St. Marys River 2021 ESI: Oil Spill Sensitivity Habitats for Threatened Plants

2021 Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) data for the St. Marys River, connecting Lake Superior to Lake Huron. The dataset contains vector polygons representing habitats and includes associated tables with species-specific abundance, seasonality, and status for threatened and endangered plants. It was created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to characterize environmental sensitivity to oil spills.

Use Cases

• Modeling oil spill impact zones based on habitat sensitivity polygons.
• Mapping critical habitats for threatened and endangered plant species.
• Assessing seasonal biological resource vulnerability using associated attribute tables.
• Integrating shoreline habitat data with biological and human-use resources for comprehensive environmental planning.

Strengths

• Data is part of a standardized Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) framework for oil spill response.
• Includes associated tables with species-specific attributes like abundance, seasonality, and conservation status.
• Spatially covers a defined study area from near Monocle Lake to the headwaters of Lake Huron.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Primary file format is PDF, which may complicate direct geospatial analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Likely gathered through field surveys, remote sensing, and existing biological inventories for ESI mapping.

Time Range

2021

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:31:40.992367; freshness should be verified.

Geography

St. Marys River, from east of Monocle Lake and south of Iroquois Island to the headwaters of Lake Huron (Great Lakes region, Michigan/North America).