South Carolina Coastal Region Evaluation of Wetland Significance

Author: Lori Sutter
Organization: NOAA Coastal Services Center

2234 South Hobson Avenue
Charleston, SC 29405
USA

Phone: 843.740.1269
Fax: 843.740.1315
lsutter@csc.noaa.gov

The NOAA Coastal Services Center and its technical contractor, Technology Planning & Management Corporation, have been developing a conceptual GIS model to evaluate the relative significance of tidal wetlands within the watersheds of the Ashepoo-Combahee-Edisto River Basin (ACE Basin), South Carolina. The basis of this model is the North Carolina Coastal Region Evaluation of Wetland Significance (NC-CREWS) (Sutter et al. 1999). The South Carolina adaptation considers water quality, habitat, and hydrological functions of tidal wetlands based on landscape features and site characteristics. The evaluation is performed in ArcView GIS, using Avenue calls to capabilities provided in ArcView Spatial Analyst. This adaptation also will migrate the original ARC Macro Language code of NC-CREWS into ArcView GIS.