Last updated on 7/28/2023 2:10:58 PM.
The Jurisdictional Agencies dataset is developed as a national land management geospatial layer, focused on representing wildland fire jurisdictional responsibility, for interagency wildland fire applications, including WFDSS (Wildland Fire Decision Support System), IFTDSS (Interagency Fuels Treatment Decision Support System), IRWIN (Interagency Reporting of Wildland Fire Information), and InFORM (Interagency Fire Occurrence Reporting Modules). It is intended to provide federal wildland fire jurisdictional boundaries on a national scale. The agency and unit names are an indication of the primary manager name and unit name, respectively, recognizing that:
For publicly held lands the agency name is the surface managing agency, such as Bureau of Land Management, United States Forest Service, etc. The unit name refers to the descriptive name of the polygon (i.e. Northern California District, Boise National Forest, etc.).
These data are used to automatically populate fields on the WFDSS Incident Information page.
It is WFM RD&A's intent to register this dataset as an Authoritative NWCG Interagency dataset once a data standard for Jurisdictional Unit Polygon has been approved.
When you draw a planning area, the jurisdictions it intersects updates on the Incident Information tab and in the Incident History. When you shrink your planning area, the Incident History does not automatically remove the agencies no longer covered in the planning area. You must manually remove these agencies from the Information screen. To add one or more jurisdiction(s), manually add them on the Incident Information screen. Changes to the jurisdictional agencies can be tracked by viewing the Incident History.
Unit
2. A generic term that represents an organizational entity that only has meaning when it is contextualized by a descriptor, e.g. jurisdictional.
Definition Extension: When referring to an organizational entity, a unit refers to the smallest area or lowest level. Higher levels of an organization (region, agency, department, etc) can be derived from a unit based on organization hierarchy.
Unit, Jurisdictional
The governmental entity having overall land and resource management responsibility for a specific geographical area as provided by law.
Definition Extension: 1) Ultimately responsible for the fire report to account for statistical fire occurrence; 2) Responsible for setting fire management objectives; 3) Jurisdiction cannot be re-assigned by agreement; 4) The nature and extent of the incident determines jurisdiction (for example, Wildfire vs. All Hazard); 5) Responsible for signing a Delegation of Authority to the Incident Commander.
See also: Unit, Protecting; Landowner
Unit Identifier
This data standard specifies the standard format and rules for Unit Identifier, a code used within the wildland fire community to uniquely identify a particular government organizational unit.
Landowner Kind & Category
This data standard provides a two-tier classification (kind and category) of landownership.
JurisdictionalUnitKind
Describes the type of unit Jurisdiction using the NWCG Landowner Kind data standard. There are three valid values: Federal, Other, and Private. A value is populated for all polygons.
JurisdictionalUnitAgency
Described the type of unit Jurisdiction using the NWCG Landowner Category data standard. Valid values include: Private, ANCSA, BIA, BLM, BOR, DOD, DOE, NPS, USFS, USFWS, Foreign, Tribal, City, County, OtherLoc (other local, not in the standard), State. A value is populated for all polygons.
JurisdictionalUnitName
The name of the Jurisdictional Unit. Where an NWCG Unit ID exists for a polygon, this is the name used in the Name field from the NWCG Unit ID database. Where no NWCG Unit ID exists, this is the “Unit Name” or other specific, descriptive unit name field from the source dataset. A value is populated for all polygons.
JurisdictionalUnitIdentifier
Where it could be determined, this is the NWCG Standard Unit Identifier (Unit ID). Where it is unknown, the value is ‘Null’. Null Unit IDs can occur because a unit may not have a Unit ID, or because one could not be reliably determined from the source data. Not every land ownership has an NWCG Unit ID. Unit ID assignment rules are available from the Unit ID standard, linked above.
LandownerKind
The landowner category value associated with the polygon. May be inferred from jurisdictional agency, or by lack of a jurisdictional agency.
LandownerCategory
The landowner kind value associated with the polygon. May be inferred from jurisdictional agency, or by lack of a jurisdictional agency.
DataSource
The database from which the polygon originated. Be as specific as possible, identify the geodatabase name and feature class in which the polygon originated.
SecondaryDataSource
If the Data Source is an aggregation from other sources, use this field to specify the source that supplied data to the aggregation. For example, if Data Source is "PAD-US 2.0", then for a USDA Forest Service polygon, the Secondary Data Source would be "USDA FS Automated Lands Program (ALP)". For a BLM polygon in the same dataset, Secondary Source would be "Surface Management Agency (SMA)."
SourceUniqueID
Identifier (GUID or ObjectID) in the data source. Used to trace the polygon back to its authoritative source.
The Wildland Fire Management Research, Development, and Applications program processes the inputs to aggregate the incoming datasets, and to assign standardized interagency attributes for each polygon. NWCG Unit IDs are assigned by crosswalking unit IDs from the NWCG Unit ID table (https://unitid.nifc.gov/ords/prd/nifc/units/UnitIdActive_txt) using the NWCG Unit ID fields "Agency" and "Unit Name" and the PAD-US fields "Manager Name", "Owner Name", "Local Name". Spatial Joins with agency administrative boundary layers were used in some circumstances to identify unit IDs assigned at jurisdictional levels above the PAD-US "Local Name" level.
Caution: These data are intended for STRATEGIC USE. Always verify the positional accuracy of the data with local knowledge. Systems should provide mechanisms for correcting the information derived from this data.
This dataset is based on an aggregation of 4 spatial data sources: Protected Areas Database US (PAD-US 2.1), data from Bureau of Indian Affairs regional offices, and the BLM Alaska Fire Service/State of Alaska. NWCG Unit ID and Agency Kind/Category data are tabular and sourced from UnitIDActive.txt, in the WFMI Unit ID application (REST API Definitions (nifc.gov)). Areas of with unknown Jurisdiction are assigned LandownerKind and LandownerCategory values of "Private" by use of the non-water polygons from the Census Block-Group geometry.
This dataset is based in large part on the USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States - PAD-US 2.1. PAD-US is a compilation of authoritative protected areas data between agencies and organizations that ultimately results in a comprehensive and accurate inventory of protected areas for the United States to meet a variety of needs (e.g. conservation, recreation, public health, transportation, energy siting, ecological, or watershed assessments and planning). Extensive documentation on PAD-US processes and data sources is available.
How these data were aggregated:
Boundaries, and their descriptors, available in spatial databases (i.e. shapefiles or geodatabase feature classes) from land management agencies are the desired and primary data sources in PAD-US. If these authoritative sources are unavailable, or the agency recommends another source, data may be incorporated by other aggregators such as non-governmental organizations. Data sources are tracked for each record in the PAD-US geodatabase (see below).
BIA and Tribal land management data are not available in PAD-US. As such, data were aggregated from BIA regional offices. These data date from 2012. Indian Trust Land affiliated with Tribes, Reservations, or BIA Agencies: These data are not considered the system of record and are not intended to be used as such. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Branch of Wildland Fire Management (BWFM) is not the originator of these data. The spatial data coverage is a consolidation of the best available records/data received from each of the 12 BIA Regional Offices. The data are no better than the original sources from which they were derived. Care was taken when consolidating these files. However, BWFM cannot accept any responsibility for errors, omissions, or positional accuracy in the original digital data. The information contained in these data is dynamic and is continually changing. Updates to these data will be made whenever such data are received from a Regional Office. The BWFM gives no guarantee, expressed, written, or implied, regarding the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data.
The state of Alaska and Alaska Fire Service (BLM) co-manage a process to aggregate authoritative land ownership, management, and jurisdictional boundary data, based on Master Title Plats. As such, all Alaska boundary data are sourced from their authoritative dataset rather than from PAD-US.
For WFDSS created incidents this field is initially set based on the Jurisdictional Agency Layer in WFDSS. For incidents received from other applications via IRWIN, the value is set by IRWIN utilizing the same data. Geographic Area Editors and National Editors can edit or null this field from the Incident Information page, and this is documented in the Incident History. A latitude or longitude change will trigger IRWIN to set the value again based on the new coordinates and will over-write manual changes to the field, this is also tracked in the Incident History.
Caution: The data displayed in WFDSS are intended for STRATEGIC USE ONLY. Always verify the positional accuracy of the data with local knowledge.
The data are no better than the original sources from which they were derived. Care was taken when consolidating these files and assigning unitIDs. However, WFM RD&A cannot accept any responsibility for errors, omissions, or positional accuracy in the original digital data. The information contained in these data is dynamic and is continually changing. Updates to these data will be made as PAD-US, and other source data are updated. The WFM RD&A gives no guarantee, expressed, written, or implied, regarding the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data.
Source: |
USGS PAD-US, State of Alaska/BLM Alaska Fire Service, and BIA Wildland Fire Management Program. |
Extent: |
National |
Projection/Datum: |
GCS, NAD 83 |
Data Download: |
https://data-nifc.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/jurisdictional-unit-public/explore |
The WFDSS application is "data rich". It requires data which is spatially oriented and graphically displays information to support wildland fire and other natural resource decisions. Due to the type and number of interagency spatial data sets required in April 2009 an interagency GIS Team was formed to provide data support for WFDSS. This Team is responsible for acquiring, consolidating, and validating their agency spatial and tabular data. In addition this team developed and maintained communications among local, regional, and national agency personnel to improve the collection process and provide explicit guidance on data needs. The members of the WFDSS GIS Team are:
Table 1: WFDSS GIS Team Contacts
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WFMRD&AAmanda Rumsey |
WFMRD&AJonah Vaughan |
WFMRD&ASusan McClendon |
BLM - AFSJennifer L. Jenkins |
BLM - NIFCJulie Osterkamp |
BIA - NIFCJoseph Kafka |
NPS - NIFCSkip Edel |
USFS - NIFCCole Belongie |
USFWS - NIFCAndrew Bailey |