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**Please note that this dataset is not finalized and has not undergone field verification as of May, 2011. Please do not distribute this dataset without direct permission from Point No Point Treaty Council. If you have any specific questions, please contact: Cynthia Rossi, Lead Habitat Biologist, at crossi@pnptc.org or Sarah Burlingame, GIS Analyst, at sburlingame@pnptc.org.The Mason County riparian land cover dataset covers a band of approximately 300 feet along the marine and freshwater Shorelines of the State. The Shorelines of the State are defined as “the total of all ‘shorelines’ and ‘shorelines of statewide significance’ within the state.” “Shorelines” include “all of the water areas of the state, including reservoirs, and their associated shorelands, together with the lands underlying them; except (i) shorelines of statewide significance; (ii) shorelines on segments of streams upstream of a point where the mean annual flow is twenty cubic feet per second or less and the wetlands associated with such upstream segments; and (iii) shorelines on lakes less than twenty acres in size and wetlands associated with such small lakes,” (Washington Shoreline Management Act, RCW 90.58.030). “Shorelines of statewide significance” are listed and described in full in RCW 90.58.030. The land cover delineation is based on the 2009 National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) 1-meter resolution image for each county, supplemented by the 2006 NAIP 1-meter resolution images and the 2006 shoreline oblique photos from Washington Department of Ecology (DOE) through their online Coastal Atlas application.The land cover was delineated through an interactive digitization method in which the GIS Analyst traced features of underlying base data, in this case the features seen in the NAIP 2009 imagery, using the Environmental Science Research Institute’s (ESRI) suite of software, ArcGIS 9.3 and ArcGIS 10. Other imagery datasets and resources were used to get a better understanding of what was seen in the 2009 imagery. Due to the resolution of the NAIP imagery and the scope of the project, the minimum map unit was limited to approximately 50 feet by 50 feet, or 2500 square feet. |