U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
20241125
CBRS_Prohibitions
vector digital data
Falls Church, VA
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
https://www.fws.gov/media/digital-coastal-barrier-resources-system-boundaries
https://www.fws.gov/program/coastal-barrier-resources-act/maps-and-data
This Coastal Barrier Resources System (CBRS) prohibition date polygon data set, produced by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), contains areas designated as undeveloped coastal barriers in accordance with the Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA), as amended (16 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). These digital polygons are representations of the CBRS boundaries shown on the official CBRS maps referenced in 16 U.S.C. 3503(a). Copies of the official CBRS maps are available for viewing at the Service’s Headquarters office and are also available to view or download at https://www.fws.gov/service/coastal-barrier-resources-system-property-documentation. This data set also subdivides CBRS units based on the dates on which prohibitions on Federal flood insurance and other Federal expenditures took effect. The boundaries used to create the polygons herein were compiled between 12/6/2013 and 11/25/2024 from the official CBRS maps. The boundaries of the CBRS Units in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and the Long Island portion of New York, were digitized from the official paper maps according to the guidelines in a notice published in the Federal Register on August 29, 2013 (see the “Georeferencing and Boundary Interpretation” and “Boundary Transcription” sections of 78 FR 53467; available at https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2013-21167). In all other cases where the official map was created through digital methods, the digital boundary was used. CBRS boundaries viewed using the CBRS Mapper or shapefiles are subject to misrepresentations beyond the Service’s control, including misalignments of the boundaries with third party base layers and misprojections of spatial data. The Service is not responsible for any misuse or misinterpretation of this digital data set, including use of the data to determine eligibility for Federal funding or financial assistance. Users should pair these data with the CBRS Buffer Zone shapefile and an orthoimage when inspecting areas that are within or in close proximity to the CBRS. Properties or structures that fall partially or entirely within the buffer area may be within the CBRS, and an official determination from the Service is recommended. For an official determination of whether or not an area or specific property is located within the CBRS, please follow the procedures found at https://www.fws.gov/library/collections/official-coastal-barrier-resources-system-maps. The official CBRS map is the controlling document and should be consulted for all official determinations in close proximity (within 20 feet) of a CBRS boundary. For any questions regarding the CBRS, please contact your local Service field office or email CBRA@fws.gov. Contact information for Service field offices can be found at https://www.fws.gov/node/267216.
This CBRS data set was created to depict areas designated as undeveloped coastal barriers in accordance with the CBRA. These digital polygons are representations of the CBRS boundaries shown on the official CBRS maps referenced in 16 U.S.C. 3503(a). This data set should be paired with the CBRS Buffer Zone shapefile to illustrate the stated horizontal accuracy of the boundaries herein. This data set is intended for use by those users seeking both information regarding the location of CBRS units and the System Unit establishment date (where applicable) and flood insurance prohibition date. As a supplement to the official maps, this is the data set that should be used (in conjunction with the CBRS Buffer Zone shapefile) to complete FEMA's Standard Flood Hazard Determination Form and Elevation Certificate. The dates published in this data set may be used by FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to help determine whether structures within the CBRS are grandfathered for flood insurance purposes. The dates published in this data set may also be used by Federal agencies to determine whether certain pre-existing roads, structures, facilities, and Federal navigations channels within the CBRS are eligible for Federal funding and financial assistance. Users are advised to contact the Service for an official determination as to whether a particular property or structure that falls either partially or completely within the CBRS Buffer Zone is located within CBRS.
19901024
20241125
Publication date
CBRS maps are either enacted by Congress through legislation or adopted administratively by the Service, and are also maintained by the Service. As maps are revised, this data set will be updated with the revised boundaries and dates.
-97.6388
-64.6232
47.4356
17.6619
CBRS Keywords
CBIA
CBRA
CBRS
CBRS Unit
Coastal Barrier
Coastal Barrier Improvement Act
Coastal Barrier Resources Act
Coastal Barrier Resources System
Flood Insurance Prohibition
John H. Chafee
OPA
Otherwise Protected Area
CBRS Locations
Alabama
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Texas
United States Virgin Islands
Virginia
Wisconsin
None
User must read and fully comprehend the metadata prior to data use. User must acknowledge the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as the originator when using the data set as a source. User must share data products developed using this source data set with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Data should not be used beyond the limits of the source scale. The data set is NOT a survey document and should not be utilized as such. The data set is NOT to be used for definitive in/out determinations within 20 feet of a CBRS boundary (i.e., the area within the “CBRS Buffer Zone” available as a separate shapefile).
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Katie Niemi
National Coastal Barriers Coordinator
mailing and physical address
5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: ES
Falls Church
VA
22041
703-358-2171
CBRA@fws.gov
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
20241125
CBRS_Polygons
vector digital data
See abstract
https://www.fws.gov/media/digital-coastal-barrier-resources-system-boundaries
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
20241125
CBRS_Buffer_Zone
publication
See abstract
https://www.fws.gov/media/digital-coastal-barrier-resources-system-boundaries
QC inspections were conducted to ensure that Unit and Unit_Type were accurate. SU_Date and FI_Date values were visually inspected and checked against a list of valid dates. Newly added polygons were inspected to ensure that they contained the correct new dates.
Topological checks were conducted to ensure that no polygons overlap and that adjacent boundaries are coincident where appropriate. A topology check was conducted to ensure that the aerial coverage of this dataset is identical to the CBRS_Polygons dataset.
All CBRS units depicted on the official CBRS maps referenced in 16 U.S.C. 3503(a) are present in this dataset. In most cases the seaward boundary of a CBRS unit is defined by the 30-ft bathymetric contour rather than a hard boundary depicted on the official source map. In these cases, the digital boundaries have been terminated by connecting the ends of the lateral boundaries on the seaward side. Therefore, the actual CBRS seaward boundary may extend farther offshore than is shown by the polygons. In large coastal embayments and the Great Lakes, the boundary is defined by the 20-ft bathymetric contour or a line approximately one mile seaward of the shoreline, whichever is nearer the coastal barrier. Expansions to the unit over time are generally shown as separate polygons that are attributed with effective dates related to when the expansion occurred, except in areas where the expansion is approximately 20 feet or less in width and contained no visible structures. Such areas are merged with the existing adjacent polygon. In general, expansions to the units that are located offshore and in open water are also merged with the existing adjacent polygon. For questions regarding the completeness of the data, email cbra@fws.gov.
Because many CBRS boundaries have specific relationships to features visible on the base map, the CBRS boundaries are most reliable when paired with the orthoimagery that was used in the boundary digitization. Therefore, a potential source of error is the spatial accuracy of the base map orthoimagery. The CBRS boundaries inherit the spatial accuracy of the base orthoimagery that was used in their creation, and may appear not to fit other images properly. The orthoimagery is obtained from multiple sources and is selected based on quality, cost, and coverage availability. The imagery selected generally met the following guidelines: it must be no more than five years old at the time of boundary digitization, it must have a resolution of 1 meter pixels or less, the imagery must be orthorectified, and the imagery must be available free of charge. Commonly used orthoimagery for CBRS mapping is from the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP). NAIP imagery has a stated horizontal accuracy of +/- 20 feet. This data set is intended to be paired with the CBRS Buffer Zone data, which illustrates the stated horizontal accuracy of the boundaries herein. Users should pair these data with the CBRS Buffer Zone shapefile and an orthoimage when inspecting areas that are within or in close proximity to the CBRS. Properties or structures that fall partially or entirely within the buffer area may be within the CBRS, and an official determination from the Service is recommended. For an official determination of whether or not an area or specific property is located within the CBRS, please follow the procedures found at https://www.fws.gov/service/coastal-barrier-resources-system-property-documentation. For official CBRS maps produced since 2014, the base map image source is printed in the title block of the map. To obtain the source of the base map image for a particular map or for other information about CBRS mapping, please email CBRA@fws.gov.
A formal accuracy assessment of the vertical positional information in the data set is not applicable.
Prohibitions were generated at the project level from either CBRS_Boundaries or CBRS_Polygons. Prohibitions generated from CBRS_Boundaries by using the ESRI's "Feature to Polygon" geoprocessing tool and then manually attributed. Other prohibitions were generated from CBRS_Polygons using ESRI's "Update" geoprocessing tool with the revised CBRS_Polygons as the "input" feature class and the superseded CBRS_Prohibitions as the "update" feature class. The newly created prohibition polygons that resulted from this step were then manually entered.
Unknown
Decimal degrees
North American Datum of 1983
Geodetic Reference System 1980
6378137.000000
298.257222
Attribute Table
Table containing attribute information associated with the data set.
Producer defined
FID
Internal feature number.
Esri
Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.
Shape
Feature geometry.
Esri
Coordinates defining the features.
OBJECTID
Internal feature number.
Esri
Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.
Unit
Unique identifier for each individual CBRS unit.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Units designated in 1982 typically start with letters A (Maine), C (Massachusetts), D (Rhode Island), E (Connecticut), F (New York), H (Delaware), K (Virginia), L (North Carolina), M (South Carolina), N (Georgia), P (Florida), Q (Alabama), R (Mississippi), S (Louisiana), or T (Texas). Units designated in 1990 typically start with the two letter state abbreviation. The unit numbers for Otherwise Protected Areas end in “P”.
CBRS_TypeCBRS units are one of two types: “System Units” and “Otherwise Protected Areas”.U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Otherwise Protected Area
The only Federal spending prohibition within OPAs is the prohibition on Federal flood insurance.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
System Unit
Most new Federal expenditures and financial assistance, including Federal flood insurance, are prohibited within System units.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
FI_Date
The date on which the prohibition on Federal flood insurance first took effect for a given area. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Flood Insurance Program uses this date to determine whether a structure located within the CBRS is eligible for Federal flood insurance. Federal flood insurance is available within the CBRS for structures that were constructed (or permitted and under construction) before the area’s flood insurance prohibition date (which is generally tied to the date that the area was first established as either a System Unit or OPA, but may differ in some cases). If an existing insured structure within the CBRS is substantially improved or damaged (i.e., over 50 percent of the structure’s market value), its Federal flood insurance policy cannot be renewed. See https://www.fws.gov/node/263838 and FEMA’s Flood Insurance Manual for additional information.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
10/1/1983
11/25/2025
SU_Date
The date on which prohibitions on Federal expenditures besides flood insurance (e.g., dredging and disaster assistance) went into effect. This is the date that FEMA uses to determine whether a road, structure, or facility is an “existing facility” as defined by its regulations implementing CBRA and the Stafford Act (44 CFR Part 206.342(c)). Additionally, this is the date used to determine whether Federal navigation channels and related structures were authorized prior to the date on which the area was included in a System Unit (16 U.S.C. 3505(b)). In most cases, the System Unit establishment date is the same as the flood insurance prohibition date. However, these dates differ in areas that were first designated in 1982 and also in areas that have been reclassified from OPA to System Unit.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
10/18/1982
11/25/2024
SHAPE_Leng
Unknown
Esri
0.00464636059998
4.51204265892
SHAPE_Area
Area of feature in internal units squared.
Esri
Positive real numbers that are automatically generated.
CBRS Units: The Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA), as amended (16 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), established the John H. Chafee Coastal Barrier Resources System (CBRS), a defined set of geographic units along the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Great Lakes, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico coasts. Most new Federal expenditures and financial assistance are prohibited within the CBRS, unless those activities qualify for an exception under Section 6 of CBRA (16 U.S.C. 3505). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), through the Secretary of the Interior, is responsible for administering CBRA, which includes consulting with Federal agencies that propose spending funds within the CBRS. There are two types of units within the CBRS; “System Units” and “Otherwise Protected Areas” (OPAs). System Units contain areas that were relatively undeveloped at the time of their designation within the CBRS. System Units are predominantly comprised of privately owned areas, though they may also contain areas that are held for conservation and/or recreation. The boundaries for areas included within System Units are generally intended to follow geomorphic, development, or cultural features. Most new Federal expenditures and financial assistance, including Federal flood insurance, are prohibited within System units. The CBRS currently includes 588 System units encompassing approximately 1.4 million acres of land and associated aquatic habitat. OPAs are predominantly comprised of conservation and/or recreation areas such as national wildlife refuges, state and national parks, local conservation areas, and private conservation areas, though they may also contain private areas that are not held for conservation and/or recreation. The boundaries of these units are generally intended to coincide with the boundaries of conservation or recreation areas such as state parks and national wildlife refuges. The only Federal spending prohibition within OPAs is the prohibition on Federal flood insurance. The CBRS currently includes 282 OPAs encompassing approximately 2.1 million acres of land and associated aquatic habitat. This data set includes polygons covering each area designated within the CBRS. Each polygon is attributed with the unit number, unit name, and unit type (i.e., OPA or System Unit). This data set also contains the dates on which prohibitions on Federal flood insurance and other Federal expenditures took effect.
The entity and attribute information was generated by the individual and/or agency identified as the originator of the data set. Please review the rest of the metadata record for additional details and information.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Katie Niemi
National Coastal Barriers Coordinator
mailing and physical address
5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: ES
Falls Church
VA
22041
703-358-2171
CBRA@fws.gov
Downloadable Data
Although these data and information have been processed successfully on a computer system at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the accuracy or utility of the data and information on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. This disclaimer applies both to individual use of the data, and information, and aggregate use with other data and information. It is also strongly recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of the metadata file associated with these data and information. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data and information described and/or contained herein.
Digital Data
https://gis1.wim.usgs.gov/server/rest/services/CBRSMapper/CoastalBarrierResourcesSystem/MapServer
none
20241125
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Katie Niemi
National Coastal Barriers Coordinator
mailing and physical address
5275 Leesburg Pike, MS: ES
Falls Church
VA
22041
703-358-2171
CBRA@fws.gov
FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata
FGDC-STD-001-1998