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Areas of Critical Environmental Concern - March 2007

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OVERVIEW

Click to view larger sizeThe Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) datalayers provide digital polygon and line boundaries for areas that have been designated ACECs by the Secretary of Environmental Affairs.  Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs) are places in Massachusetts that receive special recognition because of the quality, uniqueness and significance of their natural and cultural resources.  These areas are identified and nominated at the community level and are reviewed and designated by the state’s Secretary of Environmental Affairs.  ACEC designation creates a framework for local and regional stewardship of these critical resource areas and ecosystems.  ACEC designation also requires greater environmental review of certain kinds of proposed development under state jurisdiction within the ACEC boundaries.

The ACEC Program is administered by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) on behalf of the Secretary of Environmental Affairs.  The Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Office administered the original Coastal ACEC Program from 1978 to 1993, and continues to play a key role in managing coastal ACECs.  Procedures for ACEC designation and the general policies governing the effects of designation are contained in the ACEC regulations (301 CMR 12.00).  For more information about the ACEC datalayer or about the effects of ACEC designation, contact the ACEC Program at (617) 626-1394 or see http://www.mass.gov/dcr/stewardship/acec/acecProgram.htm

The ACEC datalayers have been compiled by CZM and DCR and include both coastal and inland areas.  For more information specifically about ACEC maps, visit http://www.mass.gov/dcr/stewardship/acec/statewideMap.pdf  .  New ACEC polygons (and corresponding lines) are added periodically, as new ACEC nominations are reviewed and designated on an ongoing basis.

As of December, 2003 there are coded boundary arcs available for 8 of the 28 ACECs, part of an ongoing datalayer update program begun in 2003.  These coded boundaries indicate what features are used for various ACEC boundary line segments, such as roads, town lines, or wetlands resource areas.  The other 20 ACECs do not have individually coded arcs, but are shown in the line layer with arcs coded ‘NOT DEFINED.’

THIS DATALAYER IS INTENDED TO BE USED FOR PLANNING PURPOSES ONLY AND WITH THE WRITTEN BOUNDARY DESCRIPTIONS CONTAINED IN EACH ACEC DESIGNATION DOCUMENT.  The mapped boundary is not to be used by itself for definitive ACEC boundary delineation or regulatory interpretation.  For review of site-specific projects within the ACEC boundary, determinations may need to be made in the field or in consultation with ACEC Program staff.

These datalayers are stored in ArcSDE and distributed as ACECS_POLY and ACECS_ARC.
MANUSCRIPT
Polygons are compiled from 1:25,000 USGS quad sheets, 1:5,000 ortho imagery, or other MassGIS datalayers and digitized.
ATTRIBUTES
Items in the attribute table of the ACECS_POLY polygon layer include:

ACECID 
Unique identifier of each area
NAME
The name of the area
DES_DATE
The date the Secretary signed the designation
SECRETARY
The name of the Secretary who signed the designation
ADMIN_BY
Agency responsible for the ACEC
REGION
COASTAL or INLAND
POLY_ACRES
Acreage of each polygon
ACEC_ACRES
Total acreage of each ACEC

Items in the attribute table of the ACECS_ARC line layer include:
 
BND_TYPE 
The feature that defines the boundary (see codes below)
SOURCE
The GIS layer that was used to digitize the line (see codes below)
UPDATE
The date the line was last updated
FROM_ACEC
The ACEC the line is part of (in cases where two ACECs share a boundary, the line will list only one of the ACECs)
LEGEND_GRP
A code used for symbolizing the lines (a grouped version of BND_TYPE)
 
Codes for BND_TYPE:
 
10 FT CONTOUR 
 
10 FT CONTOUR + 100 FT
A 100-ft buffer of the 10 ft contour line
100 FT WETLAND BUFFER ZONE
A 100-ft buffer of wetlands resource area (as defined by Wetlands Protection Act Regulations 310 CMR 10)
200 FT RIVERFRONT AREA
A 200-ft-wide riverfront corridor (a resource area defined by Wetlands Protection Act Regulations 310 CMR 10)
6 FT DEPTH CURVE
 
BEACH
State Designated Barrier Beach
CONNECTING LINE
Connects two features that do not meet
CULVERT
 
DREDGE CHANNEL
 
FLOODPLAIN
FEMA Q3 flood zone boundary
MEAN HIGH WATER
 
MEAN LOW WATER
 
MEAN SEA LEVEL
 
NOT DEFINED
Used with ACECs that have not had their boundary line segments individually coded yet
POWERLINE
Right-of-way of a utility easement
PUBLIC PROPERTY LINE
Property line of publicly-owned land
RAILROAD RIGHT-OF-WAY
Right-of-way of a current or former railroad
RIVER CENTERLINE
 
ROAD
Includes entire right-of way of road unless otherwise stated in ACEC designation
STATE LINE
 
TOWN LINE
 
WETLAND
Wetlands resource area (as defined by Wetlands Protection Act Regulations 310 CMR 10)

Codes for SOURCE:
 
MassGIS 5k B/W Ortho 
Line traced using black-and-white orthophoto
MassGIS 5k Color Ortho
Line traced using color orthophoto
MassGIS 5k Road Centerlines
Centerlines were used but ACEC boundary definition often includes entire road right-of-way
MassGIS 5k Wetlands
Wetland polygons and arcs
MassGIS 5k Wetlands Arcs
Wetland arcs only
MassGIS FEMA Q3 Flood Data
FEMA Q3 flood zone boundary
MassGIS Hydro Centerline Route
 
MassGIS MA Towns Datalayer
 
MassGIS Protected Open Space
Protected land boundary line
NOT DEFINED
Used with ACECs that have not had their boundary line segments individually coded yet
State Designated Barrier Beach
 
USFWS Property Data
Federal data that was not yet available in Openspace
USGS 25k Hydrography
Hydro lines and polygons
USGS Topo Quad
Line traced from USGS Quad images
USGS Topo Quad and 5k BW Ortho
Traced using USGS Quad and Orthophoto images
USGS Topo Quad and bearing
Line drawn at a particular bearing using USGS Quad for placement
EDITING
Boundaries were snapped to roads, political boundaries, water features, etc., depending on the feature defining the edge.  An effort was made to use the best available data at the time of editing.  Where the source data are at a lower resolution than the USGS quad, data were changed to provide "relative visual accuracy.”  Where the source data are at a higher resolution than the USGS quad, the higher resolution data were usually kept.
MAINTENANCE
DCR continues to add lines and polygons as new ACECs are designated.  The most recent were the Squannassit and Petapawag ACECs in December, 2002.  Adjustments to existing data are periodically made to improve the accuracy of the data. In March 2007 a few ACEC names were modified, and all names were converted to title case format.

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Last Updated 3/27/2007
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