A System for Mapping Riparian Areas in the Western United States. 1997. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wetlands Inventory. 15 pp.  

Coordination of Wetlands Data Collection:

• National Wetlands Inventory:  A Strategy for the 21^st Century. 2001. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Branch of Habitat Assessment, Arlington, VA. 13 pp.

• National Standards and Quality Components For Wetlands, Deepwater and Related Habitat Mapping.  2004. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Branch of Habitat Assessment, Arlington, VA. 18 pp.

• Technical Procedures for Wetland and Deepwater Habitat Mapping. 2004. In Manuscript. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Branch of Habitat Assessment, Arlington, VA. 46 pp.

National Wetlands Inventory Home Page - online maps, map information, wetland information, and more!

Riparian areas are included in the wetlands data layer on selected topical maps of wetlands and deepwater habitats in the western United States. These maps, produced from the analysis of high altitude imagery, collateral data sources and field work, represent reconnaissance level information on the location, type, and size of riparian and wetland habitats. Published wetland/riparian maps, at the nominal scale of 1:24,000 for the conterminous U.S., comply with National Map Accuracy Standards. Due to the margin of error inherent in the use of imagery, detailed on-the-ground inspection of any particular site may result in revision of the wetland boundaries or classification established through image analysis.

The accuracy of image interpretation depends on the quality of the imagery, experience of the image analysts, amount and quality of the collateral data, and extent of ground truth verification conducted in the field. Metadata should be consulted to determine the date of the source imagery and any problems that may have occurred during the mapping process.

Riparian areas, wetlands, or other mapped features may have changed since the date of the imagery and/or field work. There may be occasional differences in polygon boundaries or classifications between the information depicted on the map and the actual conditions on site.

The wetland/riparian data layer produced by the National Wetlands Inventory should be used wherever the data are available. Efforts to create new wetland/riparian data, or to digitize wetland/riparian data that is not produced by the National Wetlands Inventory, must be coordinated with the appropriate Regional Wetlands Coordinators.  

Riparian Classification System - Schematic