Delaware Natural Areas Inventory with Acreage and Boundaries

A geospatial inventory of natural areas in the State of Delaware, established under the 1978 Natural Areas Preservation System. The dataset is maintained by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and was last updated on December 1, 2025. It identifies areas with unusual flora, fauna, or scientific features for preservation.

Use Cases

• Calculate total preserved acreage by summing the ACRES column for regional analysis.
• Map the boundaries of nature preserves using the the_geom column for spatial visualization.
• Identify and query specific natural areas by their Name attribute for research or management purposes.

Strengths

• Data is based on a state law (7 Del. Code, Chapter 73) enacted in 1978, providing a legal foundation.
• Includes geometric shape data (the_geom, SHAPE.AREA, SHAPE.LEN) for spatial analysis.
• Available in multiple machine-readable formats including CSV, JSON, XML, and RDF.

Limitations

• Row count and total dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control via data.delaware.gov.

Collection Method

Likely compiled through state-led identification and surveying processes as part of the Natural Areas Preservation System.

Freshness

Last updated 2025-12-01 17:40:42; freshness should be verified.

Geography

State of Delaware, USA.