The Sacramento, California, U.S.A, Area Council of Governments (SACOG) commissioned the Information Center for the Environment, University of California, Davis (ICE) to assemble a suite of the best available region-wide GIS data depicting natural resource values and conservation opportunities for the six County, 6,500 square mile (16,830 square kilometer) Sacramento, California region. This region is planned and managed by a large and diverse number of government entities and it contains a population of approximately 2,000,000 with a wide range of natural resource and economic interests. The purpose of this commission was to create a visual, conceptual tool depicting and weighting natural resource variables that are of value to the many parties of interest in land use and conservation planning in the region.

The key to successful geodatabase design in ArcGIS 8.3 is laying out the project objectives before you begin. Our team at the Information Center for the Environment at UC Davis is mapping for the US Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory (NWI). This paper addresses how we organized our geodatabase to delineate the wetlands, how we developed a topology, our consideration of national standards, and our methods for synchronizing the data and creating backups.

Researchers at the Information Center for the Environment (ICE) are using ArcGIS to inventory and monitor environmental risks to California’s north, coastal watersheds. In collaboration with state agencies, ICE has created a comprehensive GIS for selected watersheds in which water quality improvement and endangered species recovery is paramount. ICE has leveraged hyperspectral imagery, extensive field data, and framework datasets to provide resources managers with single source content to make decisions concerning the environmental risk of landslide potential; alterations in aquatic habitat; and land use change, among many. Our results indicate that a geospatial framework for information brokerage is critical for assessing land use decisions at a watershed scale.