File Geodatabase
Tags
estuary, basemap, BAARI, CARI, SFEI, ASC, wetland, California, stream, river, creek, channel, pond, lagoon, playa, depressional, spring, seep, slope, aquatic, resources, water, riparian, lake, aquatic species, vernal pool
The California Aquatic Resources Inventory (CARI) is a Geographic Information System (GIS) dataset of wetlands, streams, and riparian areas consisting of polygon and line features that are standardized to a common wetland classification system. This statewide dataset is hosted online through http://www.EcoAtlas.org , a web-service specifically designed to provide wetland information, at variable landscape scales, to environmental scientists, managers and planners in support of the State's Wetland and Riparian Area Protection Policy (WRAPP). CARI consists of 2 feature classes: Wetlands (polygons) and Streams (lines). EcoAtlas supports the State's monitoring and assessment framework described in the State's Five Year Coordinated Work Plan for Wetlands Conservation Program Development (Rev. March 2014) and the Tenets of a State Wetland and Riparian Area Monitoring Plan (WRAMP). The WRAMP framework employs the Federal Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) recommended three level monitoring and assessment framework for wetlands of which the fist level includes characterizing the distribution and amount of wetlands in their landscape setting using a GIS. CARI is the statewide GIS dataset that supports the WRAPP. EcoAtlas aggregates statewide monitoring and assessment data to address the core management questions of where are the wetlands and how are they doing? CARI was initiated in 2009 by the California Wetland Monitoring Workgroup (CWMW) with the goal of achieving an updateable, standardized, GIS dataset of aquatic resources in California that could be used by environmental managers, planners and the public to assess the distribution and amount of wetlands at variable landscape scales. EcoAtlas employs CARI to display the location of: wetland projects (with links to detailed project information), rapid ecological condition assessments (based on the California Rapid Assessment Method [CRAM]), and to summarize the diversity and amount of wetlands within a user defined area through the Landscape Profile tool.
Background
The current version of CARI is a compilation of local, regional, and statewide aquatic resource GIS datasets into a standardized, seamless, statewide coverage of aquatic resources employing a common wetland classification system. In addition to this GIS, CARI can be viewed on www.EcoAtlas.org (CARI v2.2, released in Dec 2023),
The CARI v2.2 dataset includes and incorporates data from a number of sources:
The National Wetland Inventory (NWI, last released in 2023) of the US Fish and Wildlife Service;
The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD, last updated in Sep, 2023) of the US Geological Survey, last updated in 2022;
Four regional datasets developed by SFEI's GIS team using CARI's standardized, and more detailed, mapping protocols and used to demonstrate the WRAMP framework:
Delta Aquatic Resource Inventory ( DARI v1.1 ) - 2022
San Francisco Bay Area Aquatic Resources Inventory ( BAARI v2.1 ) - 2017
Lake Tahoe Basin ( TARIv2.1 ) - 2016
Laguna de Santa Rosa Plain (near Santa Rosa ,CA. NCARI ) - 2013, and
Six County Aquatic Resources Inventory (including Sacramento, Placer, Yolo, El Dorado, Yuba, and Sutter Counties, California) developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers (Sacramento District) through federal funding - 2010. Subsequently reviewed and filtered by SFEI to remove duplicates and out of date and lower quality data in 2023.
Individual vernal pools mapped by SFEI - 2023
Salinity classification produced by SFEI - 2023
Bar-Built Estuaries Lagoons created by the Central Coast Wetlands Group (data published in 2009, 2012, and 2016)
National Estuarine Research Reserve High Resolution Land Cover (data from 2006, 2008, 2013, and 2016)
Vernal Pool mapping by Witham, C.W., 2021
Sierra Nevada Multi-Source Meadow Polygons Compilation (v2.0)
SFEI Automated Individual Vernal Pools 2023
Wet Meadows by UC Davis
Data sources specifically related to Coastal Habitats (Eelgrass, Coastal Dunes, Beaches, and Rocky Intertidal):
Eelgrass compilation by National Marine Fisheries Service West Coast Region (data digitized from 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020)
SFEI Elevation-Modeled Beach/Rocky Intertidal Habitats classified via Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) data from NOAA - 2022. Please see the CARI Data Compilation Methods And Considerations > Wetland Data Integration/Development > Rocky Intertidal/Beaches section for more information.
Conserving California's Coastal Habitats Coastal Dune and Beach polygons from The Nature Conservancy - 2018
CalVeg polygons associated with coastal dune habitats by the U.S. Forest Service - 2018
VegCAMP dune habitat data by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife
Pt. Reyes NP, Muir Woods, and Golden Gate NRA VegCAMP - 2003
Pismo State Beach and Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area VegCAMP - 2015
San Nicolas Island VegCAMP - 2013
Santa Cruz Island VegCAMP - 2007
Santa Clara River Parkway VegCAMP - 2007
California Natural Diversity Database coastal dune polygons from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife - 2009
Additional SF Bay Beaches digitized by SFEI staff and in consultation with RB2 Waterboard staff - 2022
Humboldt Dunes published by University of California Santa Barbra
CARI is the only statewide aquatic resource dataset that has been compiled and standardized to a common classification system. However, CARI dataset varies in detail and accuracy across the state, and represents different time periods for different areas. Users are advised to get familiar with the level of detail available for their area/s of interest to understand the potentially different levels of mapping details represented across their area/s of interest. Future releases of CARI will incorporate updated data sources as they become available. In order for new datasets to be integrated into future releases of CARI, they must meet the minimum standards discussed in the CARI SOP.
The vision for CARI is that it will be used by resource agencies, city and county land-use planners, scientists, and other stakeholders as the go-to map to visualize and summarize aquatic resources in their regions for monitoring, and assessment purposes. As more stakeholders use the online wetland monitoring and assessment tools on EcoAtlas, regional interests will improve the map by editing it. EcoAtlas has an online CARI editing tool that allows users to employ the CARI mapping standards and methods to submit suggested updates by submitting direct online edits or by uploading a KML or GIS file.
More information on CARI, including definitions, details and methods can be found online at: http://www.sfei.org/CARI .
Description of Updates in CARI version 2.2
CARI v2.2 further implements the approach first utilized in v1.0 to automate incorporation of the most recent and highest quality data based on available metadata and spatial intersections into CARI for the entirety of the state, rather than just the coastal HUC watersheds updated in v1.0. Furthermore additional work was done to refine the integration of national and regional datasets and crosswalk it to the CARI classification system. Below are listed some of the specific improvements in this latest version of CARI:
Integration of the most recent NHD and NWI mapping for the entire state
Review and filtering of Six-County data to remove overlapping mapping and only include data that was more recent and accurate than other available data
Improve the classification and refinement of lake and depression polygons while integrating features from multiple datasets.
Address duplicative mapping, overlaps, and edge-effect artifacts from integration of multiple datasets
Integrated wet meadows dataset provided by UC Davis
Integrated individual vernal pools mapped by SFEI
Salinity classifications for CARI features produced by SFEI
Description of Updates in CARI version 1.0
CARI v1.0 represents a significant upgrade to how CARI is compiled. A scripted approach is now employed in order to allow incorporation of the more recent and highest quality regions of different datasets to be identified, using available metadata, and incorporated into CARI. This allows updates to CARI from datasets such as NHD and NWI to be accomplished more easily and quickly. In addition a number of additional datasets are incorporated in order to capture a number of coastal aquatic feature types such as beaches, rocky intertidal, and coastal dunes. For more information please see the CARI SOP which can be found at http://www.sfei.org/CARI. CARI v1.0 was released in September 2022.
Description of Updates in CARI version 0.3
BAARI v2.1 (2017) Streams, Wetlands and Baylands were integrated into CARI
Stream data from the Santa Clara Valley Water Districts 2004 Santa Clara Valley Creeks replaced the NHD streams in approximately the Santa Clara County portion of the Pajaro River watershed, including the Pajaro river itself and Llagas, Uvas/Carnadero and Pacheco Creek watersheds. These streams were then classified by SFEI as Natural or Unnatural.
CARI v0.3 was released in December 2017
Description of Updates in CARI version 0.2
Revised streams and wetlands from TARI v2.1 (2016) were integrated into the CARI v0.2 dataset. CARI v0.2 was released in May 2016.
CARI version 0.1
CARI v0 was released in June 2014.
Description of Attribute Fields in CARI
CARI consists of 2 feature classes: Wetlands (polygons) and Streams (lines). The feature attributes serve both to classify the wetland type and to provide information about the source of the data. For more details about attributes, mapping methodology, and the methods of compiling multiple data sources into CARI refer to the CARI SOP available at http://www.sfei.org/CARI .
WETLANDS
clickcode: an alphanumeric code based on the CARI wetland classification (as presented in Table 1, below).
clicklabel: a detailed description of a feature's wetland type. Clicklabel is the most detailed classification provided by CARI. Original classifications from component datasets (see orig_class'') are translated or "crosswalked into CARI's classification system. While CARI's component datasets may provide more detail for certain types of wetlands, CARI provides a single statewide classification for wetland types, e.g. "Depressional Perennial Natural Emergent". Major classes within the 'click label' field include: wetlands and (deep) open water. Classes and types include: depressions, playas, estuarine, lacustrine, marine, riverine, lagoon, and slope.
name: the name of a particular wetland feature. (e.g. Alpine Lake)
orig_dataset: the original source dataset for a feature that was integrated into CARI
orig_class: original classification of the wetland in the source dataset. Source datasets (e.g. NWI, BAARI) use different classification systems. The 'orig_class' field preserves that information.
organization: the agency or organization that originally mapped the wetland feature
orig_dataset_pubyear: The year that the original dataset was published
process_adjustment: Notes indicating how the original dataset was adjusted to fit CARI Standards
source_data: a description of the imagery or other primary data source, including year of collection, from which the wetland feature was identified and mapped
source_estimatedyear: Most recent estimated year of source data from source data field
orig_scale: Scale that original dataset was digitized at or image scale
legend_headings: In EcoAtlas.org, 'legend_headings' is the value that appears in the legend heading.
legcode: a 1-3 letter code signifying the major wetland class, associated with the 'leglabellevel2' field. Provides less detail than 'clickcode'.
leglabellevel1: Common terminology for a feature's wetland type. In EcoAtlas.org, Leglabellevel1 is the value that appears in the legend, when you click on a particular feature to identify it, and in analyses of wetland areas generated by EcoAtlas' Landscape Profile Tool.
leglabellevel2: Major classification (less detailed) of the wetland classification provided by the 'click label' field. E.g. "Depressional".
major_class: General category that distinguishes open water from wetland areas. Corresponds with the first letter of clickcode.
wetland_class: More specific wetland classification than major class. Corresponds with the second letter of clickcode
anthropogenic_modifier: Classification that indicates if the aquatic feature's physical structure has been significantly impacted by anthropogenic activities. e.g a depressional wetland occurring due to water backing up behind a man made berm or levee. Corresponds with the third letter of clickcode
wetland_type: Wetland type that provides additional wetland classification speciation in the context of the wetland_class. This wetland classification is consistent with CRAM module types. Corresponds with the fourth letter of clickcode
wetland_subtype: Wetland type that provides additional wetland classification speciation in the context of the wetland class and wetland types. Corresponds with the fifth letter of clickcode
tidal_modifier: Indicates tidal influence on an aquatic resource. Corresponds with the sixth letter of clickcode
vegetation_modifier: Indicates the dominant type of vegetation for an aquatic feature. Corresponds with the seventh and last letter of clickcode
salinity_modifier: Classification of salinity from six classes: Fresh (less than 0.5 ppt salinity), Oligohaline (0.5-5 ppt), Mesohaline (5-18 ppt), Saline (greater than 18 ppt), Bar-Built (Variable), Undefined.
salinity_source: Generalized description of the source data used to assign the salinity modifier.
salinity_additional_information: A description of the source data that offers a greater level of detail.
lastupdate: the date that the CARI integration script was last run to integrate that feature
CARI_id: Unique id for that CARI feature
STREAMS
clickcode: an alphanumeric code for the wetland classification (as presented in Table 1, below).
clicklabel: a detailed description of a feature's wetland type. Clicklabel is the most detailed classification provided by CARI. Original classifications from component datasets (see orig_class) are translated or "crosswalked into CARI's classification system. Clicklabel values include: "Fluvial Natural", "Fluvial Unnatural", "Tidal Natural", and "Tidal Unnatural".
name: the name of a particular wetland feature. (e.g. Pajaro River)
orig_dataset: the original source dataset for a feature that was integrated into CARI
orig_class: Original classification of the wetland in the source dataset. Source datasets (e.g. NWI, BAARI) use different classification systems. The 'orig_class' field preserves that information.
organization: the agency or organization that originally mapped the wetland feature
orig_dataset_pubyear: The year that the original dataset was published
process_adjustment: Notes indicating how the original dataset was adjusted to fit CARI Standards
source_data: a description of the imagery or other primary data source from which the wetland feature was identified and mapped
source_estimatedyear: Most recent estimated year of source data from source data field
orig_scale: Scale that original dataset was digitized at or image scale
legheader: In EcoAtlas.org, 'legheader' is the value that appears in the legend heading. "Drainage Features" is the only value for legheader.
legcode: a 1 or 2 letter code identifying whether the major stream class has tidal influence (TR) or not (R), associated with the 'leglabel' field. Provides less detail than 'clickcode'.
leglabel: Common terminology for a feature's wetland type. In EcoAtlas.org, Leglabel is the value that appears in the legend, when you click on a particular feature to identify it, and in analyses of wetland area generated by EcoAtlas' Landscape Profile tool. Leglabel values include:"Fluvial" and "Tidal".
major_class: General category that distinguishes open water from wetland areas. Corresponds with the first letter of clickcode.
CRAM_wetland_type: Wetland type that provides additional wetland classification speciation in the context of the wetland_class. This wetland classification is consistent with CRAM module types. Corresponds with the second letter of clickcode
anthropogenic_modifiers: Classification that indicates if the aquatic feature's physical structure has been significantly impacted by anthropogenic activities. e.g a channel that has been straightened through human engineering efforts. Corresponds with the third letter of clickcode
lastupdate: the date that the CARI integration script was last run to integrate that feature
CARI_id: Unique id for that CARI feature
San Francisco Estuary Institute and Aquatic Science Center 2023
This file is part of CARI.
CARI is free data: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
CARI is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
More information about GNU General Public License is available at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/. SFEI data are available without restriction upon use with the following caveats. Prudent usage, knowledge of the data quality, and professional courtesy should all be considered in obtaining and using SFEI data. As this dataset is NOT a survey document, neither use it as such nor use it beyond the limits of the source scale. Please read and fully comprehend all available metadata prior to data use. SFEI requests that the use of these data in any map, publication, or report should include citation of the data source(s) used and give proper attribution and credit to the originators of the data. Questions about SFEI data may be directed to the GIS Manager, at 510-746-7334.
Disclaimer: The State makes no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, reliability, or adequacy of these data and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in these data. No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed, or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and freedom from computer virus, is given with respect to these data.
Extent
| West | -124.509474 | East | -113.471254 |
| North | 42.176494 | South | 32.425400 |
| Maximum (zoomed in) | 1:5,000 |
| Minimum (zoomed out) | 1:150,000,000 |
This file is part of CARI.
CARI is free data: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
CARI is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
More information about GNU General Public License is available at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/. SFEI data are available without restriction upon use with the following caveats. Prudent usage, knowledge of the data quality, and professional courtesy should all be considered in obtaining and using SFEI data. As this dataset is NOT a survey document, neither use it as such nor use it beyond the limits of the source scale. Please read and fully comprehend all available metadata prior to data use. SFEI requests that the use of these data in any map, publication, or report should include citation of the data source(s) used and give proper attribution and credit to the originators of the data. Questions about SFEI data may be directed to the GIS Manager, at 510-746-7334.
Disclaimer: The State makes no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, reliability, or adequacy of these data and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in these data. No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed, or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and freedom from computer virus, is given with respect to these data.