Mapper Introduction

Wetlands Mapper Highlights:

• View wetlands information using a map interface
• Print a snapshot or download map data

The development of the new Wetlands Mapper stems from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (Service) need to expand and improve the availability of digital wetlands data. The Service's strategic plan for digital wetland data is focused on the development, revision, and dissemination of wetlands data and information to Service resource managers and the public. The present goal of the Service is to provide the citizens of the United States and its Trust Territories with current geospatially referenced information on the status, extent, characteristics and functions of wetlands, riparian, deepwater and related aquatic habitats in priority areas to promote the understanding and conservation of these resources.

The revision of Wetlands Mapper is in direct response to the need to integrate digital map data with other resource information to produce timely and relevant management and decision support tools.

This new version of the Wetlands Mapper is designed to promote greater awareness of wetlands map data applications and to deliver easy-to-use, maplike views of America's wetland resources in a digital format. It has been developed in collaboration with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Water Resource Division. This Federal partnership has yielded tremendous benefits in ongoing efforts to configure, improve and distribute the wetlands map information using newer technologies in computerized mapping and web-serving capabilities.

Currently, the web site is serving wetlands data that cover over 26,000 quadrangles in a seamless ArcSDE geodatabase. This represents wetland map data for approximately 42 percent of the conterminous U.S. Additional data for 13 percent of Alaska, all of Hawaii and portions of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Trust Territories will be available soon.

A Different and Improved Data Set

The improved Wetlands Mapper is intended to provide a maplike view of a wealth of wetland habitat data collected by the Service. It strives to deliver authoritative views of scientific information and provides easy-to-use tools to display, manipulate, and query data so that customers can produce their own information. This site will also provide important links to other producers of scientific or geospatial information.

To accurately represent wetland resources of the Nation, five discrete geographic areas of map data are contained in the wetlands map dataset. These include the conterminous (mainland) United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Pacific Trust Territories. Users will be able to select any one of these areas to view wetland map information using content status map. This information serves the interests and needs of a diverse audience, including:

• Providing an important reference tool
• Providing information for discovery and education
• As an aid in resource management, research and decision-making
• As an accurate and reliable source of government information

The updated Wetlands Mapper is designed to provide reliable geographical information and direct users to other potential sources of information. It is not intended to provide legal or regulatory products. Unintended use of the information or products is discouraged. Persons intending to engage in activities involving modifications within or adjacent to wetland areas should seek the advice of appropriate federal, state or local agencies concerning specified agency regulatory programs and proprietary jurisdictions that may affect such activities.