Essential Fish Habitat, Pacific Salmon GIS Data

This file represents salmonid freshwater and estuarine Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) in the western United States. Congress, through the Magnuson-Stevens Act, defined EFH as "those waters and substrate necessary to fish for spawning, breeding, feeding, or growth to maturity." This dataset follows the federal codification of delineating EFH using 4th field Hydrologic Units. It spatially depicts designated EFH for Federally-managed Pacific salmon within freshwater and estuarine regions of California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Areas above identified certain impassible dams are not designated EFH, and these have been removed from the 4th field Hydrologic Units. Only areas defined as EFH are present in this dataset. Each Hydrologic Unit polygon has been coded to indicate for which species of salmon (Chinook salmon, coho and/or pink) it represents EFH.