National Wildlife Refuge Boundaries - USFWS_CSDC_NWR

This data is provided by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service,
Cartography and Spatial Data Services Division.

Their mission is to provide cartographic and GIS support for the
Region 5 Refuges and Wildlife Division.

Our customers include land acquisition planners, appraisers,
surveyors, and realty management specialists in Region 5's Office of
Realty. We serve Regional and Refuge biologists, North American
Waterfowl Management Plan biologists, the Regional Fire Management
Officer, and the Regional Archaeologist in Region 5's Refuges and
Wildlife Division. We share data and expertise with colleagues in
federal, state, local agencies as well as individuals in academia,
private firms, and the public.

We maintain and distribute boundary files and maps as well as land
ownership information for all National Wildlife Refuges in Region
5. We generate products, including maps, graphics, statistics, and
geographic analyses from digital geospatial data. We also provide
technical support in the areas of cartography, GIS, and GPS for our
data users in the Regional Office and on the refuges.

We maintain expertise in processing U.S. Geological Survey, National
Wetlands Inventory, and national refuge boundary datasets. We use
Arc/Info, ArcView, and AutoCadMap software on UNIX and WindowsNT
computer platforms. We use large format color plotters, digitizing
tables, scanners, and CD writers. We maintain an ftp server and a web
server.

National Wildlife Refuge Boundary Digitizing Project:

This project involves digitizing all the refuge
boundaries for Region 5 and registering them to the USGS 1:24,000 topo
quads. Currently we are finishing up phase 1, the external boundaries
of owned and approved areas. In phase 2 the internal parcel lines will
be added, individual tracts coded and additional data such as the
roads and hydrology provided. More detailed info is available on the
refuge boundary page above.

The refuge status and boundary maps are used by the Fish and Wildlife
Service to show property that the agency owns and areas in which the
agency is authorized to buy. These must be constantly updated to
reflect recent purchases and changes in the status of property.

[Summary provided by U.S Fish & Wildlife Service]