Description of the Bay Area EcoAtlas
Visit the Bay Area EcoAtlas at the SFEI web site http://www.sfei.org
The Bay Area EcoAtlas is a computer-based Geographic Information System (GIS) of past and present local ecology of the bays, baylands, and adjacent habitats of the Bay Area. It is designed to support regional environmental planning and management.
The EcoAtlas represents the integration of many kinds of information from numerous sources, to compile a picture of the environmental past, the present, and change. It provides the most detailed regional views of past and present ecological conditions available at this time. It is also a spatial template to view possible scenarios for environmental management in the future, and a geographic index for spatially-related environmental data and their sources.
The EcoAtlas has five parts: maps, pictures, text, tables, and people. The maps are called coverages. Each coverage consists of one or more unique features, or places. All coverages and their features share a common system of geographic coordinates. This allows features to be selected to view and measure, and it allows one coverage to overlay another. Pictures include registered aerial photography and other registered or non-registered images. Textual documents that are part of the EcoAtlas include narrative documentation, analysis, and reporting. Tables are databases linked to places on the maps. They describe, for example, the habitats and their functions, species distribution and abundance, and extensive GIS metadata that document the technical aspects of the coverages. People make the EcoAtlas happen, through sharing information and using it.
The Native Landscape View (ca. 1770 - 1820) in the EcoAtlas is a composite picture based upon hundreds of independent pieces of information gleaned from more than 10,000 documents at archives throughout the region. The selected information includes eighteenth- and nineteenth-century maps, sketches, paintings, photographs, engineering reports, oral histories, explorers' journals, missionary texts, hunting magazines, and interviews with living elders. The certainty of each historical feature is ranked with regard to location, size, and shape, based upon an accompanying file of supporting information.
The Modern Landscape View (1997) in the EcoAtlas is based upon infra-red aerial photography provided by the U.S. National Atmospheric and Space Administration through the San Francisco Bay Program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The photography was taken during winter 1995 - 96. SFEI produced a series of draft versions of the Present View that were reviewed by local and regional wetlands experts from December 1996 through November 1997. More than 100 experts participated in these reviews.
The EcoAtlas continues to evolve. Planning is ongoing to assure its accuracy, maximize its availability to the public, and enable reputable sources to add local or regional information. It is envisioned that anyone will be able to use the EcoAtlas to exchange information about local and regional ecology. SFEI will endeavor to make new versions of the EcoAtlas available as quickly and easily as possible, while maintaining interagency consensus and the highest standards of science. It is hoped that the EcoAtlas will enhance the regional sense of place and purpose.
For more information on the EcoAtlas or to request maps, please contact us at:
San Francisco Estuary Institute
1325 South 46th Street
Richmond, CA 94804
(510) 231 - 9539
email: zoltan@sfei.org
Past View (circa 1770 - 1820)
Bays
Deep Bay
Shallow Bay
Deep Major Channel
Shallow Major Channel
Baylands
Tidal Flat, Bay-Associated
Tidal Flat, Channel-Associated
Young, Low/Mid-Elevation Tidal Marsh
Young, High-Elevation Tidal Marsh
Old, High-Elevation Tidal Marsh
Muted Tidal Marsh
Drainage Divide Panne
Transitional Panne
Beach
Lagoon
Low/Medium Salinity Salt Pond
Undeveloped Fill
Undeveloped Island
Managed Pond
Watersheds
Riparian Forest
Seeps and Wet Soils
Vernal Pool Soils
Willow Groves
Other
Tidal Salinity Regimes
Tidal Marsh Channels Examplesv
Present View (circa 1997 - 1998)
Bays
Deep Bay
Shallow Bay
Deep Major Channel
Shallow Major Channel
Baylands
Tidal Flat, Bay-Associated
Tidal Flat, Channel-Associated
Young, Low/Mid-Elevation Tidal Marsh
Young, High-Elevation Tidal Marsh
Old, High-Elevation Tidal Marsh
Muted Tidal Marsh
Drainage Divide Panne
Transitional Panne
Beach
Lagoon
Diked Marsh
Ruderal Marsh
Inactive Salt Pond
Grazed Bayland
Farmed Bayland
Managed Marsh
Low Salinity Salt Pond
Medium Salinity Salt Pond
High Salinity Salt Pond
Salt Crystallizer
Storage or Treatment Basin
Undeveloped Fill
Undeveloped Island
Developed Land (Fill or Island)
Watersheds
Riparian Trees
Large Areas of Seep and Wet Soils
Large Areas of Vernal Pool Soils
Willow Grove
Streams
Infrastructure
Roads and Railroads
Other
Central California Coast Shoreline
Registered Images
NASA Winter 1995/96 Infrared Aerial Photography (1:65,000)
USGS 7.5 minute Quadrangles
In Progress
Watershed Boundaries
Digital Elevation Models
High-Resolution Photographic Basemaps for Individual Watersheds
Watershed Past, Present, and Intermediate Views
