FWS HQ ES BEACH Act Change Polygons

<p><span><span style='color:black; background:white;'>The
Bolstering Ecosystems Against Coastal Harm Act (BEACH Act, </span></span><a href='https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/5490' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'>Pub. L.118-117</a><span><span style='color:black; background:white;'>) was enacted on November 25, 2024. This law
amended the </span></span><a href='https://www.fws.gov/program/coastal-barrier-resources-act' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'><span><span style='color:#0563C1; background:white;'>Coastal Barrier Resources Act</span></span></a><span><span style='color:black; background:white;'> (CBRA) and </span></span><span><span style='color:black;'>adopted 195 new or revised maps for 454 units of the
CBRS in 13 states. The revised maps were produced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service (FWS) through<span style='background:white;'> the Hurricane Sandy
Remapping Project and other efforts and are available through the </span></span></span><a href='https://www.fws.gov/program/coastal-barrier-resources-act/maps-and-data' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'><span><span style='color:#0563C1; background:white;'>CBRS
Mapper</span></span></a><span><span style='color:black; background:white;'>.</span></span></p>

<p><span><span style='color:black; background:white;'>The
revised maps remove about 1,400 acres from the CBRS, correcting mapping errors
affecting about 955 structures. The revised maps also expand the CBRS by about
294,000 acres and add 275 structures to the CBRS. </span></span><span><span style='color:black; background:white;'>The revised
maps reclassify certain areas from System Units to Otherwise Protected Areas
and vice versa. </span></span><a href='https://www.fws.gov/program/coastal-barrier-resources-act/faqs#system-units-vs-opa' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'><span><span style='color:#0563C1; background:white;'>Learn more</span></span></a><span><span style='color:black; background:white;'> about the differences between these two
types of units. </span></span><span><span style='color:black; background:white;'>This </span></span><span style='color:black; background:white;'>web map is a component of the </span><a href='https://fws.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=4c289a3d2a5b407a89e6d6b5f8b4cb89' rel='nofollow ugc'><span style='background:white;'>FWS BEACH Act viewer</span></a><span style='color:black; background:white;'>, which<span> allows users to see where
these changes were made. </span></span><span style='color:black;'>The
change polygons in this layer are a visualization tool only and may include some
errors, such as:</span></p>

<p style='margin-left:.75in; text-indent:-.25in;'><span><span style='color:black; background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-attachment:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial;'>Offshore areas depicted as either
“additions” or “removals” where we altered the length of the boundaries where
they extend into bodies of water. These are not actual changes, as the offshore
extent of the units is not defined by the polygons, but by either the 30- or
20-foot bathymetric contour (depending on the area).</span></span></p>

<p style='margin-left:.75in; text-indent:-.25in;'><span><span style='color:black; background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-attachment:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial;'>Minor topological differences that
occur in the nationwide dataset that did not exist in the locally projected
data (these errors are imperceptible except through geoprocessing).</span></span></p><p><span style='color:black; background:white;'><span>For more information, including summaries of the
changes made to each unit, visit our </span></span><a href='https://www.fws.gov/node/267335' rel='nofollow ugc'><span><span style='color:#0563C1;'>webpage on the BEACH Act</span></span></a><span><span style='color:black; background:white;'>.</span></span></p>

<p><span><span style='color:black; background:white;'>Users
seeking documentation </span></span><span><span style='color:black; background:white;'>regarding whether a particular property
is within or outside of the CBRS should use the </span></span><a href='https://www.fws.gov/service/coastal-barrier-resources-system-property-documentation' target='_blank' rel='nofollow ugc noopener noreferrer'><span><span style='color:#0563C1; background:white;'>CBRS Validation Tool</span></span></a><span><span style='color:black; background:white;'> rather than
this web map. Questions? Contact </span></span><a href='mailto:[e-mail]' rel='nofollow ugc'><span style='background:white;'>[e-mail]</span></a><span><span style='color:black; background:white;'>.</span></span></p>