Environmental Mapping

As of 2007, the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) is federally required to engage and consult with affected land use management, natural resources, environmental protection, conservation and historic preservation state and local agencies regarding the development of the long-range transportation plan, called the CLRP (23 C.F.R. § 450.322(g)).  In compliance with these regulations, the initial environmental consultation in March 2007 established a dialogue with environmental agencies and created a foundation for ongoing consultation and knowledge sharing regarding environment issues on a regional, system-wide scale.  This effort led to the creation of a series of maps, which show the intersection of the CLRP with State conservation plans and inventories of natural or historic resources. 

This consultation effort was initiated in March 2007 when the TPB solicited input and comments on the draft 2007 CLRP, requested suggestions on potential environmental mitigation strategies and collected environmental GIS data from natural resource and environment agencies in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.  The TPB sent ninety letters to various representatives from state and local resource agencies, out of which sixteen replies were received. 

A summary of the replies indicates the need for greater understanding of the relationship between transportation planning and environmental planning at a regional scale.  Many agencies involved in the environmental consultation process viewed environmental review as an effort primarily aimed at the project level.  This mapping exercise is thus intended to serve as a tool to facilitate regional, plan-wide thinking.

The initial consultations also facilitated the mapping exercise by connecting the TPB with a wealth of state and local environmental experts and GIS data.   This allowed for direct collaboration with the following agencies on the mapping effort:

• Maryland Department of Natural Resources
• Maryland Historical Trust
• National Park Service
• Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation
• Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries
• Virginia Department of Historic Resources

Data was also obtained and used from other federal, state and local agencies without direct collaboration with staff, such as FEMA, District of Columbia Office of Planning, District of Columbia Office of Parks and Recreation, among others.

The maps in this section are thus a product of this initial consultation effort and will serve as a starting point for the next round of annual consultations. The maps will be shared with environmental, historic preservation and transportation agencies in order to initiate a dialogue with the TPB that is regionally focused on transportation planning and resource conservation and preservation concerns.  

The Purpose of the Maps

By defining and inventorying environmental resources and data, these maps will be used to inform state and local agencies and the public about the relationship between the CLRP and environmental concerns at the regional scale.  For instance, the maps can serve as a tool to identify long-term regional mitigation strategies.  The maps can be used to identify areas of high conservation priority and/or areas for potential restoration.  Mitigation efforts collectively could concentrate in these areas, often providing greater environmental benefit than piecemeal mitigation efforts.  For more information on environmental mitigation, please see the TPB’s 2007 mitigation discussion that was developed out of the consultation process.

Once again, this consultation effort is strictly intended to examine the CLRP at a regional scale and not at the project level.  Moreover, at this early planning stage, specific project information regarding exact locations and project dimensions are not known.  Therefore, it is important to note that the lines representing CLRP projects in the maps do not represent actual alignments, but rather are general depictions of project locations.   Each map also includes data descriptions of the environmental data used, which outlines data origin and definitions. 

These maps represent an initial effort by the TPB to engage environmental and historic preservation agencies.  The consultation process and the maps will continue to develop and improve every year as past activities are evaluated and more information becomes available. For more information about the TPB’s environmental consultation efforts or to comment on the maps, please contact Dan Sonenklar on the TPB Staff, (202) 962-3290.

Maps of Environmentally Sensitive Areas and the 2009 CLRP

	Floodplains Shows the areas with a 1% chance of flooding
	Green Infrastructure Shows large contiguous areas of natural land cover
	Historic Sites Shows historic sites (as points) from the National Register
	Impervious Surface Shows areas of impervious surface, such as pavement
	Protected Lands Shows lands under Federal, State or Local protection
	Sensitive Species Shows habitat for rare, threatened and endangered species
	Wetlands Shows areas designated or likely to be wetlands

For an Index map of the 2009 long-range transportation plan, please see the Projects section of the CLRP website.