This polygon shapefile represents the edge of the baylands boundary, as published in the San Francisco Estuary Institute's Eco Atlas released in 1999. This boundary became the interior boundary of the San Francisco Bay Area Upland Habitat Goals Project study area. According to the San Francisco Estuary Institute, baylands consist of the shallow water habitats around the San Francisco Bay between the maximum and minimum elevations of the tides (BCDC 1982, Bay Institute 1987). They are the lands that are touched by the tides, plus the lands that would be tidal in the absence of any levees, sea walls or other man-made structures that block the tides. Landward of the baylands are their watersheds. Bayward are the shallow and deep waters of the open bays and straits. Inside of this area was the focus of the Bayland Ecosystem Goals Project, as well as partially the Sub Tidal Goals Project. This dataset was developed/compiled for use in the San Francisco Bay Area Upland Habitat Goals Project, a Project used to identify a Conservation Lands Network (CLN) for biodiversity preservation to inform conservation investments and lasting cooperative conservation partnerships. The Conservation Lands Network GIS Database is the primary output of the Project. The data depicts the spatially explicit CLN that is recommended for the nine county San Francisco Bay Area Region, California. This layer is presented in the WGS84 coordinate system for web display purposes. Downloadable data are provided in native coordinate system or projection.
