Maps of Coastal Habitats in
Southeastern Connecticut and Southern Rhode Island
The project study
area encompasses six southern Rhode Island municipalities and partial
coverage of one Connecticut town. The coastal habitats are presented
in 5 maps organized by municipality or groups of municipalities
at 1:24,000-scale. The maps show the location of salt marsh, eelgrass
bed, beach, rocky shore, tidal flat, pool, brackish marsh, Phragmites
marsh, salt shrub wetland, dune, coastal bank, oyster reef, and
streambed. The maps are intended for planning purposes only.
Aerial Photography and Wetland Classification
The source of mapped information is true color aerial photography
taken at 1:12,000- and 1:40,000-scales on June 15, 1999. Coastal
and freshwater wetlands were originally classified according to
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s "Classification
of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States" (Cowardin
et al., 1979) and mapped according to National Wetlands Inventory
standards. The marine and estuarine systems were combined and wetland
classifications were grouped to simplify visual presentation of
the maps. The target minimum mapping unit for eelgrass beds is 0.5
acre, 0.25 acre for isolated polygonal coastal wetlands and deepwater
habitats, and 3 to 5 acres for internal polygons. Linear mapping
units are an estimated 27.5 feet wide.
Viewing
and Printing Maps
All
maps can be viewed and printed from a .pdf file. Adobe Acrobat Reader,
click here to install
the Adobe Reader 7.0 software for PC if needed. The wizard will
guide you through the installation instructions.
Directions
on how to print the maps in .pdf format.
Select
the municipal maps from the dropdown list below to view or print
the maps from Adobe Acrobat.
