St. Marys River Herpetofauna Sensitivity Data for Oil Spill Response

The St. Marys River, from southern Lake Superior to the headwaters of Lake Huron, is the geographic scope of this dataset. Vector polygons represent sensitive biological resource data for vulnerable herpetofauna, characterizing their sensitivity to spilled oil. The data is part of the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) for the Great Lakes St. Marys River System, produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Use Cases

• Modeling oil spill impact zones based on herpetofauna species distribution and sensitivity.
• Planning coastal zone management and conservation efforts based on species-specific abundance and seasonality data.
• Assessing environmental risk for infrastructure projects based on the location of sensitive biological resources.

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 life history.
• Spatial coverage is clearly defined from southern Lake Superior 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.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specific St. Marys River study area.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Likely gathered through field surveys and biological resource mapping for the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI).

Time Range

Data reflects the 2021 ESI assessment for the Great Lakes St. Marys River System.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:24:17.827823; freshness should be verified.

Geography

St. Marys River at the southern portion of Lake Superior, beginning east of Monocle Lake and south of Iroquois Island, ending at the headwaters of Lake Huron.