The Branch of Habitat Assessment provides headquarters-level coordination and management support for the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) Program and direction for the National Wetlands Inventory Center in St. Petersburg, Florida. Seven Regional Wetlands Coordinators provide regional-level technical expertise in wetlands, mapping, and status and trends analysis.
The goal of the program 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.
Program staff accomplish this goal through:
- Interpreting wetlands locations and characteristics from aerial photography and satellite imagery to generate consistent, reliable habitat information.
- Providing regional and national coordination, map production, trends and special habitat analyses, and quality control for map products, wetlands classification training and technical assistance.
- Building partnerships with Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies and private organizations to develop current wetlands information.
- Delivering accurate technical information to agencies, Congress, and the American public.
- Developing a 5-year wetland status and trend report in response to President George W. Bush’s pledge during Earth Day 2004, due December 2005.
The National Wetland Inventory has:
- Produced paper maps showing wetland locations and their characteristics for about 91 percent of the Conterminous United States and 33 percent of Alaska.
- Provided seamless digital wetland map information for 46 percent of the Nation over the Internet, over 30,000 maps.
- Produced three National reports and regional, State, and local reports on wetland status and trends.
- Developed state-of-the art master geodatabase and on-line viewing tools
- Updated wetlands maps so that about 3 percent of the Nation has digital maps that are 10 years old or less.
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