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These feature service depicts range data for species listed under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Delineated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) and National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the associated polygons are enhanced with field attributes supporting ESA section 7 implementation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Ranges represent anywhere an individual could be found based on the best available information at the time of delineation. Critical habitat represents specific habitat areas essential to conservation and continued existence of a listed species. When multiple files are associated with a species, individual files are converted to polygons, when necessary, and merged into a single file to represent the species as a whole. Note that species with attributes in ECOS without a GIS file may be included in the attribute table but will not have an associated polygon.
For the additional information on species including habitats, life history and up-to-date spatial data for range and designated critical habitats please see USFWS and NMFS websites. For NMFS species, these files can be used to ascertain the general distribution of a species however, NMFS recommends referring to listing documents, recovery plans, and status reviews as the sources of the best available information on threatened and endangered species under their jurisdiction.
The Endangered Species Act (ESA) provides a program for the conservation of threatened and endangered species and the habitats in which they are found. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service of U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Organization (NMFS/NOAA) lead federal implementation of the ESA, though they are supported by other federal agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). Section 7 of the ESA directs all Federal agencies to conserve endangered and threatened species and to use their authorities to ensure actions do not jeopardized the further existence of threatened and endangered species or adversely modify designated critical habitats. As part of the Section 7 coordination, federal agencies work with USFWS and NMFS to identify species found within the jurisdiction of the United that could be affected by actions carried out by the agency.
Of note, the US EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) is responsible for ensuring that Agency actions under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) are in compliance with ESA. OPP determines if ESA-listed species or their designated critical habitat may be affected by pesticide products. Pesticide products that “may affect” an ESA-listed species or its designated critical habitat may be subject to additional regulation.
Species ranges represent anywhere an individual of the listed species could be found based on the best available information at the time of delineation. As defined in ESA, critical habitat delineates habitat characteristics in specific geographical areas and may be occupied or unoccupied by a threatened or endangered species at the time of listing. These areas must contain physical or biological features essential to conservation of a species and may require special management considerations or protection. Critical habitat may also include areas that are not currently occupied by the species but that may be needed for their recovery. Range areas represent more generalized habitat where species are or could be found based on the best available information. For some species, best available information is based on site specific surveys. For others, it will be historical location information based on political boundaries. These areas are, therefore, less geographically explicit than critical habitat. Consideration of both the species range and critical habitat ensures the conservation of the ecosystems upon which endangered and threatened species depend.
To support EPA’s implementation of the ESA, critical habitat and range data for species subject to section 7 of the ESA are obtained by the US EPA from the USFWS Environmental Conservation Online System (ECOS) database each week. These data are supplemented with areas provided by NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) where NOAA has species authority. For NMFS species not found in either location, a request was made directly to the NMFS scientists. Attributes and polygons are synchronized with the ECOS database weekly. These updates are incorporated into the OPP’s regulatory species files routinely following a QA review.
The range feature service includes three feature layers with the same data but two of the layers have been optimization for rendering. Endangered Species Range Area has no optimization for visualization and should be used for analysis. However, polygons with a high number of vertices in the Endangered Species Range Area layer may not draw completely or will look blocky when visualized. No edits have been made to the number of vertices so that the file matches the source data from USFWS or NMFS. However, the companion layers can be used for better data visualization, either faster rendering or more precise boundaries for polygons with a high number of vertices.
The geometry of the Generalized Endangered Species Range Area and Diced Endangered Species Range Area layers have been simplified using the generalization and dice toolsets. Given this simplification, these layers will render faster in a map. The boundaries for the Generalized Endangered Species Range Area layer have been simplified and will not align exactly with the original files. The Diced Endangered Species Range layer will have multiple polygons for a species, but boundaries will align with the original file. If a polygon from the Endangered Species Range Area does not draw completely due to the number of vertices the complete boundary can be viewed using the Diced Endangered Species Range. The complete boundary will also be available from a downloaded file, but after download the file will not continue to update. For the purposes of data visualization, you can select the layer that best meets your needs. Critical habitat represents specific habitat areas essential to conservation and continued existence of a listed species. The critical habitat feature service includes a single feature layer. Both feature services are updated each week by querying the USFWS Environmental Conservation Online System (ECOS) database and incorporating any changes made for species.
These species ranges and critical habitat will not include the modifications made to tailor layers for pesticide section 7 consultation. Using a watershed boundary to represent aquatic species is a common reason for tailoring a species for the purposes of pesticide consultation. These species ranges and critical habitats may differ from location information available from USFWS and NMFS (e.g. Area of Influence from USFWS IPAC). Points and lines are also buffered by 15 meters to add a small area before adding the feature to the polygon layer. These species ranges and critical habitats may differ from the “agency-official” location information available from FWS and NMFS, when the layer has been tailored for pesticide section 7 consultation or when USFWS/NMFS has not released the GIS data publicly (e.g. Area of Influence from USFWS IPAC). Using a watershed boundary to represent aquatic species is a common reason for tailoring a species for the purposes of pesticide consultation. For species under NMFS jurisdiction, these tailored ranges are not currently available for download. This dataset will be available to the public through NMFS’s website once metadata, use limitations, and other considerations have been completed. Public access to these data will be provided after completion of NMFS’s internal review and spatial data publication process, which includes review of metadata and use limitations. The untailored spatial data can be accessed on the NMFS site, or by visiting the NMFS National ESA Critical Habitat Mapper. Although these files can be used to ascertain the general distribution of a species, NMFS recommends referring to listing documents, recovery plans, and status reviews as the sources of the best available information on threatened and endangered species under their jurisdiction.