USGS U.S.-Mexico Border Environmental Health Initiative International Boundary Feature Class
Dates
Publication Date
2007
Start Date
1999-01-01
End Date
2004-11-06
Citation
U.S. Geological Survey, 2007, USGS U.S.-Mexico Border Environmental Health Initiative International Boundary Feature Class: .
Summary
This UNOFFICIAL United States-Mexico boundary dataset was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Border Environmental Health Initiative (BEHI) (http://borderhealth.cr.usgs.gov/index.html), to be used as a common boundary for the clipping and geometric integration of binational geospatial datasets. It provides a single boundary that has been used throughout the project, but is not representative of any officially recognized international boundary. International borders politically divide the landscape but rarely represent barriers for environmental issues. The major issues surrounding the U.S.-Mexico border involve economics and population growth that present challenges to environmental management and natural resource planning. To [...]
Summary
This UNOFFICIAL United States-Mexico boundary dataset was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Border Environmental Health Initiative (BEHI) (http://borderhealth.cr.usgs.gov/index.html), to be used as a common boundary for the clipping and geometric integration of binational geospatial datasets. It provides a single boundary that has been used throughout the project, but is not representative of any officially recognized international boundary. International borders politically divide the landscape but rarely represent barriers for environmental issues. The major issues surrounding the U.S.-Mexico border involve economics and population growth that present challenges to environmental management and natural resource planning. To monitor trends and analyze the stresses to the environment, binationally integrated baseline datasets that portray the status of the landscape are needed. The primary objective of this project is to develop integrated, environmental resource and human health datasets for display and further analysis within a geographic information system (GIS) framework. Datasets created for the BEHI follow watershed boundaries as defined by Woodward and Durall (1996). As part of the U.S.-Mexico Border Field Coordinating Committee Issues Team, Woodward and Durall (1996) used surface-water drainage basins as the primary basis for defining and delineating the extent of the border area from a shared-water resources perspective. In order to provide integrated datasets in the border region, local and regional BEHI datasets have been clipped to this boundary.
This dataset was created to provide resource managers, public officials, researchers, and the general public with ready access to accurate, impartial, scientific information to strike a balance among human needs for resource utilization, environmental quality, and human health.
