HEVAE Vegetation Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems Value in NSW

A spatial layer assessing the High Ecological Value Aquatic Ecosystems (HEVAE) for vegetation groundwater-dependent ecosystems in New South Wales. The dataset, from the NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, combines scores for naturalness, diversity, distinctiveness, and vital habitat into a standardized index ranging from 0 to 1. It covers 15 catchment management areas across NSW, including Border Rivers-Gwydir, Central Tablelands, and Sydney Metro.

Use Cases

• Prioritize conservation areas based on the combined HEVAE score for vegetation groundwater-dependent ecosystems.
• Model groundwater dependency impacts on ecological value using the naturalness, diversity, distinctiveness, and vital habitat criteria.
• Assess regional ecological health by comparing standardized HEVAE scores across different catchment management areas.

Strengths

• Dataset is structured for ease of data modelling and management across 15 defined catchment management areas.
• Provides a standardized composite score (0-1) derived from four explicit ecological criteria.
• Based on the formal HEVAE framework adopted from the Australian Commonwealth Government.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Freshness should be verified; last metadata update was 2026-05-12 22:45:14.953324.

Provenance

Source

NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Collection Method

Calculated by adding final scores for naturalness, diversity, distinctiveness, and vital habitat criteria for vegetation PCT polygons with high groundwater dependency probability, then standardized.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-12 22:45:14.953324

Geography

New South Wales, Australia, subdivided into 15 catchment management areas.