West Virginia Aquatic Habitat Classification

File Geodatabase Feature Class

image

Tags

State Wildlife Action Plan, Conservation, Aquatic Habitat


Summary

This data set represents aquatic habitats used for the 2015 revision of West Virginia’s State Wildlife Action Plan (West Virginia Division of Natural Resources 2015).


Description

The foundation for this classification was NHDPlus (enhanced National Hydrography Dataset) as attributed by Olivero and Anderson (2008) for the Northeast Aquatic Habitat Classification (NEAHC). WVDNR Staff extracted all streams within WV boundaries and exported these to a new layer. New fields were created to collapse attributes by combining classes to a more simplified model that fit WV’s locality more appropriately than the regional models.


Classes Used:


Stream Size (n=4) Headwaters and Creeks; Small Rivers; Medium Rivers; Large Rivers


Stream Segment Slope (Gradient) (n=3) Low; Moderate; High Temperature (n=3) Cold; Cool; Warm

Staff abandoned “Geology” as a classification for water quality, consolidating all classes into a single uniform water quality class. The NEAHC class was used as a surrogate for water quality and it lacked utility for describing the water quality features at the scales necessary for the State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP). Water quality in WV is more of a local condition than one that can be modeled at the landscape scale. Poor correlation was noted between the modeled condition and known local conditions at the stream reach scale.


Staff combined the new classification used for the SWAP into the field “D_CL_4_3_2”. A Definition Query was then applied to select the desired category from the field and symbolized to a line width adjusted to an appropriate scale for visual acuity in the digital and print maps.


The eighteen classes of aquatic stream habitats are generally congruent to the NEAHC classes, defined in their text based on 4 size classes, 3 slope/gradient classes, and 3 temperature classes, with geology removed. Two notable exceptions are the Medium Gradient categories within the Medium Rivers and Large Rivers. These two classes are only observed in WV among the states included in the NEAHC. The reaches described by these categories are hydrologically and ecologically significant in WV and needed to be addressed accordingly in the WV SWAP.


Literature Cited:

Olivero, A. P., and M. G. Anderson. 2008. Northeast Aquatic Habitat Classification System. The Nature

Conservancy, Boston, MA.


Credits

West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, Elkins Operations Center, PO Box 67, Elkins, WV 26241, Ph: (304) 637-0245.


Use limitations

Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the accuracy or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. Please check sources, scale, accuracy, currentness and other available information. Please confirm that you are using the most recent copy of both data and metadata. Acknowledgement of the WVDNR would be appreciated.


ArcGIS Metadata


Topics and Keywords


THEMES OR CATEGORIES OF THE RESOURCE biota, environment


PLACE KEYWORDS West Virginia


PLACE KEYWORDS Northeast United States


PLACE KEYWORDS United States THEME KEYWORDS Aquatic THEME KEYWORDS Planning

THEME KEYWORDS State Wildlife Action Plan


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Citation


TITLE West Virginia Aquatic Habitat Classification

CREATION DATE 2015-10-30 00:00:00

PUBLICATION DATE 2015-10-30 00:00:00


PRESENTATION FORMATS digital map


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Citation Contacts


RESPONSIBLE PARTY

ORGANIZATION'S NAME West Virginia Division of Natural Resources


CONTACT INFORMATION

PHONE

VOICE (304) 637-0245

FAX (304) 637-0250


ADDRESS TYPE

DELIVERY POINT Elkins Operation Center, PO Box 67

CITY Elkins ADMINISTRATIVE AREA WV POSTAL CODE 26241


HOURS OF SERVICE M-F, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM

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Resource Details


DATASET LANGUAGES English (UNITED STATES)

DATASET CHARACTER SET utf8 - 8 bit UCS Transfer Format


SPATIAL REPRESENTATION TYPE vector


PROCESSING ENVIRONMENT Microsoft Windows 7 Version 6.1 (Build 7601) Service Pack 1; ESRI ArcGIS 10.0.5.4400


CREDITS

West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, Elkins Operations Center, PO Box 67, Elkins, WV 26241, Ph: (304) 637-0245.

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Extents


EXTENT

VERTICAL EXTENT

MINIMUM VALUE 0.000000

MAXIMUM VALUE 0.000000


EXTENT

GEOGRAPHIC EXTENT

BOUNDING RECTANGLE

EXTENT TYPE Extent used for searching

WEST LONGITUDE -82.702883

EAST LONGITUDE -77.661531

NORTH LATITUDE 40.637332

SOUTH LATITUDE 37.161853

EXTENT CONTAINS THE RESOURCE Yes


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Resource Maintenance


RESOURCE MAINTENANCE

UPDATE FREQUENCY as needed


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Resource Constraints


CONSTRAINTS LIMITATIONS OF USE

Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the

West Virginia Division of Natural Resources, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the accuracy or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. Please check sources, scale, accuracy, currentness and other available information. Please confirm that you are using the most recent copy of both data and metadata. Acknowledgement of the WVDNR would be appreciated.

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Spatial Reference


REFERENCE SYSTEM IDENTIFIER VALUE 26917 CODESPACE EPSG VERSION 7.4.1


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Spatial Data Properties


VECTOR

LEVEL OF TOPOLOGY FOR THIS DATASET geometry only


GEOMETRIC OBJECTS

OBJECT TYPE composite

OBJECT COUNT 30720


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Distribution


DISTRIBUTION FORMAT

NAME File Geodatabase Feature Class


TRANSFER OPTIONS

TRANSFER SIZE 0.000


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Fields


DETAILS FOR OBJECT AquaticStreamClassificationWVSWAP2015

FIELD OBJECTID

FIELD DESCRIPTION

Internal feature number.

DESCRIPTION SOURCE

ESRI

DESCRIPTION OF VALUES Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.


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FIELD Shape

FIELD DESCRIPTION

Feature geometry.


DESCRIPTION SOURCE

ESRI

DESCRIPTION OF VALUES Coordinates defining the features.


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FIELD COMID

FIELD DESCRIPTION

common identifier of a NHD feature or relationship; from NHD+ (example record = 8420522)

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FIELD FDATE

FIELD DESCRIPTION

feature currency date; from NHD+ (example record = 8/1/2004)

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FIELD RESOLUTION

FIELD DESCRIPTION

always "Medium"; from NHD+

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FIELD GNIS_ID

FIELD DESCRIPTION

Geographic Names Information Systems ID for the value in GNIS_Name; from NHD+

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FIELD GNIS_NAME

FIELD DESCRIPTION

Name as found in the Geographic Names Information System

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FIELD REACHCODE

FIELD DESCRIPTION

Reach Code assigned to feature or reach on which an event is located; from NHD+ (example record = 02070001000796)

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FIELD FLOWDIR

FIELD DESCRIPTION

Flow direction is "With Digitized" or "Unitialized"

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FIELD WBAREACOMI

FIELD DESCRIPTION

ComID of an NHD polygonal water feature through which an NHD "Artificial Path" flowline flows; from NHD+ (example record = -9999)

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FIELD FTYPE

FIELD DESCRIPTION

NHD feature type; from NHD+ (example record = StreamRiver)

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FIELD FCODE

FIELD DESCRIPTION

numeric code that contains the feature type and its attributes as found in the NHDF code lookup table; from NHD+ (example record = 46003)

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FIELD NESZCL

FIELD DESCRIPTION

Northeast Stream Size Class: 1a: Headwaters 0<3.861 sq.mi., 1b: Creeks

>=3.861<38.61 sq.mi., 2: Small Rivers >= 38.61<200 sq.mi., 3a: Medium Tributary Rivers >=200<1000 sq.mi., 3b: Medium Mainstem Rivers >=1000<3861 sq.mi., 4: Large Rivers >=3861<9653 sq.mi., 5: Great Rivers >=9653 sq.mi. (example record = 1a)

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FIELD D_NESZCL

FIELD DESCRIPTION

description of the northeast size class (example record = Headwaters:0<3.861 sq.mi.)

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FIELD NETEMPCL

FIELD DESCRIPTION

Northeast Temperature Class: 33:Cold, 31:Cool-warm, 13:Warm-cool, 11:Warm; from complex rules based on CART analysis (example record = 33)

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FIELD D_NETEMPCL

FIELD DESCRIPTION

description of the northeast temperature class; from complex rules based on CART analysis (example record = Cold)

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FIELD NESLPCL

FIELD DESCRIPTION

Northeast Class for Slope or Gradient along length of comid: 1: <0.02%, 2:>= 0.02 < 0.1%, 3:>= 0.1 < 0.5%, 4:>=0.5 < 2%, 5:>=2 < 5%, 6:>5% (example record = 6)

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FIELD D_NESLPCL

FIELD DESCRIPTION

description of northeast stream reach slope class (example record = >5%)

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FIELD NENORTCL

FIELD DESCRIPTION

Northeast Class for Local Norton Geology of comid: 1: 100<200 Low Buffered, Acidic; 2: >= 200 <300 Moderately Buffered, Neutral; 3:>= 300 Highly Buffered, Calc- Neutral (example record = 2)

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FIELD D_NENORTCL

FIELD DESCRIPTION

description of northeast norton geology class (example record = Moderately Buffered)

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FIELD FULL_CL4

FIELD DESCRIPTION

(399 unique combinations) Concatenation of NESZCL, NETEMPCL, NESLPCL, NENORTCL (example record = 1a_33_6_2)

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FIELD MOD_CL4

FIELD DESCRIPTION

(124 unique combinations) Concatenation of SIMP_SZ, NETEMPCL, SIMP_SLP, SIMP_NORT (example record = 1_33_4_2)

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FIELD MOD_CL3

FIELD DESCRIPTION

(60 unique types) Concatenation of SIMP_SZ, NETEMPCL, SIMP_SLP (example record

= 1_33_4)

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FIELD SIMP_CL4

FIELD DESCRIPTION

(96 unique combinations) Concatenation of SIMP_SZ, SIMP_TEMP, SIMP_SLP, SIMP_NORT (example record = 1_3_4_2)

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FIELD SIMP_CL3

FIELD DESCRIPTION

(48 unique combinations) Concatenation of the SIMP_SZ, SIMP_TEMP, SIMP_SLP (example record = 1_3_4)

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FIELD SIMP_SZ

FIELD DESCRIPTION

simplified 4 size classes: For size, recombine the northeast size classes as follows 1= 1a + 1b, 2, 3 = 3a + 3b, 4 = 4 + 5 (example record = 1)

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FIELD D_SIMPSZ

FIELD DESCRIPTION

description of simplified size classes (example record = Headwaters/Creeks)

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FIELD SIMP_TEMP

FIELD DESCRIPTION

simplified 3 temperature classes: combine Warm-Cool and Cool-Warm categories into a single "Transitional category, keep Cold and Warm categories as they were in NETEMPCL (example record = 3)

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FIELD D_SIMPTEMP

FIELD DESCRIPTION

description of the simplified temperature classes (example record = Cold)

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FIELD SIMP_SLP

FIELD DESCRIPTION

simplified slope/stream gradient classes: Different Rules for Low/Mod/High/Very High Gradient based on size class of stream. For size class 1 streams: lump northeast gradient class 1+2 into modified simple gradient class 1: low gradient, make northeast gradient class 3 into modified simple class 2: Moderate Gradient, make northeast size class 4 into modified simple class 3: High Gradient, combine northeast gradient class 5+6 into modified simple class 4: Very High Gradient. For size class 2+ rivers: leave northeast gradient class 1 as simple class: Low Gradient, leave northeast gradient class 2 as simple class Moderate Gradient, leave northesat gradient class 3 as simple class: High gradiet, and lump northeast gradient classes 4+5+6 into a new modified simple class 4: Very High Gradient. (example record = 4)

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FIELD D_SIMPSLP

FIELD DESCRIPTION

description of simplified slope/stream gradient class (example = Very High Gradient)

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FIELD SIMP_NORT

FIELD DESCRIPTION

simplified norton geology class: only record the geology for size class 1 and 2 rivers (no local geology influence on larger river sizes; example value = 2)

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FIELD D_SIMPNORT

FIELD DESCRIPTION

description of simplified norton geology class (example record = Moderately Buffered)

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FIELD COMID_1

FIELD DESCRIPTION

legacy field from joining tables (can be removed)

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FIELD GNIS_NAM_1

FIELD DESCRIPTION

legacy field from joining tables (can be removed)

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FIELD D_CL_4_3_2

FIELD DESCRIPTION

West Virginia SWAP 2015 simplified classification - 4 size classes: headwaters and creeks, small rivers, medium rivers, and large rivers; 3 slope/gradient classes: low, moderate, high; ALL streams classed as NEUTral water quality; 3 temperature classes: cold, cool, warm. (example record = 1.HW_CR | 3.HI | NEUT | 1.COLD)

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FIELD SUBWATERSH

FIELD DESCRIPTION

USGS/EPA HUC8 (4th level Hydralic Unit Code) or Subwatershed (example record = 02070001 South Branch Potomac)

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FIELD EcoR_ID

FIELD DESCRIPTION

Ecoregion ID interpreted from Bailey's Ecoregions of the World 1989 (example record

= AM)

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FIELD Shape_Length

FIELD DESCRIPTION

Length of feature in internal units.


DESCRIPTION SOURCE

ESRI

DESCRIPTION OF VALUES Positive real numbers that are automatically generated.


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FIELD KM_calc

FIELD DESCRIPTION

Length of line segment in kilometers calculated in UTM NAD 83 zone 17N projection (field must be recalculated when changes are made to the data)

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Metadata Details


METADATA LANGUAGE English (UNITED STATES)

METADATA CHARACTER SET utf8 - 8 bit UCS Transfer Format


SCOPE OF THE DATA DESCRIBED BY THE METADATA dataset

SCOPE NAME dataset


LAST UPDATE 2016-12-05


ARCGIS METADATA PROPERTIES

METADATA FORMAT ArcGIS 1.0

STANDARD OR PROFILE USED TO EDIT METADATA FGDC


LAST MODIFIED IN ARCGIS FOR THE ITEM 2016-12-07 10:41:32



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MAINTENANCE

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THUMBNAIL

THUMBNAIL TYPE JPG

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FGDC Metadata (read-only)