Support / Modeling Tools
- (Web-Based Tool for Riparian Restoration Prioritization to Promote Climate Change Resilience in Eastern U.S. Streams): This project implements a user-friendly web-based tool to identify priority areas for riparian restoration in the context of predicted climate change at the appropriate scale needed by practitioners. A ‘shovel ready’ prioritization tool for managers facing immediate on-the-ground decisions has been developed. This tool links directly to ongoing and future stream flow, temperature, and biological response modeling projects.
