Washington State Parks and RecreationThe agency (Washington State Parks) has mapped habitats of conservation concern (i.e., significance or importance) across most of the park system. This effort is commonly referred to as the Significant Natural Resources geodatabase (SNR). Below are a series of questions and answers that briefly describe the SNR and its associated metrics. What is the SNR? The SNR is a geodatabase that identifies areas of the park system that support important native habitats. Data comprising the SNR are derived from a number of sources and are believed to reflect the best data currently available related to species and habitats of conservation concern. What is the purpose of the SNR? The SNR serves many purposes, including but not limited to, informing Stewardship of important habitats, threats to them, and priority areas for restoration / protection; Capital Development, Planning, and Operations of areas to avoid when considering projects or planning activities (e.g., metal detecting) that could impact habitats of conservation significance; and, planners of important natural habitats adjacent to our parks that could help to maintain habitat integrity and function within them. How was the SNR developed? Vegetation communities and rare plant surveys have been conducted across 80+% of park uplands during the past two decades (these can be viewed in the Biological Surveys folders for each park on the N drive [ N:\Park Information\Park Specific Information ]). These surveys, first initiated in 2001 by contact biologists following protocols developed by Parks and the WA DNR Natural Heritage Program (NHP), serve as the foundation for the SNR. Additional habitat data, from sister conservation agencies, are layered atop select attributes collected during the vegetation surveys. The result is a geodatabase of important habitats to conserve across the park system. The full suite of data used in the SNR is noted below. What data comprises the SNR? As noted above, the SNR is comprised of data from the agency's vegetation surveys and habitat-related data compiled by other government agencies. They are considered to be the most relevant and best datasets to use in the model, which span a range of habitat characteristics and conditions. Specifically, the following geodatabases (metrics) comprise the SNR: 1. State Parks Vegetation Community and Rare Plant Surveys a. Plant Associations (PA) and their Global (G) and State (S) conservation ranks b. Overall Ecological Condition of the PA c. Ecological Systems and their functional sizes d. Old Growth habitats 2. NHP Rare Plants and their G and S ranks 3. WDFW Priority Habitats and Species (PHS) rare species habitats and their conservation status 4. Washington Wildlife Habitat Connectivity Working Group landscape integrity model 5. National Wetlands Inventory to map habitats close to water.ArcGIS FeatureLayerhttps://hub.arcgis.com/datasets/6fbb8f5966684c49877dab32c06dd8b8_0engState of Washington Geospatial Open Data PortalPublicSignificant Natural Resources - Importance [Washington (State)]Web servicesWashington (State)Last Modified: 2018-09-18