NJ Highlands Flood Prone Flood Hazard Areas

Metadata:

• Identification_Information
• Data_Quality_Information
• Spatial_Data_Organization_Information
• Spatial_Reference_Information
• Entity_and_Attribute_Information
• Distribution_Information
• Metadata_Reference_Information

Identification_Information:

Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator:

New Jersey Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council (NJ Highlands Council)

Publication_Date: 20120130

Title: NJ Highlands Flood Prone Flood Hazard Areas

Edition: 2.0

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Chester, NJ

Publisher: New Jersey Highlands Council

Online_Linkage: <http://www.highlands.state.nj.us/>

Description:

Abstract:

Flood prone areas were delineated using both NJDEP flood prone and FEMA Q3 flood area. NJDEP flood prone areas were derived from USGS 100-year floodplain coverage and include USGS documented and undocumented flood prone areas. NJDEP flood prone areas were delineated by readily available information on past floods rather than from detailed surveys and inspections. Delineated areas were for natural conditions and did not take into consideration the possible effects of existing or proposed flood control structures except where those effects could be evaluated. Flood areas were identified for urban areas where the upstream drainage basin exceeds 25 square miles, rural areas in humid regions where the upstream drainage basin exceeds 100 square miles, rural areas where in semiarid regions where the upstream drainage basin exceeds 250 square miles, and smaller drainage basins, depending on topography and potential use of the floodplains.
The FEMA Q3 flood coverage includes the 100-year floodplain. The FEMA 100-year floodplain is defined as:
-Flood Insurance Risk Zone A - Areas subject to inundation by the 1-percent-annual-chance flood event. Because detailed hydraulic analyses have not been performed, no base flood elevation or depths are shown.
-Flood Insurance Risk Zone AE - Areas subject to inundation by the 1-percent-annual-chance flood event determined by detailed methods. Base flood elevations are shown within these zones.
The digital Q3 Flood Data are designed to serve FEMA's needs for disaster response activities, National Flood Insurance Program activities, risk assessment, and floodplain management. The data are expected to be used for a variety of planning applications including broad-based review for floodplain management, land-use planning, commercial siting analysis, insurance target marketing, natural resource/environmental analyses, and real estate development and targeting.

RIPARIAN AREA
Riparian areas in the Highlands are defined and mapped by hydrologic properties of land cover, soil, and evidence of inundation. Riparian areas include the integration of flood prone areas, riparian soils, wetlands and streams, and wildlife corridors.
-Flood Prone Areas: defined as U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) documented and undocumented flood prone areas and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 100-year floodplain.
-Riparian Soils: defined as a hydric soil, a soil exhibiting a shallow depth to seasonal high water table, or alluvial soil (NRCS).
-Wetlands and Streams: defined as all mapped streams and wetlands that are adjacent to a stream as identified in the Highlands Open Water Inventory.
-Wildlife Corridors: defined as a 300-foot corridor on each mapped stream bank or from the stream centerline if no stream bank is mapped.

Purpose:

A flood prone area and hazard mapping performed to evaluate and understand the value and importance of Highlands riparian areas. This effort serves to directly fulfill and respond to the goals and requirements of the Highlands Act.

Supplemental_Information:

Riparian areas serve as an interface between surface water bodies (e.g., streams, rivers, lakes, or reservoirs) and terrestrial ecosystems. Riparian areas are hydrologically connected to surface water through overland surface runoff, hydric soils, wetlands, or subsurface flow.
Riparian areas moderate fluctuations in water temperature, help maintain groundwater recharge and stream base flow, stabilize stream banks, and provide flood storage areas. During high flow or overland runoff events, riparian areas reduce erosion and sediment loads to surface water and remove excess nutrients and contaminants from flood water. Riparian areas also provide habitat and for a variety of animal species and support terrestrial and aquatic food webs through deposition of woody debris (NRCS 2006; NJWSA 2000).
The effectiveness of riparian areas is influenced by their size, intensity, type of land use, and riparian corridor condition (e.g., soils, slope, vegetation, wetlands, and floodplain). Anthropogenic (i.e., human-induced) disturbance to riparian areas often significantly alter the movement and storage of water that is critical to ecological functions (NRCS 2006). Land use changes, impervious (i.e., paved) surfaces, and riparian vegetation removal decrease infiltration rates within riparian areas and increase overland storm or flood water runoff. Overland surface or flood water runoff within disturbed riparian areas may negatively affect downstream aquatic ecosystem health. Thus, functional values of riparian areas are lost as anthropogenic disturbances increase.
Removing negative-impact land use activities and maintaining vegetated riparian areas are critical for maintaining water quality of stream systems and downstream reservoirs. Protected buffers adjacent to water bodies and streams where development is excluded or minimized is a best management practice (BMP), recommended as a means to reduce impact from developed land uses on adjacent aquatic ecosystems and downstream water quality.

Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Single_Date/Time:

Currentness_Reference: publication date

Status:

Progress: Complete

Maintenance_and_Update_Frequency: As needed

Spatial_Domain:

Bounding_Coordinates:

West_Bounding_Coordinate: -75.210621

East_Bounding_Coordinate: -74.052323

North_Bounding_Coordinate: 41.296595

South_Bounding_Coordinate: 40.513986

Keywords:

Theme:

Theme_Keyword: riparian, water, wetlands, streams, soils, flood prone

Place:

Place_Keyword: New Jersey Highlands

Access_Constraints: None

Use_Constraints:

Data Distribution Agreement The Highlands Council Agrees to abide by the terms and conditions of the following: I. Description of Data to be Provided
The data provided herein are distributed subject to the following conditions and restrictions:
Subject Data Layers
For all data contained herein, the Highlands Council makes no representations of any kind, including, but not limited to, the warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular use, nor are any such warranties to be implied with respect to the digital data layers furnished hereunder. The Highlands Council assumes no responsibility to maintain digital data layers in any manner or form.
II. Terms of Agreement
1. Digital data received from the Highlands Council are to be used solely for internal purposes in the conduct of daily affairs.
2. The data are provided, as is, without warranty of any kind and the user is responsible for understanding the accuracy limitations of all digital data layers provided herein, or as documented in any accompanying Data Dictionary and Readme files. Any reproduction or manipulation of the above data must ensure that the coordinate reference system remains intact.
3. Digital data received from the Highlands Council may not be reproduced or redistributed for use by anyone without first obtaining written authorization from the Highlands Council. This clause is not intended to restrict distribution of printed mapped information produced from the digital data.
4. Any maps, publications, reports, or other documents produced as a result of this project that utilize Highlands Council digital data will credit the Highlands Council's Geographic Information System (GIS) as the source of the data with the following credit/disclaimer:
"This (map/publication/report) was developed using New Jersey Highlands Water Protection and Planning Council's Geographic Information System digital data, but this secondary product has not been verified by the Highlands Council and is not state-authorized."
5. Users shall require any contractor, hired to undertake work that will utilize digital data obtained from the Highlands Council, to agree not to use, reproduce, or redistribute Highlands Council GIS data for any purpose other than the specified contractual work. All copies of Highlands Council GIS data utilized by an contractor will be required to be returned to the original user at the close of such contractual work.
Users hereby agree to abide by the use and reproduction conditions specified above and agree to hold any contractor to the same terms. By using data provided herein, the user acknowledges that terms and conditions have been read and that the user is bound by these criteria.

Point_of_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Organization_Primary:

Contact_Organization: NJ Highlands Council

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing and physical address

Address: 100 North Road

City: Chester

State_or_Province: New Jersey

Postal_Code: 07930

Country: UNITED STATES

Contact_Voice_Telephone: (908) 879-6737

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: (908) 879-4205

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: gis@highlands.state.nj.us

Hours_of_Service: 9:00AM - 5:00PM

Data_Quality_Information:

Logical_Consistency_Report:

This is a polygon feature-based layer. Data were reviewed for correct topological structure.

Completeness_Report: Complete.

Lineage:

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

Riparian areas in the Highlands are defined and mapped by hydrologic properties of land cover, soil, and evidence of inundation. Riparian areas include the integration of flood prone areas, riparian soils, wetlands and streams, and wildlife corridors.
FLOOD PRONE AREAS
Flood prone areas were delineated using both NJDEP flood prone and FEMA Q3 flood area. NJDEP flood prone areas were derived from USGS 100-year floodplain coverage and include USGS documented and undocumented flood prone areas. NJDEP flood prone areas were delineated by readily available information on past floods rather than from detailed surveys and inspections. Delineated areas were for natural conditions and did not take into consideration the possible effects of existing or proposed flood control structures except where those effects could be evaluated. Flood areas were identified for urban areas where the upstream drainage basin exceeds 25 square miles, rural areas in humid regions where the upstream drainage basin exceeds 100 square miles, rural areas where in semiarid regions where the upstream drainage basin exceeds 250 square miles, and smaller drainage basins, depending on topography and potential use of the floodplains.
The FEMA Q3 flood coverage includes the 100-year floodplain. The FEMA 100-year floodplain is defined as:
-Flood Insurance Risk Zone A - Areas subject to inundation by the 1-percent-annual-chance flood event. Because detailed hydraulic analyses have not been performed, no base flood elevation or depths are shown.
-Flood Insurance Risk Zone AE - Areas subject to inundation by the 1-percent-annual-chance flood event determined by detailed methods. Base flood elevations are shown within these zones.
The digital Q3 Flood Data are designed to serve FEMA's needs for disaster response activities, National Flood Insurance Program activities, risk assessment, and floodplain management. The data are expected to be used for a variety of planning applications including broad-based review for floodplain management, land-use planning, commercial siting analysis, insurance target marketing, natural resource/environmental analyses, and real estate development and targeting.

Process_Date: 20111001

Process_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Organization: NJ Highlands Council

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing address

Address: 100 North Road

City: Chester

State_or_Province: New Jersey

Postal_Code: 07930

Country: UNITED STATES

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 908-879-6737

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 908-897-4205

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: gis@highlands.state.nj.us

Hours_of_Service: 8am-5pm Monday thru Friday

Spatial_Data_Organization_Information:

Direct_Spatial_Reference_Method: Vector

Point_and_Vector_Object_Information:

Spatial_Reference_Information:

Horizontal_Coordinate_System_Definition:

Planar:

Planar_Coordinate_Information:

Planar_Coordinate_Encoding_Method: coordinate pair

Coordinate_Representation:

Abscissa_Resolution: 0.000039

Ordinate_Resolution: 0.000039

Planar_Distance_Units: survey feet

Geodetic_Model:

Horizontal_Datum_Name: North American Datum of 1983

Ellipsoid_Name: Geodetic Reference System 80

Semi-major_Axis: 6378137.000000

Denominator_of_Flattening_Ratio: 298.257222

Vertical_Coordinate_System_Definition:

Altitude_System_Definition:

Altitude_Resolution: 0.000100

Altitude_Encoding_Method:

Explicit elevation coordinate included with horizontal coordinates

Entity_and_Attribute_Information:

Detailed_Description:

Entity_Type:

Entity_Type_Label: Flood_Hazard_Prone_Areas

Entity_Type_Definition: NJ Highlands Flood Prone Flood Hazard Areas

Entity_Type_Definition_Source: NJ Highlands Council

Attribute:

Attribute_Label: FID

Attribute_Definition: Internal feature number.

Attribute_Definition_Source: ESRI

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Unrepresentable_Domain:

Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.

Attribute:

Attribute_Label: DESC_

Attribute_Definition: Description of Feature

Attribute_Definition_Source: NJ Highlands Council

Attribute:

Attribute_Label: Shape

Attribute_Definition: Feature geometry.

Attribute_Definition_Source: ESRI

Attribute_Domain_Values:

Unrepresentable_Domain: Coordinates defining the features.

Distribution_Information:

Distributor:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Organization_Primary:

Contact_Organization: New Jersey Highlands Council

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing and physical address

Address: 100 North Road (Route 513)

City: Chester

State_or_Province: New Jersey

Postal_Code: 07930

Country: USA

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 908-879-6737

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 908-879-4205

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: gis@highlands.state.nj.us

Hours_of_Service: 9:00AM - 5:00PM

Contact_Instructions:

Contact the Distributor if you have any questions or concerns regarding the distribution and/or download of this data. If you have questions or concerns regarding the data itself, please contact the Metadata Contact person listed in the Metadata Reference Section.

Resource_Description: Downloadable Data

Distribution_Liability: See "Use Constraints"

Metadata_Reference_Information:

Metadata_Date: 20120130

Metadata_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Organization_Primary:

Contact_Organization: NJ Highlands Council

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing address

Address: 100 North Road

City: Chester

State_or_Province: New Jersey

Postal_Code: 07930

Country: UNITED STATES

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 908-879-6737

Contact_Facsimile_Telephone: 908-879-4205

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: gis@highlands.state.nj.us

Hours_of_Service: 9:00AM - 5:00PM

Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata

Metadata_Standard_Version: FGDC-STD-001-1998

Metadata_Time_Convention: local time