Information on the raster versions of Protection Scenarios

Please note the following:
For NC, MD, and NY, the raster versions have masked out (removed) tidal wetlands, tidal open water (derived from the vector version of the wetlands as provided earlier), and "out of study area" from the raster versions. 

The remaining states (PA, NJ, DC, DE, and VA) have NOT masked out the wetlands nor out of study area.

In addition, ALL states have had the following changes to the original protection categories:
1. The following protection categories remained as-is:
   NP, PC, PL, PU, and Not Considered
2. Any Tidal Wetland or Non-Tidal Wetland classification (as listed within the vector version of the protection data - i.e., NOT using wetland layer) will now be coded as "Protection Unlikely"
3. Any Open Water (as listed within the vector version of the protection data - i.e., NOT using wetland layer) will now be coded as "Not Considered"
4. Any "Outside Study Area" (as listed within the vector version of the protection data - i.e., NOT using "out of study area" layer) will be coded as "Not Considered"
5. Any null data within the protection layer (if any) will be coded as "Not Considered"

Lastly, NC, MD, and NY have had the following additional changes. After the initial conversion from vector to raster, using ArcGIS Spatial Analyst (which uses the centroid of the raster cell for attribute assignment), any cells remaining not considered were re-examined as follows:
1. If any portion of the not considered (NC) cell had a vector polygon overlapping the cell boundary, the cell would be attributed with the overlapping polygon attribute. In cases with more than one polygon falling within the cell boundary, attribute assignment was based on the following priority (regardless of the area of the cell covered):
    Priority of protection classification is as follows:
     1. Light green (NP)
     2. Blue (PU)
     3. Red (PL)
     4. Brown (PC)
2. After application of #1 above, any cells that remained NC that were also within 1 cell distance of another classification were assigned that adjacent cell attribute.     