Prioritizing Streams for Restoration
High-Quality Streams in Massachusetts
Use the following link to download a zip file with a GIS shapefile of High-Quality Streams in Massachusetts.
ftp://gyrfalcon.fnr.umass.edu/High Quality Streams MA 01-27-10.zip
You will not be able to view these data without the proper GIS software. However, we have a target of March 15, 2010 to provide on this site high-resolution PDFs showing High-Quality Streams for each city and town in Massachusetts. Before this target date, contact Greg Penta, Corps of Engineers, at (978) 318-8862 or gregory.r.penta@usace.army.mil for a high-resolution PDF showing High-Quality Streams for a particular city or town.
This data layer was compiled from a variety of sources to be consistent with General Condition 21 (d) iii on Page 10 of the U.S. Army Corps Massachusetts General Permit.* The following data were used in compiling this layer:
- MA Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program (NHESP) Living Waters Core Habitats (November 2003 from MassGIS)
- MA NHESP BioMap Core Habitats: All streams that fell within BioMap Core Habitats (June 2002 from MassGIS)
- Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs): All streams that fell within ACECs (April 2009 from MassGIS)
- Cold Water Fisheries: Streams in sub-watersheds where brook trout populations are categorized as “intact” and that have a contributing watershed of 0.5 sq. mi or more (2006 from Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture)
- Anadromous Fish Runs: From 1997 data provided by the MA Division of Marine Fisheries supplemented with data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the Connecticut River watershed.
*For ongoing cranberry bog operations, the "High Quality" designation applies only to principal streams running through the bog and not to constructed lateral ditches (even though the ditches may appear as "High Quality" streams in the GIS data or maps).
