Western States Crucial Habitat Assessment Tool (CHAT)

The SRLCC provided funds to the states in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming and Colorado to support development of the states’ Crucial Habitat Assessment Tools (CHATs) which provide a decision support system to better incorporate wildlife values, sensitive animals and plants, and important ecosystem features into land use decision-making to reduce conflicts and surprises.
Several states have released wildlife mapping tools that are the foundation for displaying crucial wildlife and corridor information. The state and regional CHATs are non-regulatory, and give project planners and the general public access to credible scientific data on a broad scale for use in project analysis, siting and planning. This includes large-scale development projects spanning multiple jurisdictions.
The information developed is made publically available online by states across the region, and any interested party can access and use the GIS-based tools that are designed to be easily interpreted.