AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Well-Connected Core Areas - Figure 6: Landscape Core Areas

File-based downloads available at https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/67aa1820d34e329fb204348b Conservation of species’ mobility and ecological integrity is necessary for the productivity of the sagebrush biome in the western United States. Building on the recently developed Sagebrush Conservation Design (SCD) that mapped sagebrush ecological integrity (SEI)—defined as the higher cover of sagebrush and perennial grass and reduced threats due to invasive annual grass, tree encroachment, and human disturbance—we modeled the structural connectivity of sagebrush ecosystems to better incorporate the role of landscape-level processes into assessments of integrity. Because integrity can vary spatially, as well as temporally, we quantified both interannual variability and trends in variability in SEI from 2001–2021. We used the resultant map to identify areas with high structural landscape connectivity (i.e., “well-connected cores”), then determined the coincident core sagebrush areas (CSAs) that represent functioning sagebrush ecosystem with few landscape threats, and growth opportunity areas (GOAs) that represent functioning systems impacted by one or more threats as originally defined and mapped in the SCD. We found that CSAs were located in areas with higher landscape connectivity, and the biome-wide average of SEI declined by 30% from 2001 to 2021, although the structural connectivity biome-wide declined one-third less (by 20%). CSAs located in areas with high connectivity had 25% higher SEI values on average than those with low connectivity, and the trend in declining SEI values was slower. Our datasets of landscape connectivity can be combined with other SCD products to provide a broader ecosystem context—both spatially and temporally. Our results can be used to inform, refine, focus, and prioritize conservation and management efforts to those CSAs and GOAs we identified as particularly well connected and which may be more resilient to recently altered dynamics and declines—those that will serve to anchor efforts to conserve the sagebrush biome in light of changing land use and climate.
States_Progress_80

Progress of states towards NWI data goals. For states that are at least 80% modern or will be 80% modern once active projects are complete. Looked at regional data age layer (May 2025). The purpose of this data is to feed into the main map used for the NWI 50th storymap. Not editable or available for offline use. This data is maintained by Lauren Healey at the NWI team. Please contact lauren_healey@fws.gov with any questions.
States_Progress_almost_modern

Progress of states towards NWI data goals. For states where all data is newer than 2000 or they will be once active projects are complete. Looked at regional data age layer (May 2025). The purpose of this data is to feed into the main map used for the NWI 50th storymap. Not editable or available for offline use. This data is maintained by Lauren Healey at the NWI team. Please contact lauren_healey@fws.gov with any questions.
States_Progress_MakingProgress

Progress of states towards NWI data goals. For states that are "making progress" by having modernized areas or active projects. Looked at regional data age layer (May 2025). The purpose of this data is to feed into the main map used for the NWI 50th storymap. Not editable or available for offline use. This data is maintained by Lauren Healey at the NWI team. Please contact lauren_healey@fws.gov with any questions.
FWS_NWI_States_Progress_Modern

Progress of states towards NWI data goals. For states that are fully modernized (greater than 2009). Looked at regional data age layer (May 2025) for states that are fully modern. The purpose of this data is to feed into the main map used for the NWI 50th storymap. Not editable or available for offline use. This data is maintained by Lauren Healey at the NWI team. Please contact lauren_healey@fws.gov with any questions.
NWRS Banking on Nature

OMB Control No. 1018-0188 Expires 02/28/2026 NOTICES Paperwork Reduction Act Statement In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collects information through the AGOL platform to improve our online maps, web-mapping applications, and story maps, and to respond to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974. Information requested in this form is purely voluntary. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. OMB has approved this collection of information and assigned Control No. 1018-0188. Estimated Burden Statement We estimate public reporting for this collection of information to average 5 minutes per response, depending on activity, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the Service Information Collection Clearance Officer, Division of Policy, Performance, Risk Management, and Analytics, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB (JAO/3W), 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803, or via email at [Info_Coll@fws.gov].
Outline of the State of Maine

This layer represents the geographic boundary of Maine, United States, and is used to spatially anchor conservation content related to the Arctic Charr (Salvelinus alpinus aquassa), a rare and genetically distinct cold water fish species. Arctic Charr in Maine are the only endemic populations remaining in the contiguous United States. These populations are considered relics of the last glacial period and are uniquely adapted to the state’s deep, cold-water lakes. This feature layer provides spatial context within the StoryMap, helping to communicate the significance of Maine’s conservation work and its contribution to preserving a species of high ecological and historical value.
Flathead River Watershed Layers

This map service supports the https://www.flatheadlakers.org/ portions of the River Conditions Tool (https://uppermissouriheadwaters.org/UMHW_RiverConditions/index.html). Data was provided by the https://www.flatheadlakers.org/ for both the 1964 Flood and the Depth to Water table of the Flathead River. Leveraging the investment of the USFWS Region 6 Science Applications’ funded project Building Large Scale Drought Resiliency in the Missouri Headwaters Basin, the tool further supports stakeholders in drought management planning by improving access to US Geological Survey, Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, and Montana Dept. of Natural Resources Conservation Services (DNRC) river condition data. In collaboration with MT DNRC, this data drives functionality similar to the River Conditions tool on the Big Hole River Conditions web page for eight basins within the Missouri Headwaters Basin. The tool is to be embedded on websites for easy access to real-time stream conditions such as temperature and flow, and river status (e.g., restrictions, closures).
Midwest Terrestrial Habitat System 2025

In recognition of the need for landscape-scale planning to address the conservation challenges of the Midwestern United States, the Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies passed a resolution endorsing the Midwest Landscape Initiative, a collaborative that identifies shared conservation priorities and develops solutions for healthy, functioning ecosystems in the Midwest (MAFWA 2019). To address these goals the Midwest Landscape Initiative identified an opportunity to create a regional terrestrial habitat system that could provide consistent and structured description of natural and cultural habitats across the region. The regional habitat data aids partners by providing a common lexicon through which conservation planning for priority habitats can be communicated and coordinated across states and geographies. The Midwest Terrestrial Habitat System (MWTHS) represents the distribution of a hierarchical classification of natural and cultural vegetation and landcover types. The MWTHS is derived from data that was initially modeled by LANDFIRE Consortium using AI methods and remote sensing to predict ecological systems (LANDFIRE 2016). NatureServe then cross walked the natural systems to the National Vegetation Classification (NVC) while also making additional spatial improvements to the current version (0.946) of the map (NatureServe, unpublished data). The MWTHS currently uses NatureServe’s v0.946 map but, also includes the cultural habitats, originally specified by LANDFIRE. Three levels of the NVC classification are identified in the MWTHS: at the finest levels are NVC groups, then macrogroups, and finally divisions. Additionally, the MWTHS also incorporates current coordination between NatureServe and Midwestern states to cross walk NVC groups with each state’s heritage vegetation classes (note: Kansas uses NVC classifications as their state heritage system, so Kansas did not require a cross walk and is not included as a separate column in the raster attribute table). Therefore, for each mapped group in the MWTHS viewers can explore the state heritage vegetation classes that overlap and vice versa. To download this data and full metadata, [click here to navigate to ScienceBase].
NCTC_Annual_Report_WFL1

Welcome to the National Conservation Training Center’s (NCTC) annual report! The NCTC is the primary training facility for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and its partners, located on a 533-acre campus along the Potomac River in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. We design and deliver a full range of mission-critical training and employee development programs for USFWS employees and the conservation community. This report features our high points for 2024, organized under five themes inspired by our strategic plan. We believe everyone has the potential to be a conservation leader, and together, we can build a lasting legacy. This year, we advanced learning and development to meet the various needs of the conservation community by identifying critical training needs, increasing course feedback, delivering hands-on programs, and providing access to scientific information. We nurture, inspire, and equip generations of leaders through various leadership development programs. By combining classroom learning with hands-on experiences and interactions with mentors and experts, NCTC is cultivating a legacy of conservation leadership. The NCTC brings together various organizations and communities to jointly address pressing conservation challenges. By hosting learning events, convening experts, and fostering collaboration, we are working to ensure a sustainable future .
RCT_updates_v2

The portal provides access to the River Conditions Tool (RCT) and other resources for aquatic conservation and drought resiliency planning. Resources include access to all RCT geographies and supporting partners, partner priorities, how to use the RCT on devices, and RCT supporting data, updates, and history. This table provides specific data to cover the RCT's how-to topics. The RCT displays real-time stream flow and temperature data and fishing restrictions, interactive data charts, public access sites, and much more. Developed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service in collaboration with many partners, the RCT services many geographies in the West and is expanding. RCT users include watershed groups, water managers, recreationists, and irrigators.
Appalachian Corridor Boundary

This feature represents the Appalachian corridor boundary. The Appalachian Corridor Highlands and Streams is a priority landscape of the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies (NEAFWA) identified by the Northeast Landscape Wildlife Conservation Committee. The Appalachians is an ancient chain of largely forested mountains, valleys, wetlands, and rivers interspersed with communities, spanning about 2,000 miles from Alabama through the heart of the Northeast Region to Canada. The diverse terrestrial and aquatic systems support globally important hotpots of biological diversity and form headwaters to major east coast river systems. The Appalachians is one of the most important south-north corridors in North America, providing critical pathways for species migration. The diverse forests support important breeding and migratory stopover habitat for priority forest birds and the streams, wetlands and riparian areas support brook trout, rare fish, and freshwater mussels, at-risk turtles and invertebrates. An integrated, strategic, landscape conservation approach is needed to build on the existing partnerships and communities to restore, connect and manage these highly diverse habitats and species and maintain the Appalachians as a resilient and connected corridor. The boundary was generated in 2023 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by merging The Nature Conservancy's Appalachian boundary and the Appalachian Mountain Joint Venture boundary. For more information on NEAFWA and their landscape priorities visit [https://www.neafwa.org/landscape-conservation.html].
Atlantic Coast Boundary

This boundary outlines one of the priority areas, Atlantic Coast: Coastal Resiliency and Coastal Habitat Restoration, designated by the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies' Landscape Conservation Wildlife Committee with input from state and federal agency staff. The Atlantic Coast of the Northeast Region includes a diverse complex of wetlands, beaches, bays, estuaries, and rivers that support significant concentrations of resident and migratory fish and wildlife alongside human development. In addition to impacts from human modification and encroachment, the marshes, beaches, and other coastal habitats and species are increasingly being impacted by rising sea levels and more frequent and intense storms such as Hurricane Sandy. A coordinated landscape approach is needed to build on existing efforts by states and partners to accelerate planning and implementation of coastal habitat restoration resulting in increased resiliency of coastal natural systems, habitats, at risk listed and other priority species, and coastal communities in the face of these impacts. This layer was created in 2023 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service using the [EPA's Level III and IV Ecoregions by State]. Some modifications were made to the inner boundaries of the ecoregions to exclude highly developed/non-coastal areas. The final merged polygon was buffered by 100 meters.
VFWD_HistoricSites

Field survey locations identified in the West River drainage, a tributary to the Connecticut River in Vermont, to fill data gaps for salmonid community composition in the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture (EBTJV) mapping tool. Locations based on the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department's historic fish community sampling location (maintained by VFWD). This map is maintained by the FWS Lake Champlain Fish & Wildlife Conservation Office, Region 5. Please contact Julie Butler, biologist, with questions or comments at julie_butler@fws.gov or via phone at 802-233-1630. The existing EBTJV mapping tool can be found at https://assessment.ebtjv.de/.
VFWD_culvert_efishingSites

Field survey locations identified in the West River drainage, a tributary to the Connecticut River in Vermont, to fill data gaps for salmonid community composition in the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture (EBTJV) mapping tool. Locations based on the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department's road-stream crossing data (maintained by VFWD). This map is maintained by the FWS Lake Champlain Fish & Wildlife Conservation Office, Region 5. Please contact Julie Butler, biologist, with questions or comments at julie_butler@fws.gov or via phone at 802-233-1630. The existing EBTJV mapping tool can be found at https://assessment.ebtjv.de/.
GMNF_Efishing_potentialsites

Field survey locations identified in the West River drainage, a tributary to the Connecticut River in Vermont, to fill data gaps for salmonid community composition in the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture (EBTJV) mapping tool. Locations based on the U.S. Forest Service's Green Mountain National Forest road-stream crossing data (maintained by USFS). This map is maintained by the FWS Lake Champlain Fish & Wildlife Conservation Office, Region 5. Please contact Julie Butler, biologist, with questions or comments at julie_butler@fws.gov or via phone at 802-233-1630. The existing EBTJV mapping tool can be found at https://assessment.ebtjv.de/.
SE AOP Work Planning

This data is hosted by the SEAKFHP GIS Data Portal, and accessible to all SEAKFHP AGOL members. The intent of this project planning tool was to provide partners working on fish passage across Southeast Alaska with a way to identify areas of overlapping work to promote collaboration and potential cost savings. From current member input the date shown is filtered on a three year window, with past and far out projects being hidden. Editing is enabled and SEAKFHP members are encouraged to edit new points as future projects get funded or scheduled. Dynamic labels are turned on, when zoomed in to a point, it will show the lead project partner, the year of work, and the phase the project is in (engineering design, construction, or planning etc.). We hope that users can use this tool to contact each other to identify ways to save on contractor deployment, shipping, or assessment work, while providing a better comprehensive look at the region and the work that is occurring now and in the future.
SHARP regional survey 2011_2024 SALS VIEW

This layer shows regional survey points and tidal marsh sparrow detections visited between 2011 - 2024 visited by the Saltmarsh Habitat and Avian Research Program (SHARP). SHARP is a partnership with government agencies, non-profits, academic organizations, and private citizensthat collects data on the presence and abundance of tidal marsh birds at point locations in coastal marshes that are selected as 1) historical point count survey locations, 2) a Generalized Random Tessellation Stratified sampling scheme, 3) with a salt marsh restoration project location within the global breeding range for the Saltmarsh Sparrow (Ammospirza caudacuta). These point locations were visited at least twice within one survey year between 2011 - 2024; observers visiting these locations conducted a point count following SHARP suvery protocols (full methods available in Wiest et al. 2016). The maximum raw count for Saltmarsh Sparrows, for Saltmarsh Sparrows, Acadian Nelson's sparrows (Ammospiza nelsoni subvirgata), and sharp-tailed sparrows (sparrows observed and identified as being either Nelson's or saltmarsh sparrows but unidentifiable to species). These data are not corrected for detection probability and show only raw detection information.
FWS ACJV - SHARP regional survey locations, 2011-2024

This layer shows regional survey points and tidal marsh sparrow detections visited between 2011 - 2024 visited by the Saltmarsh Habitat and Avian Research Program (SHARP). SHARP is a partnership with government agencies, non-profits, academic organizations, and private citizensthat collects data on the presence and abundance of tidal marsh birds at point locations in coastal marshes that are selected as 1) historical point count survey locations, 2) a Generalized Random Tessellation Stratified sampling scheme, 3) with a salt marsh restoration project location within the global breeding range for the Saltmarsh Sparrow (Ammospirza caudacuta). These point locations were visited at least twice within one survey year between 2011 - 2024; observers visiting these locations conducted a point count following SHARP suvery protocols (full methods available in Wiest et al. 2016). The maximum raw count for Saltmarsh Sparrows, for Saltmarsh Sparrows, Acadian Nelson's sparrows (Ammospiza nelsoni subvirgata), and sharp-tailed sparrows (sparrows observed and identified as being either Nelson's or saltmarsh sparrows but unidentifiable to species). These data are not corrected for detection probability and show only raw detection information.
NJFO NRDAR Cases and Restoration view

This layer displays the work conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (Service) New Jersey Ecological Services Field Office (NJFO) authorized under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the Oil Pollution Act. The Service, along with other federal, state, and tribal partners, acts as trustees for natural resources in these natural resource damage assessment claims. Through data collected scientific assessment techniques and extrapolated through economic analyses, trustees seek to identify the natural resources injured from oil or hazardous substances, determine the extent of the injuries, recover damages from those responsible, and plan and carry out restoration activities. This layer contains information about the restoration and damage assessment activities resulting from Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration cases managed by the NJFO.
Lower Mississippi River - area subject to overbank flooding

This map shows the approximate extent of overbank flooding in the Lower Mississippi River prior to extensive construction of levees. It was digitized from this map: https://fws.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=6941d5d2a1a84d05b771ef854a192d40 The original source map is derived from an online source (https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:7h14b0450). Map of the alluvial valley of the Mississippi River from the head of St. Francis Basin to the Gulf of Mexico, showing lands subject to overflow, location of levees and trans-alluvial profiles. The map shows the landscape configuration and the approximate extent of overbank flooding before extensive construction of the levees in the early 1900s. The map was georectified using ERDAS Imagine and contemporary data sources. Edited (to correct position of panels) and georeferenced by Yvonne Allen (USFWS) to geographic NAD1927 using ArcGIS , 3rd order polynomial and 80 ground control points using lat lon grid. Online repo: https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/58f66491e4b0bd52222f7821
Lower Mississippi River - circa 1899

This webmap is derived from an online source (https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth:7h14b0450). Map of the alluvial valley of the Mississippi River from the head of St. Francis Basin to the Gulf of Mexico, showing lands subject to overflow, location of levees and trans-alluvial profiles The map shows the landscape configuration and the approximate extent of overbank flooding before extensive construction of the levees in the early 1900s. The map was georectified using ERDAS Imagine and contemporary data sources. Edited (to correct position of panels) and georeferenced by Yvonne Allen (USFWS) to geographic NAD1927 using ArcGIS , 3rd order polynomial and 80 ground control points using lat lon grid. Online repo: https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/58f66491e4b0bd52222f7821