California River Basins Environmental Data and GIS Layers

California's 149 river basins are covered by a geospatial data management system aggregating over 60 data layers per basin, including vegetation, land ownership, dams, and water quality. The system, developed by SCIOPS, was designed to provide a unified resource for river conservation decisions. Initial development integrated data for 13 demonstration basins, with plans to cover all basins by June 1998.

Use Cases

• Analyze relationships between land ownership layers and water quality parameters across river basins.
• Map the distribution of rare and endangered species relative to National Wetlands Inventory designations and dams.
• Assess native fish habitat by overlaying vegetation, soils, and farmlands inventory data layers.
• Create custom regional maps for planning by querying integrated data sets like vegetation and hydrologic unit codes.

Strengths

• Aggregates 60 or more distinct data sets for each of 120 river basins.
• Provides a common geographic reference framework using the Reach File system and Hydrologic Unit Codes for statewide consistency.

Limitations

• Data currency is unknown; the description references a target completion date of June 1998, indicating potentially outdated information.
• The specific row counts, sample sizes, and completeness metrics for individual data layers are not provided.

Provenance

Source

SCIOPS, via NASA Earthdata.

Collection Method

Acquisition and integration of computer-based river resource information from multiple sources into an Aggregated Information Model (AIM).

Time Range

Development timeframe referenced is the 1990s, with a target of June 1998 for full basin coverage.

Geography

State of California, USA, covering 149 river basins.