The Coastal Assessment Framework (CAF) is a digital spatial framework developed using geographic information system technology, which allows resource managers and analysts to organize and present information on the nation's coastal and marine resources. The CAF provides a consistently derived, watershed-based digital spatial framework for managers and analysts to organize and present information on the nation's coastal, near-ocean, and Great Lakes' resources. Within NOAA, it is the cornerstone of a series of ongoing efforts to develop a national estuarine assessment capability. The Framework is composed of 150 Estuarine (and sub-estuarine) Drainage Areas (EDAs), 54 Fluvial Drainage Areas (FDAs), 324 Coastal Drainage Areas (CDAs), 12 Fluvial components of Coastal Drainage Areas (FCDAs), 11 interior watershed areas (self-contained, groundwater-contributing only, or watersheds draining to outside the U.S.).
This geography contains the land portions of the Coastal Assessment Framework's 11 Interior (self-contained, groundwater-contributing only, or watersheds draining to outside the U.S.) Watersheds.