Critical Habitat

This layer consists of the merged footprints of the USFWS critical habitat and the USFWS proposed Bi-State Sage-Grouse critical habitat,1 clipped to California. Critical habitat constitutes areas considered essential for the conservation of a listed species. These areas provide notice to the public and land managers of the importance of the areas to the conservation of this species. Special protections and/or restrictions are possible in areas where Federal funding, permits, licenses, authorizations, or actions occur or are required. The critical habitat footprint shown here is used as part of the biological planning priorities in the CEC 2023 Land-Use Screens and removes technical resource potential from the state.  More information about this layer and its use in electric system planning is available in the Land Use Screens Staff Report in the CEC Energy Planning Library. [1] This dataset is obtained from the "Web Links" section (USFWS Proposed Critical Habitat Map) of the  Bi-State Sage-Grouse Maps & GIS webpage, available at Maps & GIS | Bi-State Sage-Grouse (bistatesagegrouse.com).