{ "culture": "en-US", "name": "", "guid": "", "catalogPath": "", "snippet": "This layer serves as the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) component of the Western Governors' Association Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool (WGA CHAT), which is a result of coordination among state fish and wildlife agencies throughout the Western United States. This dataset is intended to improve understanding of fish and wildlife habitat priorities throughout Oregon, and can be useful for state-specific queries. The crucial habitat dataset can be used to facilitate landscape decision-making in the early stages of land use project planning, and to aid with efforts to identify important areas for conservation using state-wide consistent analyses and data definitions.\n\nNote that this data was updated in February, 2014 to fix an issue found in the Terrestrial Species of Economic and Recreational Importance aggregation methods. As a result, this data may not match exactly with the data currently available on the WGA CHAT site (http://westgovchat.org/).", "description": "

This dataset represents an aggregated measure of crucial habitat for species of interest to the Oregn Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW). Crucial habitat describes places that are expected to contain the resources necessary for continued health of fish and wildlife populations or important ecological systems expected to provide high value for a diversity of fish and wildlife. The Western Governors' Wildlife Council (WGWC) defined crucial habitat for fish and wildlife to include several data types and input layers: Habitat for Terrestrial and/or Aquatic Species of Concern (SOC), Native and Unfragmented Habitat (which may include landscape condition, large natural areas, natural vegetetaion communities, ecological systems of concern, landscape corridors, and/or freshwater integrity), Riparian and wetland habitat, Connectivity or linkage areas (wildlife corridors), and Habitat for terrestrial and/or aquatic species of economic or recreational importance. ODFW staff compiled data encompassing all of the above categories and then ranked areas as \u201ccrucial habitat\u201d using a relative, six-level prioritization scheme, where 1 represents areas \u201cmost crucial,\u201d or those areas that most closely meet the definition of crucial habitat based on the WGWC definitions; and 6 represents \u201cleast crucial\u201d areas, or those areas that least closely meet the definition of crucial habitat based on the WGWC definitions. Crucial habitat values are in no way regulatory and do not imply specific avoidance or mitigation measures for a given area. Crucial habitat values should be interpreted as the relative probability, or risk, that a high-priority species or habitat would be encountered in a given area based on the best available scientific information.<\/SPAN><\/P><\/DIV><\/DIV><\/DIV>", "summary": "This layer serves as the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) component of the Western Governors' Association Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool (WGA CHAT), which is a result of coordination among state fish and wildlife agencies throughout the Western United States. This dataset is intended to improve understanding of fish and wildlife habitat priorities throughout Oregon, and can be useful for state-specific queries. The crucial habitat dataset can be used to facilitate landscape decision-making in the early stages of land use project planning, and to aid with efforts to identify important areas for conservation using state-wide consistent analyses and data definitions.\n\nNote that this data was updated in February, 2014 to fix an issue found in the Terrestrial Species of Economic and Recreational Importance aggregation methods. As a result, this data may not match exactly with the data currently available on the WGA CHAT site (http://westgovchat.org/).", "title": "Oregon Crucial Habitat", "tags": [ "Oregon", "biota", "wildlife", "wildlife habitat", "fish", "fish habitat", "wetlands", "riparian", "western states", "crucial habitat", "CHAT", "biodiversity", "landscape integrity", "environment", "November", "2013" ], "type": "", "typeKeywords": [], "thumbnail": "", "url": "", "minScale": 20000000, "maxScale": 50000, "spatialReference": "", "accessInformation": "Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Western Governors' Association", "licenseInfo": "

The Oregon Crucial Habitat dataset is not a substitute for site-specific consultation with land and resource management agencies, nor does it satisfy the need for on-the-ground biological surveys or assessments. Users are encouraged to consult with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) staff regarding the proper use and interpretation of these data and to receive guidance on how to obtain site-specific information as available. <\/SPAN><\/P>

The crucial habitat dataset is a landscape-scale, coarse-resolution dataset not intended to establish specific boundaries for site-specific planning, regulation, or acquisition. It is not intended to determine the exact ecological health or condition of any specific location on the ground.The crucial habitat dataset incorporates both confirmed (documented) species location and modeled species distribution data as described in more detail within the ODFW Crucial Habitat metadata spreadsheet. The absence of specific species information in a particular hexagon may be due to lack of surveys or data, and cannot be interpreted as conclusive documentation of the absence of that species occurring on the ground.<\/SPAN><\/P>

Please see the ODFW Crucial Habitat metadata spreadsheet for additional details.The dataset is based on the best available scientific information, and is expected to be updated regularly. The crucial habitat rank of a hexagon may change over time as new information is incorporated. Users should check www.dfw.state.or.us/ and/or www.westgovchat.org to ensure they have the most recent version of the data.<\/SPAN><\/P><\/DIV><\/DIV><\/DIV>" }