Tel: (509) 371-7169 Fax: (509) 371-7160 MSIN: K6-85 [email protected] October 30, 2008 Bob Gottfried Database & Wildlife Information Manager Wildlife Diversity Program Texas Parks and Wildlife Department 4200 Smith School Road Austin, TX 78744 Dear Sir: As part of developing Environmental Impact Statements and conducting analyses for the new nuclear reactors being considered in your state, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is working for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to evaluate the potential impacts to sensitive biological resources or element occurrences. Developing the Environmental Impact Statements requires information on the state-listed plant and animal species as well as any species or associations of concern in Texas. To conduct this work, we would like to request access and/or receipt of the current database and associated spatial GIS data for sensitive resources in Texas. We understand that a data-sharing agreement signed by both PNNL and the state of Texas will be needed to detail the appropriate use and distribution of the data. Several applications for sites in Texas have been accepted by the NRC for consideration, so data from multiple counties are needed to address the reactor sites, the corresponding transmission corridors, and the alternative sites for each application. Because 36 Texas counties (see attachment) are identified in the environmental reports from applicants, it may be less labor intensive for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to share the data for the entire state. In addition, NRC expects to receive another application for a west Texas site that would require information on western counties as well. PNNL can easily receive data for the entire state or data limited to counties specified in the applications. Please let us know how to proceed in moving forward on this request and related agreement. Sincerely, Janelle L. Downs, Ph.D. Senior Research Scientist Bob Gottfried October 30, 2008 Page 2 The following attachment identifies those counties considered in the applications and for which we are requesting data. Austin Fayette Matagorda Bosque Fort Bend McLennan Brazoria Goliad Palo Pinto Calhoun Hamilton Parker Colorado Henderson Refugio Comanche Hill Somervell Coryell Hood Stephens Dallas Jack Tarrant Dewitt Jackson Victoria Eastland Johnson Wharton Ellis Limestone Wise Erath Lavaca Matagorda TEXAS NATURAL DIVERSITY DATABASE Data System, Source Types, Utility, Limitations The Texas Natural Diversity Database (TXNDD), established in 1983, is the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's (TPWD) most comprehensive source of information on rare, threatened, and endangered plants, animals, invertebrates, exemplary natural communities, and other significant features. The TXNDD is continually updated, providing current or additional information on statewide status and locations of these unique elements of natural diversity. However, the data is not all- inclusive, as there are gaps in coverage and species data, due to the lack of access to land or data, and a lack of staff and resources to collect and process data on all rare and significant resources. The TXNDD gathers biological information from public information sources, such as: museum and herbarium collection records, peer-reviewed publications, experts in the scientific community, organizations, qualified individuals, and on-site field surveys conducted by TPWD staff on public lands or private lands with written permission. TPWD staff botanists, zoologists, and ecologists perform field surveys to locate and verify specific occurrences of high-priority biological elements and collect accurate information on their condition, quality, and management needs. The TXNDD can be used to help evaluate environmental impacts of routing and siting options for development projects, environmental review, and permit review, as well as for natural resource management, scientific research, and educational applications. Appropriate use of the TXNDD requires both interpretation and extrapolation because of the many data gaps across the state from current and historic lack of access to private lands, the restriction of data extraction from only public information sources, species and geographic coverage skewed towards listed and the most rare species and ecosystems, and the lack of precise locality data in many secondary sources. Given the small proportion of public versus private land in Texas, the TXNDD does not include a representative inventory of rare resources in the state. Although it is based on the best data available to TPWD regarding rare species, these data cannot provide a definitive statement as to the presence, absence, or condition of special species, natural communities, or other significant features in any area. Nor can these data substitute for on-site evaluation by qualified biologists. The TXNDD information is intended to assist users in avoiding harm to rare species or significant ecological features. Refer all requests back to the TXNDD to obtain the most current information. GRANK – Global Conservation Status Rank; for element’s entire global range, factors together abundance, total range size, distribution, trends, threats, fragility, and number of adequately protected occurrences within global range SRANK – State Conservation Status Rank; for element’s state range, factors together abundance, state range size, distribution, trends, threats, fragility, and number of adequately protected occurrences within state range LASTOBS – Last Observed; date a particular occurrence was last observed as noted in the source(s); refers only to species occurrence as noted in source and does not imply the last date the species was present DATA SENSITIVE flag – a “Y” indicates the species or location is sensitive due to threat from collection, disturbance, or illegal trespass onto private lands LAT – Latitude of occurrence record point, or polygon link point located in upper right corner of polygon LONG – Longitude of occurrence record point, or polygon link point located in upper right corner of polygon PRECISION – Mapping Precision of occurrence record; lat/long coordinates of point or polygon link point; mapping precision of record determined by preciseness of locality information provided in source(s) S - Second: For point records, accuracy within 3-second radius, or approximately 1000 foot radius margin-of-error from lat/long of point on map; for boundary/polygon records, accuracy within 3-second radius of drawn polygon as represented in the source(s), not the lat/long of the polygon link point M - Minute: For point records, accuracy within 1-minute radius, or approximately 2 kilometers or 1.5 miles radius margin-of- error from lat/long of point on map; for records with a boundary/polygon, the polygon should be considered marginally uncertain based on inferred extent of record as stated in the source(s), not the lat/long of the polygon link point G - General: For point records, accuracy general to locale, quad(s), or place name precision, or default of approximately 8 kilometers or 5 miles radius margin-of-error from lat/long of point on map; for records with a boundary/polygon, the polygon should be considered somewhat imprecise or generalized based on implied extent of record as stated in the source(s), not the lat/long of the polygon link point U - Unmappable: Records with little to no locality information provided in the source(s), such as noting only county name or generalized region of state Texas Wildlife Diversity Database: Shapefile Data Interpretation and Use In our database every element occurrence representation (EORep) is represented geographically as a polygon. The polygon is a combination of the geographic location of the reported observation and the locational uncertainty of the observation. Data Conversion Most of the data that was part of our previous database was maintained geographically as a point location consisting of a latitude and longitude. The point was one of three symbols, a circle, a triangle, and a square, that represented the “precision” of the occurrence. The three categories were seconds (circle) which was the highest precision, minutes (triangle) which was the mid precision and meant that the location could not be more accurately mapped based on available information than +/- 1 minute, and general (square) which was the least precise and used only when the location description was especially vague. When the data from the previous database was converted to the new system the point data was converted to polygon data by taking the latitude and longitude and applying a buffer to that point location. The buffer that was applied to a point was based on the precision of that record. Records with a second precision received a buffer of 100 m radius, records with a minute precision received a buffer of 2000 m radius, and records with a general precision received a buffer of 8000 m radius. Now instead of point data, each record is a polygon in which the imprecision and uncertainty of the data is graphically represented. Some of the data that was in the previous database was mapped on paper topographic maps as polygons with meaningful boundaries. Before the conversion to the new database each of the records with a boundary on a topographic map had that boundary digitized using ArcGis. When the conversion occurred those digital boundaries were used to represent those records in place of the point stored in the database. Because the care and precision with which the boundaries were initially mapped