AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Vegetation - Suisun Marsh - 1999 [ds160]

As part of the monitoring program in the Plan of Protection, a Triennial Vegetation Survey was developed to document the overall vegetation composition of the Suisun Marsh and to monitor Salt Marsh Harvest Marsh (SMHM) habitat by the use of aerial photography in combination with ground verification. The vegetation map adheres to the 1998 National Vegetation Classification Standard (NVCS) and the 1995 Manual of California Vegetation (MCV). The mapping study area consists of approximately 69,323 acres of Solano county. The map consists of 39,460 vegetation polygons. SPOT satellite imagery acquired June, 1999 was utilized as a base for the delineated polygons and photo interpretation signature in the focus study areas. This vegetation mapping project of Suisun Marsh blends ground-based classification, aerial photo interpretation, and GIS editing and processing. The method is based on the development of a quantitative vegetation classification, which is used to describe the vegetation map units of the marsh. The minimum mapping unit (MMU) for this project was 0.5 acre. Delineation was done without attempting to classify the signatures; all visibly different signatures were delineated. A small number of the resulting polygons were below the general 0.5 acre minimum; these were drawn because they had distinctive photo signatures. Accuracy Assessments (AA) were performed, beginning in September 2000. During this effort, team members utilized Global Position System (GPS) to locate delineated vegetation polygons and accuracy assessment forms were completed. A total of 271 vegetation polygons were visited during this effort. The project report is available for download at: [https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=90000]
Delta Vegetation and Land Use - 2011 [ds292]

Under contract to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the Bay-Delta Region for use in conjunction with the Delta Regional Ecosystem Restoration Implementation Plan, CDFW created a fine-scale vegetation map of portions of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. CDFW conducted field reconnaissance assistance for this project, as well as accuracy assessment (AA) field data collection; and Jeff Kennedy, Kristi Lazar, Jeanne Taylor and Jahalel L. Tuil [University of California Davis Information Center for the Environment (ICE)]; Brad Burkholder, Daniel Burmester, Curtis Hagen, Diana Hickson, Todd Keeler-Wolf, to assist in the AA field data collection. CDFW’s Vegetation Classification and Mapping Program (VegCAMP) provided in-kind service to allocate and score the AA. The mapping study area, consists of approximately 725,600 acres, of which approximately 104,600 acres are natural vegetation, 555,100 acres agriculture and urban development, and 65,900 acres are open water or inundated lands. These acres were apart of Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Yolo counties. Work was performed on the project between 2005 and 2007. The primary purpose of the project was to further CDFW’s goal of developing fine-scale digital vegetation maps as part of the California Biodiversity Initiative Roadmap of 2018. CNPS under separate contract and in collaboration with CDFW VegCAMP developed the floristic vegetation classification used for the project. The floristic classification follows protocols compliant with the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) and National Vegetation Classification Standards (NVCS). The vegetation map was produced applying heads-up digitizing techniques using both the spring 2002 Stockton, Sacramento, and Delta High Resolution (1-foot) Orthoimagery and summer 2005 NAIP (1-meter) orthoimagery served as the base, in conjunction with ancillary data and imagery sources. Map polygons are assessed for Vegetation Type, Percent Cover, Exotics, Development Disturbance, and other attributes. The minimum mapping unit (MMU) is 2 acres for land use and vegetation; exceptions made for isolated land use, water, and critical vegetation types which were mapped to a 1-acre MMU. Field reconnaissance and accuracy assessment enhanced map quality. There was a total of 131 mapping classes. The overall Fuzzy Accuracy Assessment rating for the final vegetation map, at the Alliance and Group levels, is 85% percent with 9 types falling below 70%. More information can be found in the project report, which is bundled with the vegetation map published for BIOS here: [https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=18211].
Rockfish Conservation Area Waypoints - R7 - CDFW [ds3145]

Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCAs) are closed areas for west coast groundfish fisheries and for some fisheries that may incidentally take groundfish as bycatch. The RCA boundary line is a connection of a series of GPS coordinates published in federal regulations (See 50 CFR 660.71-660.74) that are intended to approximate underwater depth contours. RCA boundaries are used in groundfish regulations to avoid interactions with certain groundfish species of concern and may change between seasons and Recreational Fishing Management Areas. Attributes: area_name: Unique name field identifying depth and location of waypoint. Fathom: Approximate depth in fathoms of waypoint. Region: Describes which of the five groundfish management zones the waypoint is in. lat_DDM: Latitude in Decimal Degrees Minutes format. lon_DDM: Longitude in Decimal Degrees Minutes format. lat_DD: Latitude in Decimal Degrees format. lon_DD: Longitude in Decimal Degrees format.
Rockfish Conservation Area - R7 - CDFW [ds3144]

Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCAs) are closed areas for west coast groundfish fisheries and for some fisheries that may incidentally take groundfish as bycatch. The RCA boundary line is a connection of a series of GPS coordinates published in federal regulations (See 50 CFR 660.71-660.74) that are intended to approximate underwater depth contours. RCA boundaries are used in groundfish regulations to avoid interactions with certain groundfish species of concern and may change between seasons and Recreational Fishing Management Areas. The process of digitizing these boundary lines is as follows: * 30, 40, 50, 100, and 150fm waypoint .csv files were downloaded from NOAA’s West Coast Groundfish Closed Areas website [https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/west-coast/sustainable-fisheries/west-coast-groundfish-closed-areas] and imported into ArcGIS Pro. * Each point feature was clipped to ocean waters offshore of California and merged together. * “Fathom” was added as a field to each shapefile and populated with the corresponding depth in fathoms. * Boundary lines for each shapefile (30, 40, 50, 100, and 150 fm) were created using the “Points to line” tool. 1. Line Field: “area_name”. 2. Attribute Source: Start Point. 3. Transfer Fields: FID, area_name, Fathom. 4. Attributes: * area_name: Unique name field displaying depth and location. * Fathom: Approximate depth in fathoms of contour line. * Region: Describes which of the five groundfish management zones the section of the contour line is in.
Offshore Commercial Fishing Blocks - Pre Jan 1, 2025 - R7 - CDFW [ds3148]

Large commercial fishing catch areas, often referred to as -commercial fishing (4-digit) blocks for the state of California. These blocks represent ten generalized catch areas which broadly describe latitudinal catch, from shore out to the exclusive economic zone (EEZ). These catch areas are reflected in reported landings data starting in 1983. These areas overlap with higher resolution 10' x 10' commercial fishing (3-digit) blocks [ds3093] which have been in use since 1933. For more information see: Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. 1935. Fish Bulletin No. 44. The Commercial Fish Catch of California for the Years 1930-1934, Inclusive. Number sequence of blocks range from 1042 (Northern CA) to 1032 (Southern CA). These blocks were digitized for the California Fisheries Information System, a (since retired) California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) commercial landings database. The original offshore blocks maps were georeferenced to known ocean locations and coastline. The blocks are primarily used to report fishing in offshore waters. Attributes: * Block_ID: Contains the 4-digit number used to ID the large offshore commercial fishing block.
Coastal Zone Boundary Offshore Polygon

California's Coastal Zone generally extends seaward to the state's outer limit of jurisdiction, including all offshore islands, and inland to approximately 1,000 yards from the mean high tide line (MHTL) of the sea, or in significant coastal estuarine, habitat, and recreational areas to the first major ridgeline paralleling the sea or five miles from the mean high tide line of the sea, whichever is less. In developed urban areas the zone generally extends inland less than 1,000 yards. This data set represents the landward boundary of California's Coastal Zone. Public Resources Code (PRC) Section 30103(a) specifically defines California's Coastal Zone as that land and water area of the State of California from the Oregon border to the border of the Republic of Mexico depicted on maps identified and set forth in Section 17 of that chapter of the Statutes of the 1975-76 Regular Session enacting PRC Division 20 (the Coastal Act of 1976). PRC Section 30103(b) directed the Coastal Commission to prepare and adopt more detailed 1:24,000 scale Coastal Zone Boundary (CZB) maps, which occurred March 1, 1977. These 161 adopted maps provide the official basis for all other representations of the landward CZB. The digital version of the CZB created by developing this shapefile is a conformed copy of the official boundary, and in some locations reflects legislative changes and Coastal Commission minor adjustments adopted from time to time since March 1977. Section 30103 of the Coastal Act: Coastal zone; map; purpose (a) "Coastal zone" means that land and water area of the State of California from the Oregon border to the border of the Republic of Mexico, specified on the maps identified and set forth in Section 17 of Chapter 1330 of the Statutes of 1976, extending seaward to the state's outer limit of jurisdiction, including all offshore islands, and 11 extending inland generally 1,000 yards from the mean high tide line of the sea. In significant coastal estuarine, habitat, and recreational areas it extends inland to the first major ridgeline paralleling the sea or five miles from the mean high tide line of the sea, whichever is less, and in developed urban areas the zone generally extends inland less than 1,000 yards. The coastal zone does not include the area of jurisdiction of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, established pursuant to Title 7.2 (commencing with Section 66600) of the Government Code, nor any area contiguous thereto, including any river, stream, tributary, creek, or flood control or drainage channel flowing into such area.<o:p></o:p> Note that the California's State Waters limit, which generally is 3 nautical miles [5.6 km] from shore, extends farther offshore (as much as 12 nautical miles) between Santa Cruz and Monterey, so that it encompasses all of Monterey Bay.
Aspen Characteristics - Sequoia National Forest [ds377]

The database represents point locations and associated stand assessment data collected within aspen stands in the Cannell Meadows Ranger District, Sequoia National Forest, Tulare County, California. The aspen inventory from Sequoia National Forest is the only dataset in the state aspen database that was derived from a publication (Pillsbury 1994). The CDFG digitized this dataset by scanning paper maps within the publication, and digitizing and geo-referencing polygons from the electronic maps. Two assessment tables were created from the tables within the publication-one was a summery of the plot information and the other was a summery of the stand information which was an average of the plots within each stand. The report assessed information such as: topographic features, stand vigor, downed logs per acre, percent conifer in stand, total number of trees and aspen trees per acre in stand, and percentage of hiding cover for fawns and does. The report also examined the number of trees per acre that were affected and/or growth was stunted by deer, cattle, insects, fungus, and various combinations of these. It also inspected what percentage of the stand could be classified as grasses, forbs, brush, and bare. Within, the geodatabase, there are 60 delineated stands and there are 201 plot assessments taken. Pillsbury 1994, N.H., Ritter, T., Drew, M., and C. Linquist. 1994. Wildlife Habitat Inventory of Aspen Stands on the Cannell Meadow Ranger District, Sequoia National Forest. Natural Resources Management Department, Cal Poly State Univ., San Luis Obispo, California. 551 p. Associated with this point layer is a polygon layer (SEQUOUIA_NF_POLY) containing aspen stands delineated in conjunction with the aspen assessment information. Data Compilation: The Aspen Delineation Project (ADP) is a collaborative effort of the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Region, the California Department of Fish and Games Resource Assessment Program, and the California Office of Bureau of Land Management. Principal Investigator for ADP is David Burton; visit: www.aspensite.org for more information regarding the ADP. The Department of Fish and Games, Resource Assessment Program compiled this information from the collaborating agencies and other researchers, and formatted the data into a common database for the purpose of facilitating access to data related to the conservation of Quaking Aspen in California. This information portal falls within the ADP goals to help agencies and land managers identify, map, treat, and monitor aspen habitats. This dataset is a portion of a master database compiled during a year long effort in 2005 to pull together current GIS layers and maps depicting Aspen communities in California.
Marine Protected Areas Coordinates - R7 - CDFW [ds3207]

Coordinates were extracted from Section 632 of the California Code of Regulations Title 14. For the federal marine protected areas, coordinates were extracted from the applicable Code of Federal Regulations. All geographic coordinates in the subsection with full coordinate pairs (both latitude and longitude) are plotted at the regulatory waypoint, all geographic coordinates in the subsection that have only one coordinate (latitude or longitude) are plotted somewhere on the line in the vicinity of that boundary, all subsections that do not have coordinates included are plotted at the geographic centroid of the MPA feature. Coordinates for complimentary Federal/State MPAs were combined for visualization. Attributes: * MPA_Name: Name of the Marine Protected Area. * Type: Classification of the Marine Protected Area. * Lat: Latitude of coordinate in decimal degrees. * Long: Longitude of coordinate in decimal degrees. * LatDDM: Latitude of coordinate in degree decimal minutes. * LongDDM: Longitude of coordinate in degree decimal minutes. * Notes: Additional information about the coordinate provided. Such as when a value is estimated or provided in regulations. * Regulation: Section of California Code of Regulations that define the Marine Protected Area.
Sierra Meadows Project [ds4]

Recognizing Montane Meadows and Quaking Aspen communities are a rare and valuable resource to plant and animal species in the Sierra Nevada, this project represents the beginning of a monitoring strategy for the conservation management of these ecosystems. The projects goals and objectives are to develop an accurate inventory of these systems, including high-resolution mapping and classification of community types, and surveys of selected terrestrial and aquatic animal species which depend on them. Other inventory related products include 360° photography, online survey reports and dynamic maps. In addition, refinements to electronic data collection tools and applications are provided to enhance future assessment programs.
Transect Survey - 2016 - Terrestrial Species Stressor Monitoring [ds2833]

Visual Encounter Transect Surveys of reptiles, birds, and other vertebrate wildlife taxa were conducted at study sites in the Great Valley and Mojave Desert in 2016. A total of 1,856 transect surveys (GV: 517, MD: 1339) at 321 study sites (GV: 91, MD: 230) were conducted between March and July 2016. For each survey, observers walked two 200-meter transects and recorded counts of and distances to all wildlife observed. The two transects are laid out as a cross intersecting at a right angle, with this intersection occurring at survey site center. The exact orientation of the cross and the sinuosity of transects was left to the discretion of the surveyor(s) to optimize sampling of the site-designated lifeform and to facilitate ease of travel (e.g., barriers or steep slopes). In the case of a riparian lifeform site, one transect was aligned along or near the stream course, and the second along the gradient extending to either side of the stream course. In the case of a guzzler or wetland, transects were aligned along approximately perpendicular sides. A laser rangefinder was used to accurately measure the perpendicular distance from the transect to the location of each wildlife group at the instance of its initial observation. The crew also noted all wildlife signs (tracks, scat, burrows, nests) observed; in particular, every scat group within a 1-m swath on either side of the transect wasnoted and identified by species whenever possible. All scats and tracks were removed from the swath so that return visits encountered fresh sign.Individual surveys focused on either reptiles and amphibians, or on birds and scat, but observations from all surveys were combined into this dataset. These data were used for distance sampling methods to estimate abundance.
NSNF-Landscape Blocks - CDFW [ds1004]

The northern Sierra Nevada foothills (NSNF) wildlife connectivity project modeled connectivity by identifying corridors for potential wildlife movement between habitat areas called landscape blocks. Our landscape blocks, which may be any shape, were identified in June 2013 based on protected lands including: 1) lands managed primarily for biodiversity conservation (based on USGS GAP Analysis conservation status designations GAP 1 and 2); 2) mixed use public lands (USGS GAP 3) that intersect with Large Intact Blocks identified by the California Essential Habitat Connectivity project (i.e., areas of high ecological integrity that are >10,000 acres in size); and, 3) lands under conservation easement. Landscape blocks included all land parcels 100 acres or larger that met our conservation status criteria. A one kilometer buffer was added to all land parcels to form blocks of land. We split our landscape blocks by major rivers and roads to identify barriers within blocks. For more information see the project report at [https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=85358].
NSNF - Wildlife Linkages - CDFW [ds1005]

The northern Sierra Nevada foothills (NSNF) wildlife connectivity project modeled wildlife corridors for focal species between 271 landscape blocks within the northern Sierra Nevada foothills and neighboring ecoregions. The linkages incorporate data and information for 30 focal species, including 9 passage species (species that move through the corridor) and 21 corridor dwellers (species that may take more than one generation to move through a corridor). The linkages are made up of a least-cost corridor union and additional habitat patch information for corridor dwellers. The least-cost union is a union of the least-cost corridor analysis, based on species specific habitat models, for nine focal passage species (total number of corridors identified for each species follows the species name): black bear (47), black-tailed jackrabbit (105), bobcat (81), dusky-footed woodrat (98), gray fox (85), mountain lion (66), mule deer (134), western gray squirrel (99) and western pond turtle (84). Many species corridors were overlapping despite diverse habitat needs and the use of species specific data to build the habitat suitability models. Habitat areas for corridor dwellers, based on habitat suitability modeling and patch analysis, was added to the least-cost union: We identified all habitat patches within the corridor union, measured distance between each habitat patch to make sure it was within the maximum dispersal distance for that corridor dweller, and when needed added habitat near the corridor edge to meet the species dispersal needs. Redundant corridors were deleted to provide cleaner linkage areas. This analysis identified multiple swaths of habitat that species have the potential to reside in or move through. To ensure that ecological processes were protected in each linkage, we imposed a minimum width of 1 km for linkages. For more information see the project report at [https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=85358].
Black Bear least-cost corridors for NSNF Connectivity - CDFW [ds1009]

The northern Sierra Nevada foothills wildlife connectivity project modeled wildlife corridors for 9 focal species between 238 landscape blocks within the northern Sierra Nevada foothills and neighboring ecoregions. We followed the least-cost corridor techniques described by Beier et al. (2007). This analysis identified the least-cost corridor, or the best potential route for each species, between neighboring landscape blocks. The data needed for a least-cost corridor analysis are a resistance raster and landscape blocks. The resistance raster is the inverse of the species distribution model (SDM) output (i.e., Maxent or BioView habitat models, which rank habitat suitability across the landscape from 0-100 for each species). We identified habitat patches for each focal species within each landscape block, and connected those habitat patches using the least-cost corridor models. The least-cost corridor model does not identify barriers, risk and dispersal. We removed urban areas and areas of unsuitable/non-restorable habitat from the corridors and then inspected the corridor to make sure they were continuous. We examined the amount of predicted suitable habitat in each corridor, and measured the distance between habitat patches within each corridor to make sure it was within the maximum dispersal distance for that focal species. If the corridors did not meet these rules then habitat patches on the border of the corridor were added to meet the selection requirements. For more information see the project report at - https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=85358
Bobcat least-cost corridors for NSNF Connectivity - CDFW [ds1010]

The northern Sierra Nevada foothills wildlife connectivity project modeled wildlife corridors for 9 focal species between 238 landscape blocks within the northern Sierra Nevada foothills and neighboring ecoregions. We followed the least-cost corridor techniques described by Beier et al. (2007). This analysis identified the least-cost corridor, or the best potential route for each species, between neighboring landscape blocks. The data needed for a least-cost corridor analysis are a resistance raster and landscape blocks. The resistance raster is the inverse of the species distribution model (SDM) output (i.e., Maxent or BioView habitat models, which rank habitat suitability across the landscape from 0-100 for each species). We identified habitat patches for each focal species within each landscape block, and connected those habitat patches using the least-cost corridor models. The least-cost corridor model does not identify barriers, risk and dispersal. We removed urban areas and areas of unsuitable/non-restorable habitat from the corridors and then inspected the corridor to make sure they were continuous. We examined the amount of predicted suitable habitat in each corridor, and measured the distance between habitat patches within each corridor to make sure it was within the maximum dispersal distance for that focal species. If the corridors did not meet these rules then habitat patches on the border of the corridor were added to meet the selection requirements. For more information see the project report at [https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=85358].