California Significant Natural Areas with Biological Criteria and GIS Data
Description
Legislatively established in 1981, this dataset identifies significant natural areas in California based on biological criteria. The data is derived from the Natural Diversity Data Base, a statewide GIS containing over 22,000 locational records for more than 1200 sensitive species and communities. Products include text reports, county maps, and Arc/Info export files.
Use Cases
Prioritizing land acquisition for nature reserves based on areas supporting extremely rare species or communities.
Supporting environmental review and mitigation banking recommendations using identified significant natural areas.
Informing bioregional conservation plans (e.g., HCPs, NCCPs) with data on areas of high species-richness.
Designating special-status areas on public lands using GIS locational data and site descriptions.
Strengths
Derived from a statewide GIS database containing over 22,000 locational records.
Covers more than 1200 sensitive natural communities and species.
Includes multiple product types such as text reports, maps, and GIS export files.
Limitations
Row count, column definitions, and specific file formats are unknown from the provided metadata.
Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.
Data may reflect geographic and source bias inherent to the contributing agencies and organizations.
Provenance
Source
California Department of Fish and Game's Natural Heritage Division, via NASA Earthdata.
Collection Method
Analyses data from the Department's Natural Diversity Data Base, which receives biological data from field biologists in various public and private organizations.
Time Range
Program legislatively established in 1981; specific temporal coverage of the data is unknown.
Freshness
Last updated date is unknown.
Geography
State of California.
Data may include locations on private land; access to detailed GIS plots may be available on a limited basis.