US Fish & Wildlife Service, AZ

Harris Environmental prepared an Environmental Assessment for the proposed designation of critical habitat for the Zuni bluehead sucker under the Endangered Species Act. As part of this effort, Harris Environmental developed an extensive GIS database to support data analysis, modeling and cartography. Team personnel worked closely with involved stakeholders including USFWS GIS, Regional Office, and contracting staff. The GIS analysis facilitated efforts to delineate Critical Habitat for the focal species as well as identify geographic distributions for other species in order to pinpoint areas of Critical Habitat overlap. Data was gathered form multiple repositories across resource management agencies including the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Critical Habitat data portal, Bureau of Land Management, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service. An important facet of this project included locating areas of conservation concern to the sucker including sensitive aquatic ecosystems, Wilderness areas, ACECs, wild and scenic rivers, watershed boundaries, floodplains, wetlands, and prime agricultural lands.