[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 173 (Wednesday, September 8, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54627-54628]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-22332]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9198-4; Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2008-0663]


ICLUS v1.3 User's Manual: ArcGIS Tools and Datasets for Modeling 
U.S. Housing Density Growth

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing 
the availability of a final Geographic Information System (GIS) tool 
and final user's guide titled, ``ICLUS v1.3 User's Manual: ArcGIS Tools 
and Datasets for Modeling U.S. Housing Density Growth'' (EPA/600/R-09/
143F). The tool and its documentation were prepared by the National 
Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA) within EPA's Office of 
Research and Development. The GIS tool can be used to modify land use 
scenarios for the conterminous United States. ICLUS stands for 
Integrated Climate and Land Use Scenarios, a project which is described 
in the 2009 EPA Report, ``Land-Use Scenarios: National-Scale Housing-
Density Scenarios Consistent with Climate Change Storylines.'' These 
scenarios are broadly consistent with global-scale, peer-reviewed 
storylines of population

[[Page 54628]]

growth and economic development, which are used by climate change 
modelers to develop projections of future climate.

DATES: The GIS tool and documentation will be available on or about 
September 8, 2010.

ADDRESSES: ``ICLUS v1.3 User's Manual: ArcGIS Tools and Datasets for 
Modeling U.S. Housing Density Growth'' and the geoprocessing tools will 
be available to download via an ftp site on the NCEA's home page under 
the Recent Additions and Publications menus at http://www.epa.gov/ncea. 
A limited number of paper copies of the User's Manual are available 
from the Information Management Team, NCEA; telephone: 703-347-8561; 
facsimile: 703-347-8691. If you are requesting a paper copy, please 
provide your name, your mailing address, and the final document title, 
``ICLUS v1.3 User's Manual: ArcGIS Tools and Datasets for Modeling U.S. 
Housing Density Growth'' (EPA/600/R-09/143F).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For technical information, contact Dr. 
Britta Bierwagen, NCEA; telephone: 703-347-8613; facsimile: 703-347-
8692; or e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Information About the GIS Tool and Document

    The GIS tool and its documentation, ``ICLUS v1.3 User's Manual: 
ArcGIS Tools and Datasets for Modeling U.S. Housing Density Growth'' 
enables users to run a spatially explicit allocation model with the 
population projections developed for the ICLUS project. Users can 
modify the spatial allocation of housing density across the landscape 
to customize scenarios of future development patterns. The data 
provided consist of five population scenarios by county for the 
conterminous U.S. and are available in 5-year increments from 2000 to 
2100. The population projections for each U.S. county drive the 
production of new housing units, which are allocated in response to the 
spatial pattern of previous growth (e.g., 1990 to 2000), transportation 
infrastructure, and other basic assumptions. The housing allocation 
model recomputes housing density in 5-year time steps from the year 
2000 to 2100.
    The GIS tool allows users to:
     Access the county-level ICLUS population projections;
     Customize housing density patterns by altering household 
size and travel time assumptions;
     Classify housing density into generalized categories;
     Estimate future impervious surface based on a housing 
density; and
     Summarize levels of imperviousness by housing density 
classes.
    In December 2009, the draft GIS tools and user's guide were 
released for independent external review and a Federal Register notice, 
published December 8, 2009, announced the start of a public review and 
comment period. These final GIS tools and user's guide address comments 
received from both the external peer review and the public.

    Dated: September 1, 2010.
Rebecca Clark,
Acting Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment.
[FR Doc. 2010-22332 Filed 9-7-10; 8:45 am]
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