Great Lakes Straits of Mackinac 2019 ESI: Threatened and Endangered Plant Habitats

Vector polygons represent threatened and endangered plant distributions in the Straits of Mackinac, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron. The data set contains sensitive biological resource data for the 2019 Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) study area. It was created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and characterizes environments by their sensitivity to spilled oil.

Use Cases

• Modeling oil spill impact zones based on habitat sensitivity polygons.
• Mapping conservation areas for threatened and endangered plant species based on distribution data.
• Integrating biological resource data with shoreline and human-use layers for environmental planning.
• Analyzing species-specific abundance and seasonality in conjunction with spatial habitat layers.

Strengths

• Data is part of a standardized Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) framework for oil spill response.
• Includes associated tables with species-specific abundance, seasonality, status, and life history information.
• Spatial coverage includes the Straits of Mackinac and adjacent portions of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is specific to 2019; ecological conditions may have changed.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Likely gathered through field surveys, remote sensing, and existing biological records for the ESI assessment.

Time Range

2019 (study year)

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:21:37.168430; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Straits of Mackinac, nearby portions of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and adjacent lands and waters in northern Michigan, USA.