Baylands Habitat Map 2020 (BHM 2020) Version 1.3 GIS Data

Source:
Description:
The Baylands Habitat Map 2020 (BHM2020) represents the condition of the San Francisco Bay Baylands in the year 2020. It was first published in April 2024. It was developed to meet the needs of the San Francisco Estuary Wetlands Regional Monitoring Program's (WRMP) by mapping habitat types for the purpose of monitoring regional change over time using primarily remote sensing data. The Baylands Habitat Map was celebrated as one of the region's most outstanding environmental projects at the 2025 State of the Estuary Conference, and received a 2025 Outstanding Environmental Project Award from the Friends of the San Francisco Estuary. The BHM2020 is a fundamental component of the WRMP and serves as a common reference map to help coordinate baylands protection and restoration for all interests. It is intended to be used commonly by public agencies to visualize and track baylands projects in EcoAtlas. The creation of the Baylands Habitat Map was funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, San Francisco Bay Water Quality Improvement Fund. The San Francisco Estuary Institute developed and refined the ruleset to produce the map through regular consultation and collaboration with the WRMP Geospatial Workgroup and WRMP Technical Advisory Committee. The dataset was developed using Object Based Image analysis and a rule based approach in Trimble eCognition and ESRI ArcGIS Pro software. The dataset was first published in April 2024. During the BHM2020 mapping effort, methods for differentiating one class from another were largely based upon relative tidal elevation, vegetation cover, and feature structure/shape. Tidal influence varies not only across the regions of the bay area, but also between bayland areas within that are constrained by levees and complex hydrological connections. To account for this variability and uncertainty, some flexibility in regard to modeled relative tidal elevation was required and adjustments based on spectral signature was necessary to accurately capture the habitats and extent of influence in areas with complex and varying tidal connections. More information can be found in the BHM2020 methods document. The BHM 2020 can also be viewed in EcoAtlas. Baylands Habitat Map 2020 v1.3 was released in October 2025.
Provenance:
San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI)
Subregion(s):
Suisun Bay, San Pablo Bay, Central Bay, South Bay, Lower South Bay, and San Francisco Bay
Topic(s):
habitat, imagery + basemaps, land use and land cover, natural resources, and vegetation
Dataset Category:
WRMP collected/generated data
Temporal Coverage:
2020
Data Version:
1.3.0
File Format:
Feature Class (Dataset)
Citation:
Wetlands Regional Monitoring Program (WRMP). 2025. "Baylands Habitat Map 2020 v1.3" Accessed [date retrieved]. https://www.sfei.org/data/baylands-habitat-map-2020-gis-data.
Spatial Resolution - Units:
Meters
Spatial Resolution - Value:
0.6
WRMP Primary Indicator:
1 - Map of baylands habitat types and elements.
WRMP Secondary Indicator(s):
1 - Map of baylands habitat types and elements., 2 - Map of tidal wetland elevations and elevation capital., 4 - Map of complete marshes., 5 - Map of tidal wetland special-status species habitats., 9 - Changes in drainage network length, channel density/width, and panne numbers/sizes.
Operational Landscape Unit(s):
Central Bay - Corte Madera, Central Bay - East Bay Crescent, Central Bay - Golden Gate, Central Bay - Mission - Islais, Central Bay - Point Richmond, Central Bay - Richardson, Central Bay - San Leandro, Central Bay - San Rafael, Central Bay - Yosemite - Visitacion, Lower South Bay - Mowry, Lower South Bay - San Francisquito, Lower South Bay - Santa Clara Valley, Lower South Bay - Stevens, San Pablo Bay - Carquinez North, San Pablo Bay - Carquinez South, San Pablo Bay - Gallinas, San Pablo Bay - Napa - Sonoma, San Pablo Bay - Novato, San Pablo Bay - Petaluma, San Pablo Bay - Pinole, San Pablo Bay - Wildcat, South Bay - Alameda, South Bay - Belmont - Redwood, South Bay - Colma - San Bruno, South Bay - San Lorenzo, South Bay - San Mateo, Suisun Bay - Montezuma Slough, Suisun Bay - Port Chicago, Suisun Bay - Suisun Slough, and Suisun Bay - Walnut
Keyword(s):
Baylands Habitat Map, Marsh, Wetland, Wetlands, Mudflat, Bay Flats, and Tidal Channels
Documentation URL:
https://www.sfei.org/documents/mapping-methods-and-standards-bayland-habitats-san-francisco-bay-v10
License:
GNU Lesser General Public License 3.0
More details at:
https://www.sfei.org/data/baylands-habitat-map-2020-bhm-2020-version-13-gis-data
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