GL_StClair_Detroit_River 2019 ESI HABITATS Polygons

This feature class resides within the BIOLOGY Feature Data Set of the Great Lakes - St. Clair / Detroit River System - 2019 ESI Geodatabase. It contains vector polygons representing HABITATS data for the St. Clair / Detroit River System in southeastern Michigan.

The study area includes a small portion of southern Lake Huron at its outlet, the St. Clair River (which flows out of Lake Huron), Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River (which flows into Lake Erie), a small portion of western Lake Erie, and adjacent lands and waters. This data set contains sensitive biological resource data for threatened and endangered plants. Vector polygons in this data set represent threatened and endangered plant distributions.

Species-specific abundance, seasonality, status, life history, and source information are stored in associated data tables (described in Entity Attribute Overview below) designed to be used in conjunction with this spatial data layer. This data set is a portion of the ESI data for the Great Lakes - St. Clair / Detroit River System.

As a whole, the ESI data characterize the marine and coastal environments and wildlife by their sensitivity to spilled oil, and include information for three main components: shoreline habitats, sensitive biological resources, and human-use resources.

The ESI data are intended to provide baseline environmental data for oil spill planning and response. The Clean Water Act with amendments by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 requires response plans for immediate and effective protection of sensitive resources. The ESI data may be appropriate for many other coastal management efforts, though the original intent should be kept in mind.

[THIS FIELD IS FOR INTERNAL NOTES AS NEEDED. IT WILL NOT BE VIEWABLE IN THE PUBLIC METADATA RECORD.]

Prepared by Research Planning, Inc, Columbia, South Carolina for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Ocean Service, Office of Response and Restoration, Emergency Response Division, Seattle, Washington.

Data content is considered static once published. However, if issues with the Geodatabase linkages or table contents are identified, the Geodatabase and/or the associated Map Document may be updated. Assure most current data is being used by downloading from https://response.restoration.noaa.gov/esi_download and/or comparing modification dates provided at this site.

The attribute tables associated with the ESI biology data are BIOFILE, SOURCES, and BREED_DT. The geographic data layer containing biological resource information (in this case, HABITATS) is linked to the BIOFILE using the RARNUM field. There is a many-to-many relationship from the data layer to the BIOFILE, as an RARNUM may be repeated in several geographic features, and the BIOFILE may have multiple records with the same RARNUM representing a variety of species, or a single species with differing attributes.

The items in the BIOFILE are ELEMENT, SUBELEMENT, NAME, GEN_SPEC, S, F, STATE, S_DATE, F_DATE, GRANK, GRANKDATE, MAPPING_QUALIFIER, CONC, JAN, FEB, MAR, APR, MAY, JUN, JUL, AUG, SEP, OCT, NOV, DEC, BREED1, BREED2, BREED3, BREED4, BREED5, RARNUM, G_SOURCE, S_SOURCE, and BREED. The G_SOURCE and S_SOURCE fields provide links to the SOURCES table, where object level source information is available. The BREED field is the link to the BREED_DT table, where searchable breed information is provided. The links to both of these tables are also many-to-many.

During the collection of the ESI data, six relational data tables are used to store the attribute data. These are the BIORES, BREED, SEASONAL, SOURCES, SPECIES, and STATUS tables. When we create new ESI data, we populate these tables to maintain the integrity of the data collected. Once completed, all information populating these tables is collapsed into the BIOFILE to ease data queries and general usability of the final product.

Environmental Sensitivity Index Guidelines, Version 4.0 (Petersen, J., et al. 2019)

Although these data have been processed and used successfully on a computer system at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by NOAA regarding the utility of the data on any other system, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. NOAA warrants the delivery of this product in computer-readable format. If problems are encountered in downloading the ESI data or with file corruption, contact NOAA (see Distributor).

These data represent a snapshot in time and temporal changes may have occurred. The data are not intended to include all biological or human-use resources present in an area; they focus on species and resources particularly sensitive to oiling. In the event of a spill, they should be used for a first assessment only. The data providers are the experts with regard to individual resources. They should be contacted to confirm if more current data exist or if in-depth information is needed about a particular resource.

This reflects the extent of all land and water features included in the Great Lakes - St. Clair / Detroit River System 2019 ESI area of interest (AOI). The bounding box for each feature class may vary depending on occurrences identified and mapped.

Data can be accessed by downloading the zipped ArcGIS geodatabase from the Download URL (see Distribution Information). Questions can be directed to the ESI Program Manager (Point Of Contact).

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DO NOT USE MAPS FOR NAVIGATIONAL PURPOSES. Management boundaries are not to be considered legal boundaries. Edges may have been altered for cartographic processes. Note that the ESI database should not be used to the exclusion of other pertinent data or information held by state or federal agencies or other organizations. Likewise, information contained in the database cannot be used in place of consultations with environmental, natural resource, and cultural resource agencies, or in place of field surveys. Recognize that the information contained in the ESI database represents known concentration areas or occurrences of natural, cultural, and human-use resources, but does not necessarily represent the full distribution or range of each species or resource. This is particularly important to recognize when considering potential impacts to protected resources, such as endangered species, wetlands, etc. Besides the above warnings, there are no use constraints on these data. Acknowledgment of the originators, publishers, contributors, and sources listed would be appreciated in products derived from these data.

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The software packages used to develop the atlas are Environmental Systems Research Institute's ArcGIS for Desktop 10.4.1(R) and SQL SERVER(R) (version 2005). The hardware configuration is PCs with Windows Operating System 10.

A multi-stage error checking process is used to verify both attribute accuracy and logical consistency throughout data production. The process includes a standardized data entry methodology, data review by in-house and external resource experts, a final Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) process, and multiple automated logical consistency checks. Quantitative data (such as densities, counts, abundances, or concentrations) provided by resource experts for inclusion in the data set may vary widely in attribute accuracy, depending upon the methodology used to collect and compile such data. For a more detailed evaluation of source data attribute accuracy, check the sources listed in the Lineage section.

These data represent a synthesis of sources of data, e.g., expert knowledge, available hardcopy documents, survey data, maps, and digital data on Benthic distributions in the Great Lakes - St. Clair / Detroit River System. These data do not represent all Habitat occurrences in the St. Clair - Detroit River region.

The following list of species includes those for two distinct areas of the Great Lakes: the Straits of Mackinac in northern Michigan, and the St. Clair / Detroit River System in southeastern Michigan. This is because these two study areas were initially combined into a single ArcGIS geodatabase, before being separated for publication. Some species are mapped in both study areas, but there may be other species that are mapped in one study area and not the other.

The following species are included in this data set, though not all occurrences may be mapped (Species_ID, Common Name, Scientific Name [n/a if not applicable]): 59, Endangered plant, n/a; 60, Threatened plant, n/a; 1192, Federally endangered plant, n/a; 1341, Federally threatened plant, n/a; 1342, Giant arrowhead, Sagittaria montevidensis.

A multi-stage error checking process, described in the above Attribute Accuracy Report, is used to verify both attribute accuracy and logical consistency throughout data production. This process includes multiple automated logical consistency checks that test the files for missing or duplicate data, rules for proper coding, GIS topological consistencies, and SQL SERVER(R) to ArcGIS(R) consistencies. A final review is made by the GIS manager, before the complete Geodatabase and metadata are created. After the data are delivered to NOAA, they are again subjected to several consistency checks, and processed into the final delivery format.

Sources and Process Steps cited below in this metadata record include those used for two distinct areas of the Great Lakes: the Straits of Mackinac in northern Michigan, and the St. Clair / Detroit River System in southeastern Michigan. This is because these two study areas were initially combined into a single ArcGIS geodatabase, before being separated for publication. As a final procedural step to prepare the geodatabases for publication, the spatial data data corresponding to each respective area were clipped in ArcGIS according to the two distinct geographic study areas.