Hispanic and or Black, Indigenous or People of Color (Hspbipoc) Population Concentration - Sierra Nevada

Relative concentration of the Sierra Nevada region's Hispanic and/or Black, Indigenous or person of color (HSPBIPOC) population. The variable HSPBIPOC is equivalent to all individuals who select a combination of racial and ethnic identity in response to the Census questionnaire EXCEPT those who select "not Hispanic" for the ethnic identity question, and "white race alone" for the racial identity question. This is the most encompassing possible definition of racial and ethnic identities that may be associated with historic underservice by agencies, or be more likely to express environmental justice concerns (as compared to predominantly non-Hispanic white communities). Until 2021, federal agency guidance for considering environmental justice impacts of proposed actions focused on how the actions affected "racial or ethnic minorities." "Racial minority" is an increasingly meaningless concept in the USA, and particularly so in California, where only about 3/8 of the state's population identifies as non-Hispanic and white race alone - a clear majority of Californians identify as Hispanic and/or not white. Because many federal and state map screening tools continue to rely on "minority population" as an indicator for flagging potentially vulnerable / disadvantaged/ underserved populations, our analysis includes the variable HSPBIPOC which is effectively "all minority" population according to the now outdated federal environmental justice direction. A more meaningful analysis for the potential impact of forest management actions on specific populations considers racial or ethnic populations individually: e.g., all people identifying as Hispanic regardless of race; all people identifying as American Indian, regardless of Hispanic ethnicity; etc.

"Relative concentration" is a measure that compares the proportion of population within each Census block group data unit that identify as HSPBIPOC alone to the proportion of all people that live within the 775 block groups in the Sierra Nevada RRK region that identify as HSPBIPOC alone. Example: if 5.2% of people in a block group identify as HSPBIPOC, the block group has twice the proportion of HSPBIPOC individuals compared to the Sierra Nevada RRK region (2.6%), and more than three times the proportion compared to the entire state of California (1.6%). If the local proportion is twice the regional proportion, then HSPBIPOC individuals are highly concentrated locally.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Version Version 5.0
Last Updated March 28, 2025, 08:35 (UTC)
Created March 7, 2025, 07:52 (UTC)
categorical_values {"3": 11834772, "2": 10761148, "4": 4945948, "1": 292960, "6": 685316, "5": 929007, "7": 294036}
category /Social and Cultural Well-Being/Equitable Opportunity/Hispanic and or Black, Indigenous Or People of Color (HSPBIPOC) Population Concentration
collection_name California Landscape Metrics
creation_method Data reporting units are Census block groups. Standard block groups are clusters of Census blocks within the same census tract that have the same first digit of their 4-character census block number (e.g., Blocks 3001, 3002, 3003 to 3999 in census tract 1210.02 belong to block group 3). Block groups delineated for the 2020 Census generally contain 600 to 3,000 people. Census blocks are statistical areas bounded on all sides by visible features(e.g., streets, roads, streams, and railroad tracks), and by non-visibleboundaries (e.g., city, town, township, county limits, and short line-of-sightextensions of streets and roads). Census blocks in suburban and rural areasmay be large, irregular, and bounded by a variety of features (e.g., roads,streams, and/or transmission line rights-of-way). In remote areas, censusblocks may encompass hundreds of square miles. Census blocks cover allterritory in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Island areas. Blocks donot cross the boundaries of any entity for which the Census Bureau tabulatesdata. See note 1.Data describing concentrations of population characteristics that arepotentially related to environmental justice issues were provided to CWIthrough a collaboration with the USDA Forest Service, Geospatial Technologyand Applications Center. The concentration methodology was created by GTAC forsocial science analysis applications within the Forest Service; it is based onresearch published in 2018 and 2020 (See Note 2). Data were compiled andprepared for incorporating in the Task Force Regions by Mark Adams,Geographer, USFS-GTAC. For more information, contact:[mark.adams1@usda.gov](mailto:mark.adams1@usda.gov).Note; 1) The pixels attributed with a categorical data unit describing therelative concentration of HSPBIPOC population are derived from a vectorpolygon feature that has been modified as follows: Census block groups fromthe Census Bureau's TIGER/Line geodatabase features for 2021 are selectedbased on their spatial intersection with the Sierra Nevada RRK boundary. Theresulting 775 block group features are modified by first erasing from thefeature the area of all constituent Census blocks which have neither housingnor population recorded in the PL-94171 Redistricting dataset for 2020. In asecond step, areas of federal and state public lands on which housing bydefinition is not located are erased from the interim feature. The result is ablock group feature that depicts to the maximum practicable extent the areaswithin the block group where people that are represented by the CensusBureau's Census count could actually be residing. It is this modified blockgroup feature that has been rasterized to match the 30m pixel grid that allbiophysical datasets are reported in.References for the concentration levels analysis:Adams, Mark D. O. and S. Charnley. 2020. The Environmental JusticeImplications of Managing Hazardous Fuels on Federal Forest Lands, Annals ofthe American Association of Geographers, 110:6, 1907-1935, DOI:10.1080/24694452.2020.1727307Adams, Mark D. O. and S. Charnley. 2018. Environmental justice and U.S. ForestService hazardous fuels reduction: A spatial method for impact assessment offederal resource management actions.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2017.12.014Data were derived from the 2020 Census Total population for the block groupfrom the redistricting file (PL 94-171) of the 2020 Census, released summer2021. The raw data were obtained directly from the Census Bureau data settable named in "Origin"; all data sets downloaded from census.data.gov andjoined to TIGER Census block group features. There are 775 Census block groupswithin or intersecting the Sierra Nevada RRK region boundary.
data_resolution 30m Raster
data_units Categorical - Class Code 1: Low. The subject population concentration is low; the local proportion of the subject population variable is between roughly 10% and 50% of the corresponding proportion in the Sierra Nevada region population in total - Class Code 2: Somewhat low. The subject population concentration is somewhat low; the local proportion of the subject population variable is between roughly 50% and 85% of the corresponding proportion in the Sierra Nevada region population in total - Class Code 3: Proportionate. The subject population concentration is roughly proportionate to the corresponding proportion in the Sierra Nevada region population in total - from about 85% to 115% of the regional proportion - Class Code 4: Somewhat high. The subject population concentration is somewhat high; the local proportion of the subject population variable is between roughly 115% and 150% of the corresponding proportion in the Sierra Nevada region population in total - Class Code 5: High. The subject population concentration is high; the local proportion of the subject population variable is between roughly 150% and 200% of the corresponding proportion in the Sierra Nevada region population in total - Class Code 6: Very high. The subject population concentration is very high; the local proportion of the subject population variable roughly 2 to 3 times that of the corresponding proportion in the Sierra Nevada region population in total - Class Code 7: Extremely high. The subject population concentration is very extremely high; the local proportion of the subject population variable is at least 3 times that of the corresponding proportion in the Sierra Nevada region population in total (the upper limit is determined by natural breaks,if exceptional outliers are present, but is typically over 6 times (600%)
data_vintage 2020
date_updated August 2024
element Equitable Opportunity
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file_name SNV_HSPBIPOC_2020_202406_T2_v5
format GeoTiff
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harvest_source_id a2637971-af12-457f-ae4a-831d2202a539
harvest_source_title WIFIRE Commons
maximum_value 7.0
metric_definition_and_relevance Relative concentration of the Sierra Nevada region's Hispanic and/or Black, Indigenous or person of color (HSPBIPOC) population. The variable HSPBIPOC is equivalent to all individuals who select a combination of racial and ethnic identity in response to the Census questionnaire EXCEPT those who select "not Hispanic" for the ethnic identity question, and "white race alone" for the racial identity question. This is the most encompassing possible definition of racial and ethnic identities that may be associated with historic underservice by agencies, or be more likely to express environmental justice concerns (as compared to predominantly non-Hispanic white communities). Until 2021, federal agency guidance for considering environmental justice impacts of proposed actions focused on how the actions affected "racial or ethnic minorities." "Racial minority" is an increasingly meaningless concept in the USA, and particularly so in California, where only about 3/8 of the state's population identifies as non-Hispanic and white race alone - a clear majority of Californians identify as Hispanic and/or not white. Because many federal and state map screening tools continue to rely on "minority population" as an indicator for flagging potentially vulnerable / disadvantaged/ underserved populations, our analysis includes the variable HSPBIPOC which is effectively "all minority" population according to the now outdated federal environmental justice direction. A more meaningful analysis for the potential impact of forest management actions on specific populations considers racial or ethnic populations individually: e.g., all people identifying as Hispanic regardless of race; all people identifying as American Indian, regardless of Hispanic ethnicity; etc."Relative concentration" is a measure that compares the proportion ofpopulation within each Census block group data unit that identify as HSPBIPOCalone to the proportion of all people that live within the 775 block groups inthe Sierra Nevada RRK region that identify as HSPBIPOC alone. Example: if 5.2%of people in a block group identify as HSPBIPOC, the block group has twice theproportion of HSPBIPOC individuals compared to the Sierra Nevada RRK region(2.6%), and more than three times the proportion compared to the entire stateof California (1.6%). If the local proportion is twice the regionalproportion, then HSPBIPOC individuals are highly concentrated locally.
minimum_value 1.0
pillar Social and Cultural Well-Being
spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-122.28837036754696, 35.05769372687348], [-117.55631977151295, 35.05769372687348], [-117.55631977151295, 42.003593546357536], [-122.28837036754696, 42.003593546357536], [-122.28837036754696, 35.05769372687348]]]}
sub_element Hispanic and or Black, Indigenous Or People of Color (HSPBIPOC) Population Concentration
tier 2