Washington State Maps

Digital Data Availability Summary

Click for local parcel information. Map courtesy Digital Map Store

Why is marine cadastral data important for conservation and marine spatial planning?

Marine Cadastral Data Management

The Nature Conservancy’s 2010 Nationwide Comparative Assessment of State-level Marine Cadastral Data in Washington included an interview with the Washington Department of Natural Resources1 (DNR) and a review of relevant Internet sites.

State Data Management : The Washington Geographic Information Council (Council) is the state organization responsible for coordinating and facilitating the use and development of Washington State's geospatial information. The Council provides a clearinghouse for access to data and provides a downloadable spreadsheet, the State Agency Significant Geodata List, that lists available data sources. As DNR is responsible for state lands management and leases, they provide an extensive list of relevant data from DNR GIS Data Center. Washington’s Coastal Zone Program is in the Department of Ecology and they publish a rich source of relevant data including an online mapping tool, the Coastal Atlas. Data that is used in the Coastal Atlas can be acquired by making a public records request from the Website.

Marine Cadastre and Supporting Data

Cadastral Reference System: Washington currently does not have a marine cadastre and although they once had grid system in coastal waters, it was not fully implemented.

Supporting Reference Data

Shorelines and Bathymetry: DNR shorelines were mapped from the “blue line” in the 1990s and then the data was improved with the shore zone inventory. This shoreline represents the ordinary high water line. It is used for all cadastre and meander lines in DNR and it has become the de facto shoreline used by other agencies. Shoreline data is available from the DNR GIS Data Center. Shorelines are included within all cadastres.

Coastal Imagery: Coastal imagery is available from the Coastal Atlas and the Washington State Geospatial Data Archive.

Marine Jurisdictional and Submerged Lands Boundaries: The Coastal Atlas provides access to relevant coastal boundaries as does the DNR GIS Data Center (state, county, DNR Districts and major public lands).

The DNR is currently developing a decision support tool to identify areas where licensed shellfish harvesting may be encroaching onto state-owned aquatic lands. The Department of Health tracks their shellfish licenses by county parcel number.

Ownership, Leases and Other Authorizations: During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the state of Washington sold a large portion of its inter-tidal submerged lands. A moratorium on sales of these lands was instituted in the 1970s. The tracts that were sold mostly extended from the MHW shoreline to MLW, from MLW to extreme low water, or from the MHW shoreline to extreme low water. Records are kept on linen index plates that are still used today as the official record. A GIS transaction layer for state-owned aquatic lands was developed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. This serves as an index to the records. It is not all-encompassing because of complexity of laws, and the accuracy of the original surveys is far from perfect.

The DNR Data Center provides several data sources of various views of state owned lands. The parcel boundaries of aquatic lands on this site are probably accurate within+/- 400 ft. Because the leases and authorizations are more accurate than the boundaries of the aquatic lands, they are maintained separately.

Leases and Other Authorizations: DNR is responsible for shellfish and other aquatic leases. The agency will need to be contacted to acquire relevant data. There was an effort in DNR (2006) to digitize point information on leases and then to tighten up the accuracy of points in Puget Sound using lease jackets (application files for any type of aquatic use authorization) and coordinate geometry. A lease-tracking database was developed (SAP database) that includes legal description down to adjacent section (although PLSS doesn’t extend into waters). DNR is currently (2011) working to identify leases, maintain the currency of points on the leases, and map footprints of leases. Since 2002 any use authorization requires survey or GPS location are submitted with applications. Currently leases are referenced to PLSS. State owned parcels could be very large, so they do not provide a good index for leasing.

Marine Managed Areas: Data targeted to marine managed areas was not found.

Local Parcel Information: Washington has established a Parcel Workgroup to develop a statewide parcel framework that is operating under the umbrella of the University of Washington’s Geographic Information Services (WAGIS). Currently (2011) an online distribution mechanism is under development. Until parcel data is available from WAGIS the only source of parcel data is from local governments (see local parcel information, below).

GIS Portals

• Department of Ecology GIS. Includes downloadable spatial data, online interactive maps, such as the Washington Coastal Atlas, and a comprehensive set of oblique marine shoreline photos. (web site)
• EPA Region 10, Puget Sound Atlas Data. Data from the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority, available in Arc/Info export format. (web site)
• Olympic National Resource Center. Clearinghouse for GIS data of the Olympic Peninsula. (web site)
• Washington DNR - GIS Data Center. This site is a good source of aquatic and ownership data(web site). The data is available in various formats for download and some are viewable in the agency’s online map service (web site).
• Washington State Geographic Information Council (WSGIC). Information about FGDC-related activities. Some metadata available. (web site)
• Washington State Geospatial Clearinghouse. The Washington State node of the NSDI. (web site)
• Washington State Geospatial Data Archive. Access to Washington State's DEM, DLG, and other geospatial data coverages for the Pacific Northwest. This site is maintained by The Map Collection & Cartographic Information Services, University of Washington Libraries. Some of the datasets located here are restricted by license agreement and are available only to UW faculty, staff, and students. Other datasets are in the public domain. (web site)

Reference and Supporting Data

Cadastral Reference Grid

Shorelines

Coastal Imagery

Bathymetry

Marine Jurisdictional Boundaries

Submerged Lands Boundaries

Ownership

Submerged Lands Parcels

General Property and Parcel Data

Public and Conservation Lands

Leases and Other Use Authorizations

Aquaculture and Shellfish

Other Use Authorizations

Marine Managed Areas

Local Parcel Information

Clallam County

Grays Harbor County

Island County

Jefferson County

King County

Kitsap County

Mason County

Pacific County

Pierce County

San Juan County

Skagit County

Snohomish County

Thurston County

Wahkiakum County

Whatcom County

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