Coastal Watershed County
Coastal Watershed County :
NOAA has derived 769 Coastal Watershed Counties. A county is considered a Coastal Watershed County if one of the following criteria is met: (1) at a minimum, 15 percent of the county's total land area is located within a coastal watershed; or (2) a portion of a county, or an entire county, accounts for at least 15 percent of a coastal USGS 8-digit cataloging unit. This "15-percent rule" intends to identify counties that have a substantial watershed-based impact on coastal and ocean resources. In addition, the five U.S. Territories-American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico-are included in their entirety. For more detailed information about the Coastal Watershed Counties visit: http://coastalsocioeconomics.noaa.gov/coast_defined.html
