The SACS study area is subdivided into 22 planning reaches (Figure 4 1) derived from three datasets and visual edits based on coastal geomorphology and professional judgment. Datasets include the following:

- The Nature Conservancy Ecoregions—boundaries of areas that The Nature Conservancy has prioritized for conservation

- State boundaries

- Maximum inland limit of Category 5 storm surge inundation represented by the NOAA Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model

The GIS process to develop the Planning Reaches entailed the follow:

The most landward extent of the SLOSH model was manually measured. Based on that measurement a single sided buffer was generated contiguous to the Coast for the AOR. The buffer was manually edited to include some areas that fell outside the buffer distance, specifically in Northern North Carolina and around Mobile Alabama. The Union tool was then used in ArcGIS desktop to overlay Ecoregions and State boundary files. Then the intersect tool was used to overlay the SLOSH buffer with the Union file. The result of the Intersect was then manually cut along the lines defined by the coastal geomorphology using lines defined in the “Manual_Edit_lines” feature. The resulting feature class was then provided with names based on the state two-digit acronym and a sequential number.

The SACS study area is subdivided into 22 planning reaches (Figure 4 1) derived from three datasets and visual edits based on coastal geomorphology and professional judgment. Datasets include the following:

- The Nature Conservancy Ecoregions—boundaries of areas that The Nature Conservancy has prioritized for conservation

- State boundaries

- Maximum inland limit of Category 5 storm surge inundation represented by the NOAA Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model

The GIS process to develop the Planning Reaches entailed the follow:

The most landward extent of the SLOSH model was manually measured. Based on that measurement a single sided buffer was generated contiguous to the Coast for the AOR. The buffer was manually edited to include some areas that fell outside the buffer distance, specifically in Northern North Carolina and around Mobile Alabama. The Union tool was then used in ArcGIS desktop to overlay Ecoregions and State boundary files. Then the intersect tool was used to overlay the SLOSH buffer with the Union file. The result of the Intersect was then manually cut along the lines defined by the coastal geomorphology using lines defined in the “Manual_Edit_lines” feature. The resulting feature class was then provided with names based on the state two-digit acronym and a sequential number.