Digital Mapping Pilot Project

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has completed its Final Report to Congress: John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System Digital Mapping Pilot Project (pilot project) in accordance with Section 3 of the 2006 Coastal Barrier Resources Reauthorization Act (Pub. L. 109-226). Appendix C of the report includes the final recommended maps for 65 units of the John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System (CBRS) that were prepared through the pilot project, have undergone public review, and have been submitted to Congress for its consideration and adoption. The pilot project units are located in Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

In 2008, the Service completed its initial Report to Congress: John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System Digital Mapping Pilot Project, per a directive in Section 6 of the 2000 Coastal Barrier Resources Reauthorization Act (Pub. L. 106-514). The 2008 pilot project report: (1) contained draft maps that proposed modifications to 70 units of the CBRS and (2) described the methodology and results of the pilot project and the feasibility, data standards and needs, and costs of completing digital maps for the remainder of the CBRS. The draft pilot project maps underwent public review in 2009, were revised in 2016 to incorporate any appropriate changes based on updated aerial imagery, public input, Coastal Barrier Resources Act criteria, and objective mapping protocols, and are included in the 2016 report as the Service's final recommended maps for Congressional consideration. Since the publication of the initial pilot project report, six units have been removed from the pilot project and one unit has been added, resulting in a total of 65 pilot project units.*

The final report to Congress contains: a summary of the benefits of CBRS map modernization and successes to date; a summary of the public review process; a summary of the comments received from government officials and the public regarding the draft pilot project maps and the Service's responses to those comments; updates to significant CBRS mapping protocols; a summary of the pilot project results and recommended changes to each of the pilot project units (including acreage, shoreline, and structure changes); a set of guiding principles and criteria for assessing modifications to the CBRS; and the next steps and costs to comprehensively modernize the remainder of the CBRS.

The pilot project maps will take effect only if adopted by Congress through legislation. The adoption of the pilot project maps will help to preserve the long-term integrity of the CBRS by correcting mapping errors and adding eligible areas to the CBRS.

2016 Final Pilot Project Report and Related Information

Full Report
2016 Final Pilot Project Report to Congress

Individual Sections
Title Page, Acknowledgements, Authority and Purpose, Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Ch 1: Overview of the Coastal Barrier Resources System
Ch 2: Benefits of Map Modernization and Successes to Date
Ch 3: Pilot Project Public Review Process
Ch 4: Summary of Public Comments and Service Responses, Changes to Maps, and Updates to Mapping Protocols
Ch 5: Summary and Update of Pilot Project Results
Ch 6: Guiding Principles and Criteria for Coastal Barrier Resources System Modifications
Ch 7: Next Steps and Conclusions
Literature Cited
Appendix A: Glossary
Appendix B: Summary of Historical Changes to the Coastal Barrier Resources System
Appendix C: Pilot Project Unit Summaries and Final Recommended Maps
Appendix D: Pilot Project Acreage, Structure and Shoreline Changes
Appendix E: Responses to Unit-Specific Public Comments

• Final Recommended Maps and Digital Boundaries (full scale PDFs of the maps are coming soon, see Appendix C above for reduced versions)
• Press Release [11/29/2016]
• Fact Sheet [11/2016]

Archive of Documents Related to the 2008 Pilot Project Report

• Fact Sheet
• 2008 Draft Report to Congress [8MB]
• Proposed Maps and Digital Boundaries (NOTE: these maps have been replaced with the final recommended maps, see above)
• News Release (April 7, 2009)
• News Release (June 29, 2009)
• Notice of Availability of Report and Draft Maps [1.5MB]
• Notice of Extension and Public Meetings
• Virtual Public Meeting Presentation [2.5MB]

*Units FL-64P, L07, L08, and L09 were removed from the pilot project because comprehensively revised maps for these areas have been adopted by Congress. The Service's proposed map for Unit FL-64P was made effective via Pub. L. 110-419 on October 15, 2008. The Service's final recommended maps for Units L07, L08, and L09 were made effective via Pub L. 113-253 on December 18, 2014. Units FL-19 and FL-78P have been removed from the pilot project because the areas within these two units have been incorporated into existing adjacent CBRS units (Units FL-19P and FL-78, respectively). Unit NC-01P has been added to the pilot project as a new OPA because it contains areas that are currently within a System Unit (Unit NC-01) but are appropriate for reclassification to an OPA.