Middle Columbia River Steelhead Critical Habitat

These GIS data contain stream reaches that were designated as "critical
habitat" for the Middle Columbia River (MCR) steelhead Evolutionarily
Significant Unit (ESU). The critical habitat is defined in the National
Marine Fisheries Service's (NOAA Fisheries) final rule to designate
critical habitat for 12 ESUs of Pacific salmon and steelhead. The fish
distribution in this data set was compiled from data gathered from the
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and the Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). Additionally, we received
comments from the public, federal agencies, and state and tribal salmon
co-managers during the rule making process. A detailed description of
this process can be found in the following document: Final Assessment of
NOAA Fisheries' Critical Habitat Analytical Review Teams For 12
Evolutionarily Significant Units of Pacific Salmon and Steelhead, NOAA
Fisheries Protected Resources Division, 2005.
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On the Washington side of the ESU we started with 1:24,000 scale fish
distribution data from WDFW. On the Oregon side of the ESU we started
with 1:100,000 scale enhanced fish distribution data from ODFW. The
ODFW mapped fish distribution on 1:24,000 scale USGS topographic maps
and transferred the data to a 1:100,000 scale hydrography layer.
However, some of the streams found on a 1:24,000 scale map are not found
in the 1:100,000 scale hydrography. These non-matching streams are
recorded as points representing the upper extent of fish distribution.
We created new stream lines for these 1:24,000 scale points.
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We have excluded portions of the range of the ESU from the final
designation of critical habitat. Exclusions are based on economic and
other relevant impacts considered during our analysis, as described in
our 4(b)(2) Report. We also excluded Indian lands. However, due to
legal concerns about the disclosure of the location of Indian lands, as
well as questions about the accuracy of the data, we do not identify the
location of these exclusions within this data set. For exact legal
descriptions of critical habitat please consult the Federal Register
notice.