NOTE: A more current version of the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is available: PAD-US 2.0 https://doi.org/10.5066/P955KPLE. The USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is the nation's inventory of protected areas, including public open space and voluntarily provided, private protected areas, identified as an A-16 National Geospatial Data Asset in the Cadastral Theme (http://www.fgdc.gov/ngda-reports/NGDA_Datasets.html). PAD-US is an ongoing project with several published versions of a spatial database of areas dedicated to the preservation of biological diversity, and other natural, recreational or cultural uses, managed for these purposes through legal or other effective means. The geodatabase maps and describes public open space and other protected areas. Most areas are public lands owned in fee; however, long-term easements, leases, and agreements or administrative designations documented in agency management plans may be included. The PAD-US database strives to be a complete “best available” inventory of protected areas (lands and waters) including data provided by managing agencies and organizations. The dataset is built in collaboration with several partners and data providers (http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/padus/stewards/). See Supplemental Information Section of this metadata record for more information on partnerships and links to major partner organizations. As this dataset is a compilation of many data sets; data completeness, accuracy, and scale may vary. Federal and state data are generally complete, while local government and private protected area coverage is about 50% complete, and depends on data management capacity in the state. For completeness estimates by state: http://www.protectedlands.net/partners. As the federal and state data are reasonably complete; focus is shifting to completing the inventory of local gov and voluntarily provided, private protected areas. The PAD-US geodatabase contains over twenty-five attributes and four feature classes to support data management, queries, web mapping services and analyses: Marine Protected Areas (MPA), Fee, Easements and Combined. The data contained in the MPA Feature class are provided directly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Protected Areas Center (MPA, http://marineprotectedareas.noaa.gov ) tracking the National Marine Protected Areas System. The Easements feature class contains data provided directly from the National Conservation Easement Database (NCED, http://conservationeasement.us ) The MPA and Easement feature classes contain some attributes unique to the sole source databases tracking them (e.g. Easement Holder Name from NCED, Protection Level from NOAA MPA Inventory). The "Combined" feature class integrates all fee, easement and MPA features as the best available national inventory of protected areas in the standard PAD-US framework. In addition to geographic boundaries, PAD-US describes the protection mechanism category (e.g. fee, easement, designation, other), owner and managing agency, designation type, unit name, area, public access and state name in a suite of standardized fields. An informative set of references (i.e. Aggregator Source, GIS Source, GIS Source Date) and "local" or source data fields provide a transparent link between standardized PAD-US fields and information from authoritative data sources. The areas in PAD-US are also assigned conservation measures that assess management intent to permanently protect biological diversity: the nationally relevant "GAP Status Code" and global "IUCN Category" standard. A wealth of attributes facilitates a wide variety of data analyses and creates a context for data to be used at local, regional, state, national and international scales. More information about specific updates and changes to this PAD-US version can be found in the Data Quality Information section of this metadata record as well as on the PAD-US website, http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/padus/data/history/.) Due to the completeness and complexity of these data, it is highly recommended to review the Supplemental Information Section of the metadata record as well as the Data Use Constraints, to better understand data partnerships as well as see tips and ideas of appropriate uses of the data and how to parse out the data that you are looking for. For more information regarding the PAD-US dataset please visit, http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/padus/. To find more data resources as well as view example analysis performed using PAD-US data visit, http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/padus/resources/. The PAD-US dataset and data standard are compiled and maintained by the USGS Gap Analysis Program, http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/ . For more information about data standards and how the data are aggregated please review the “Standards and Methods Manual for PAD-US,” http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/padus/data/standards/ .

The USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is the nation's inventory of protected areas, including public open space and voluntarily provided, private protected areas, identified as an A-16 National Geospatial Data Asset in the Cadastral Theme (http://www.fgdc.gov/ngda-reports/NGDA_Datasets.html). PAD-US is an ongoing project with several published versions of a spatial database of areas dedicated to the preservation of biological diversity, and other natural, recreational or cultural uses, managed for these purposes through legal or other effective means. The geodatabase maps and describes public open space and other protected areas. Most areas are public lands owned in fee; however, long-term easements, leases, and agreements or administrative designations documented in agency management plans may be included. The PAD-US database strives to be a complete “best available” inventory of protected areas (lands and waters) including data provided by managing agencies and organizations. The dataset is built in collaboration with several partners and data providers (http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/padus/stewards/). See Supplemental Information Section of this metadata record for more information on partnerships and links to major partner organizations. As this dataset is a compilation of many data sets; data completeness, accuracy, and scale may vary. Federal and state data are generally complete, while local government and private protected area coverage is about 50% complete, and depends on data management capacity in the state. For completeness estimates by state: http://www.protectedlands.net/partners. As the federal and state data are reasonably complete; focus is shifting to completing the inventory of local gov and voluntarily provided, private protected areas. The PAD-US geodatabase contains over twenty-five attributes and four feature classes to support data management, queries, web mapping services and analyses: Marine Protected Areas (MPA), Fee, Easements and Combined. The data contained in the MPA Feature class are provided directly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Protected Areas Center (MPA, http://marineprotectedareas.noaa.gov ) tracking the National Marine Protected Areas System. The Easements feature class contains data provided directly from the National Conservation Easement Database (NCED, http://conservationeasement.us ) The MPA and Easement feature classes contain some attributes unique to the sole source databases tracking them (e.g. Easement Holder Name from NCED, Protection Level from NOAA MPA Inventory). The "Combined" feature class integrates all fee, easement and MPA features as the best available national inventory of protected areas in the standard PAD-US framework. In addition to geographic boundaries, PAD-US describes the protection mechanism category (e.g. fee, easement, designation, other), owner and managing agency, designation type, unit name, area, public access and state name in a suite of standardized fields. An informative set of references (i.e. Aggregator Source, GIS Source, GIS Source Date) and "local" or source data fields provide a transparent link between standardized PAD-US fields and information from authoritative data sources. The areas in PAD-US are also assigned conservation measures that assess management intent to permanently protect biological diversity: the nationally relevant "GAP Status Code" and global "IUCN Category" standard. A wealth of attributes facilitates a wide variety of data analyses and creates a context for data to be used at local, regional, state, national and international scales. More information about specific updates and changes to this PAD-US version can be found in the Data Quality Information section of this metadata record as well as on the PAD-US website, http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/padus/data/history/.) Due to the completeness and complexity of these data, it is highly recommended to review the Supplemental Information Section of the metadata record as well as the Data Use Constraints, to better understand data partnerships as well as see tips and ideas of appropriate uses of the data and how to parse out the data that you are looking for. For more information regarding the PAD-US dataset please visit, http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/padus/. To find more data resources as well as view example analysis performed using PAD-US data visit, http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/padus/resources/. The PAD-US dataset and data standard are compiled and maintained by the USGS Gap Analysis Program, http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/ . For more information about data standards and how the data are aggregated please review the “Standards and Methods Manual for PAD-US,” http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/padus/data/standards/ .

The Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is a geodatabase, managed by U. S. Geological Survey Gap Analysis Program, that illustrates and describes public land ownership, management and other conservation lands, including voluntarily provided privately protected areas. Please note that PAD-US version 1.4 is now the most current version available. Please access PAD-US 1.4 here: http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/padus/data/. The geodatabase contains four feature classes such as, Marine Protected Areas (MPA) and Easements that each contains uniquely associated attributes. These two feature classes are combined with the PAD-US Fee feature class to provide a full inventory of protected areas in a common schema (i.e. Combined file). Legitimate and other protected area overlaps exist in the full inventory, with Easements loaded on top of Fee and MPAs under both. Parcel data within a protected area are dissolved in this file that powers the PAD-US Viewer. As overlaps exist, GAP creates separate analytical layers to summarize area statistics for "GAP Status Code" and "Owner Name". Contact the PAD-US Coordinator for more information. The lands included in PAD-US are assigned conservation measures that qualify their intent to manage lands for the preservation of biological diversity and to other natural, recreational and cultural uses; managed for these purposes through legal or other effective means. The geodatabase includes: 1) Geographic boundaries of public land ownership and voluntarily provided private conservation lands (e.g., Nature Conservancy Preserves); 2) The combination land owner, land manager, management designation or type, parcel name, GIS Acres and source of geographic information of each mapped land unit 3) GAP Status Code conservation measure of each parcel based on USGS National Gap Analysis Program (GAP) protection level categories which provide a measurement of management intent for long-term biodiversity conservation 4) IUCN category for a protected area's inclusion into UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre's World Database for Protected Areas. IUCN protected areas are defined as, "A clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values" and are categorized following a classification scheme available through USGS GAP; 5) World Database of Protected Areas (WDPA) Site Codes linking the multiple parcels of a single protected area in PAD-US and connecting them to the Global Community. The geodatabase contains a Marine Protected Area (MPA) feature class and Easements feature class, each with uniquely associated attribute. These two feature classes are combined with the PAD-US fee feature class with standard PAD-US attributes to provide a full inventory of protected areas in a common schema. As legitimate and other overlaps exist in the combined inventory GAP creates separate analytical layers to obtain area statistics for "GAP Status Code" and "Owner Name". PAD-US version 1.3 Combined updates include: 1) State, local government and private protected area updates delivered September 2011 from PAD-US State Data Stewards: CO (Colorado State University), FL (Florida Natural Areas Inventory), ID (Idaho Fish and Game), MA (The Commonwealth's Office of Geographic Information Systems, MassGIS), MO (University of Missouri, MoRAP), MT (Montana Natural Heritage Program), NM (Natural Heritage New Mexico), OR (Oregon Natural Heritage Program), VA (Department of Conservation and Recreation, Virginia Natural Heritage Program). 2) Select local government (i.e. county, city) protected areas (3,632) across the country (to complement the current PAD-US inventory) aggregated by the Trust for Public Land (TPL) for their Conservation Almanac that tracks the conservation finance movement across the country. 3) A new Date of Establishment field that identifies the year an area was designated or otherwise protected, attributed for 86% of GAP Status Code 1 and 2 protected areas. Additional dates will be provided in future updates. 4) A national wilderness area update from wilderness.net 5) The Access field that describes public access to protected areas as defined by data stewards or categorical assignment by Primary Designation Type. . The new Access Source field documents local vs. categorical assignments. See the PAD-US Standard Manual for more information: gapanalysis.usgs.gov/padus 6) The transfer of conservation measures (i.e. GAP Status Codes, IUCN Categories) and documentation (i.e. GAP Code Source, GAP Code Date) from PAD-US version 1.2 or categorical assignments (see PAD-US Standard) when not provided by data stewards 7) Integration of non-sensitive National Conservation Easement Database (NCED) easements from August 2011, July 2012 with PAD-US version 1.2 easements. Duplicates were removed, unless 'Stacked' = Y and multiple easements exist. 8) Unique ID's transferred from NCED or requested for new easements. NCED and PAD-US are linked via Source UID in the PAD-US version 1.3 Easement feature class. 9) Official (member and eligible) MPAs from the NOAA MPA Inventory (March 2011, www.mpa.gov) translated into the PAD-US schema with conservation measures transferred from PAD-US version 1.2 or categorically assigned to new protected areas. Contact the PAD-US Coordinator for documentation of categorical GAP Status Code assignments for MPAs. 10) Identified MPA records that overlap existing protected areas in the PAD-US Fee feature class (i.e. PADUS Overlap field in MPA feature class). For example, many National Wildlife Refuges and National Parks are also MPAs and are represented in the PAD-US MPA and Fee feature classes.(ei

An area depicting a type of special use authorization (usually granted for linear rights-of-way) that is utilized in those situations where a conveyance of a limited and transferable interest in NFS land is necessary or desirable to serve or facilitate authorized long-term uses, and that may be compensable according to its terms. This data is intended for read-only use. The PAD-US feature classes were developed by the Forest Service for submission to the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). It is the official inventory of public parks and other protected open space. With more than 3 billion acres in 150,000 holdings, the spatial data in PAD-US represents public lands held in trust by thousands of national, State and regional/local governments, as well as non-profit conservation organizations. PAD-US is published by the U.S. Geological Survey Gap Analysis Program (GAP). GAP produces data and tools that help meet critical national challenges such as biodiversity, conservation, recreation, public health, climate change adaptation, and infrastructure investment.

An area depicting designated land boundaries, excluding boundaries designated by proclamation. This data is intended for read-only use. The PAD-US feature classes were developed by the Forest Service for submission to the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). It is the official inventory of public parks and other protected open space. With more than 3 billion acres in 150,000 holdings, the spatial data in PAD-US represents public lands held in trust by thousands of national, State and regional/local governments, as well as non-profit conservation organizations. PAD-US is published by the U.S. Geological Survey Gap Analysis Program (GAP). GAP produces data and tools that help meet critical national challenges such as biodiversity, conservation, recreation, public health, climate change adaptation, and infrastructure investment. Metadata

An area depicting ownership parcels of the surface estate. This data is intended for read-only use. The PAD-US feature classes were developed by the Forest Service for submission to the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). It is the official inventory of public parks and other protected open space. With more than 3 billion acres in 150,000 holdings, the spatial data in PAD-US represents public lands held in trust by thousands of national, State and regional/local governments, as well as non-profit conservation organizations. PAD-US is published by the U.S. Geological Survey Gap Analysis Program (GAP). GAP produces data and tools that help meet critical national challenges such as biodiversity, conservation, recreation, public health, climate change adaptation, and infrastructure investment. USFS PAD-US data is pulled weekly from USFS Lands data. This dataset is more current than the combined annual update of PAD-US from USGS GAP.

Analysis of ‘PADUS FS National Designated Areas (Feature Layer)’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/027645f9-181e-4a54-a024-dbeae85a8d9f on 28 January 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

An area depicting designated land boundaries, excluding boundaries designated by proclamation. This data is intended for read-only use. The PAD-US feature classes were developed by the Forest Service for submission to the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). It is the official inventory of public parks and other protected open space. With more than 3 billion acres in 150,000 holdings, the spatial data in PAD-US represents public lands held in trust by thousands of national, State and regional/local governments, as well as non-profit conservation organizations. PAD-US is published by the U.S. Geological Survey Gap Analysis Program (GAP). GAP produces data and tools that help meet critical national challenges such as biodiversity, conservation, recreation, public health, climate change adaptation, and infrastructure investment. Metadata

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

Analysis of ‘PADUS FS Scenic and Conservation Easement Areas (Feature Layer)’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/0b68e4b9-bfa4-4c73-a941-0f69cca7994e on 26 January 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

An area depicting a type of special use authorization (usually granted for linear rights-of-way) that is utilized in those situations where a conveyance of a limited and transferable interest in NFS land is necessary or desirable to serve or facilitate authorized long-term uses, and that may be compensable according to its terms. This data is intended for read-only use. The PAD-US feature classes were developed by the Forest Service for submission to the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). It is the official inventory of public parks and other protected open space. With more than 3 billion acres in 150,000 holdings, the spatial data in PAD-US represents public lands held in trust by thousands of national, State and regional/local governments, as well as non-profit conservation organizations. PAD-US is published by the U.S. Geological Survey Gap Analysis Program (GAP). GAP produces data and tools that help meet critical national challenges such as biodiversity, conservation, recreation, public health, climate change adaptation, and infrastructure investment.

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

.gdb geodatabase .zip file consist of a file geodatabase containing two feature classes: the first feature class, called ‘PADUSXXXXFeeEasement’, contains the fee and easement lands; the second feature class, called ‘PADUSX_XMPA’, is the National MPA database. The national file is included in every download as not all of them are associated with a single State, Region, or LCC
http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/padus/data/download/

Analysis of ‘PADUS FS Managed Surface Ownership Parcels (Feature Layer)’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/5305788f-808e-464a-9942-b0a1858cb867 on 11 February 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

An area depicting ownership parcels of the surface estate. This data is intended for read-only use. The PAD-US feature classes were developed by the Forest Service for submission to the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). It is the official inventory of public parks and other protected open space. With more than 3 billion acres in 150,000 holdings, the spatial data in PAD-US represents public lands held in trust by thousands of national, State and regional/local governments, as well as non-profit conservation organizations. PAD-US is published by the U.S. Geological Survey Gap Analysis Program (GAP). GAP produces data and tools that help meet critical national challenges such as biodiversity, conservation, recreation, public health, climate change adaptation, and infrastructure investment. USFS PAD-US data is pulled weekly from USFS Lands data. This dataset is more current than the combined annual update of PAD-US from USGS GAP.

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

Analysis of ‘PADUS FS Scenic and Conservation Easement Areas (Feature Layer)’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/d3142f04-ae9f-4579-9172-dd54f8b6dcfc on 11 February 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

An area depicting a type of special use authorization (usually granted for linear rights-of-way) that is utilized in those situations where a conveyance of a limited and transferable interest in NFS land is necessary or desirable to serve or facilitate authorized long-term uses, and that may be compensable according to its terms. This data is intended for read-only use. The PAD-US feature classes were developed by the Forest Service for submission to the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). It is the official inventory of public parks and other protected open space. With more than 3 billion acres in 150,000 holdings, the spatial data in PAD-US represents public lands held in trust by thousands of national, State and regional/local governments, as well as non-profit conservation organizations. PAD-US is published by the U.S. Geological Survey Gap Analysis Program (GAP). GAP produces data and tools that help meet critical national challenges such as biodiversity, conservation, recreation, public health, climate change adaptation, and infrastructure investment.

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

Analysis of ‘PADUS FS Proclaimed NF and National Grassland Boundaries (Feature Layer)’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/25174075-9db7-4665-bf4d-498efc5491f1 on 11 February 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

An area depicting designated land boundaries which are designated by proclamation. This data is intended for read-only use. The PAD-US feature classes were developed by the Forest Service for submission to the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). It is the official inventory of public parks and other protected open space. With more than 3 billion acres in 150,000 holdings, the spatial data in PAD-US represents public lands held in trust by thousands of national, State and regional/local governments, as well as non-profit conservation organizations. PAD-US is published by the U.S. Geological Survey Gap Analysis Program (GAP). GAP produces data and tools that help meet critical national challenges such as biodiversity, conservation, recreation, public health, climate change adaptation, and infrastructure investment. Metadata

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

Analysis of ‘PADUS FS Proclaimed NF and National Grassland Boundaries (Feature Layer)’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/528a1e63-1be0-452e-b5f5-a97332508c7e on 26 January 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

An area depicting designated land boundaries which are designated by proclamation. This data is intended for read-only use. The PAD-US feature classes were developed by the Forest Service for submission to the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). It is the official inventory of public parks and other protected open space. With more than 3 billion acres in 150,000 holdings, the spatial data in PAD-US represents public lands held in trust by thousands of national, State and regional/local governments, as well as non-profit conservation organizations. PAD-US is published by the U.S. Geological Survey Gap Analysis Program (GAP). GAP produces data and tools that help meet critical national challenges such as biodiversity, conservation, recreation, public health, climate change adaptation, and infrastructure investment. Metadata

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

This is a staging dataset created for integration into the official PAD-US dataset and is not intended for regular use. This dataset only contains Forest Service information. It was developed by the Forest Service for submission to the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) which is the official inventory of public parks and other protected open space. PAD-US is published by the U.S. Geological Survey Gap Analysis Program (USGS GAP). This dataset is updated weekly and is more current than the combined annual update of PAD-US from USGS GAP.

The Gap Analysis Program produces data and tools that help meet critical national challenges such as biodiversity conservation, renewable energy development, climate change adaptation, and infrastructure investment. The Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is the official inventory of protected open space in the United States. With over 715 million acres in thousands of holdings, the spatial data in PAD-US include public lands held in trust by national, State, and some local governments, and by some nonprofit conservation organizations. For additional information, visit the PAD-US Metadata record: https://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/padus/data/metadata/

These data and associated R scripts were used to create the analysis for "Assessing the efficacy of protected and multiple-use lands for bird conservation in the U.S." Authored by Dornak et al. to be published in PLOS ONE

Link to the ScienceBase Item Summary page for the item described by this metadata record. Service Protocol: Link to the ScienceBase Item Summary page for the item described by this metadata record. Application Profile: Web Browser. Link Function: information

Spatial analysis and statistical summaries of the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) provide land managers and decision makers with a general assessment of management intent for biodiversity protection, natural resource management, and recreation access across the nation. The PAD-US 4.0 Combined Fee, Designation, Easement feature class (with Military Lands and Tribal Areas from the Proclamation and Other Planning Boundaries feature class) was modified to remove overlaps, avoiding overestimation in protected area statistics and to support user needs. A Python scripted process ("PADUS4_0_VectorAnalysis_Script_Python3.zip") associated with this data release prioritized overlapping designations (e.g. Wilderness within a National Forest) based upon their relative biodiversity conservation status (e.g. GAP Status Code 1 over 2), public access values (in the order of Closed, Restricted, Open, Unknown), and geodatabase load order (records are deliberately organized in the PAD-US full inventory with fee owned lands loaded before overlapping management designations, and easements). Vector Analysis ("PADUS4_0VectorAnalysis_GAP_PADUS_Only_ClipCENSUS.zip") data was created by clipping the PAD-US 4.0 Spatial Analysis and Statistics results to the Census state boundary file to define the extent and serve as a common denominator for statistical summaries. Boundaries of interest to stakeholders (State, Department of the Interior Region, Congressional District, County, EcoRegions I-IV, Urban Areas, Landscape Conservation Cooperative) were incorporated into separate geodatabase feature classes to support various data summaries ("PADUS4_0_VectorAnalysisFile_OtherExtents_ClipCENSUS2022.zip"). Comma-separated Value (CSV) tables ("PADUS4_0_SummaryStatistics_TabularData_CSV.zip") provided as an alternative format and enable users to explore and download summary statistics of interest from the PAD-US Statistics Dashboard ( https://www.usgs.gov/programs/gap-analysis-project/science/pad-us-statistics ). In addition, a "flattened" version of the PAD-US 4.0 combined file without other extent boundaries ("PADUS4_0VectorAnalysis_GAP_PADUS_Only_ClipCENSUS.zip") allow for other applications that require a representation of overall protection status without overlapping designation boundaries. The "PADUS4_0VectorAnalysis_State_Clip_CENSUS2022" feature class ("PADUS4_0_VectorAnalysisFile_OtherExtents_ClipCENSUS2022.gdb") is the source of the PAD-US 4.0 Raster Analysis child item. Note, the PAD-US inventory is now considered functionally complete with the vast majority of land protection types represented in some manner, while work continues to maintain updates and improve data quality (see inventory completeness estimates at: http://www.protectedlands.net/data-stewards/ ). In addition, changes in protected area status between versions of the PAD-US may be attributed to improving the completeness and accuracy of the spatial data more than actual management actions or new acquisitions. USGS provides no legal warranty for the use of this data. While PAD-US is the official aggregation of protected areas ( https://ngda-portfolio-community-geoplatform.hub.arcgis.com/pages/portfolio ), agencies are the best source of their lands data.

The Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is a geodatabase, managed by USGS GAP, that illustrates and describes public land ownership, management and other conservation lands, including voluntarily provided privately protected areas. The State, Regional and LCC geodatabases contain two feature classes. The PADUS1_3_FeeEasement feature class and the national MPA feature class. Legitimate and other protected area overlaps exist in the full inventory, with Easements loaded on top of Fee. Parcel data within a protected area are dissolved in this file that powers the PAD-US Viewer. As overlaps exist, GAP creates separate analytical layers to summarize area statistics for "GAP Status Code" and "Owner Name". Contact the PAD-US Coordinator for more information. The lands included in PAD-US are assigned conservation measures that qualify their intent to manage lands for the preservation of biological diversity and to other natural, recreational and cultural uses; managed for these purposes through legal or other effective means. The geodatabase includes: 1) Geographic boundaries of public land ownership and voluntarily provided private conservation lands (e.g., Nature Conservancy Preserves); 2) The combination land owner, land manager, management designation or type, parcel name, GIS Acres and source of geographic information of each mapped land unit 3) GAP Status Code conservation measure of each parcel based on USGS National Gap Analysis Program (GAP) protection level categories which provide a measurement of management intent for long-term biodiversity conservation 4) IUCN category for a protected area's inclusion into UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre's World Database for Protected Areas. IUCN protected areas are defined as, "A clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values" and are categorized following a classification scheme available through USGS GAP; 5) World Database of Protected Areas (WDPA) Site Codes linking the multiple parcels of a single protected area in PAD-US and connecting them to the Global Community. As legitimate and other overlaps exist in the combined inventory GAP creates separate analytical layers to obtain area statistics for "GAP Status Code" and "Owner Name". PAD-US version 1.3 Combined updates include: 1) State, local government and private protected area updates delivered September 2011 from PAD-US State Data Stewards: CO (Colorado State University), FL (Florida Natural Areas Inventory), ID (Idaho Fish and Game), MA (The Commonwealth's Office of Geographic Information Systems, MassGIS), MO (University of Missouri, MoRAP), MT (Montana Natural Heritage Program), NM (Natural Heritage New Mexico), OR (Oregon Natural Heritage Program), VA (Department of Conservation and Recreation, Virginia Natural Heritage Program). 2) Select local government (i.e. county, city) protected areas (3,632) across the country (to complement the current PAD-US inventory) aggregated by the Trust for Public Land (TPL) for their Conservation Almanac that tracks the conservation finance movement across the country. 3) A new Date of Establishment field that identifies the year an area was designated or otherwise protected, attributed for 86% of GAP Status Code 1 and 2 protected areas. Additional dates will be provided in future updates. 4) A national wilderness area update from wilderness.net 5) The Access field that describes public access to protected areas as defined by data stewards or categorical assignment by Primary Designation Type. . The new Access Source field documents local vs. categorical assignments. See the PAD-US Standard Manual for more information: gapanalysis.usgs.gov/padus 6) The transfer of conservation measures (i.e. GAP Status Codes, IUCN Categories) and documentation (i.e. GAP Code Source, GAP Code Date) from PAD-US version 1.2 or categorical assignments (see PAD-US Standard) when not provided by data stewards 7) Integration of non-sensitive National Conservation Easement Database (NCED) easements from August 2011, July 2012 with PAD-US version 1.2 easements. Duplicates were removed, unless 'Stacked' = Y and multiple easements exist. 8) Unique ID's transferred from NCED or requested for new easements. NCED and PAD-US are linked via Source UID in the PAD-US version 1.3 Easement feature class. 9) Official (member and eligible) MPAs from the NOAA MPA Inventory (March 2011, www.mpa.gov) translated into the PAD-US schema with conservation measures transferred from PAD-US version 1.2 or categorically assigned to new protected areas. Contact the PAD-US Coordinator for documentation of categorical GAP Status Code assignments for MPAs. 10) Identified MPA records that overlap existing protected areas in the PAD-US Fee feature class (i.e. PADUS Overlap field in MPA feature class). For example, many National Wildlife Refuges and National Parks are also MPAs and are represented in the PAD-US MPA and Fee feature classes.

The Gap Analysis Program (GAP) is an element of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). GAP helps to implement the Department of Interior?s goals of inventory, monitoring, research, and information transfer. GAP has three primary goals: 1 Identify conservation gaps that help keep common species common; 2 Provide conservation information to the public so that informed resource management decisions can be made; and 3 Facilitate the application of GAP data and analysis to specific resource management activities. To implement these goals, GAP carries out the following objectives: --Map the land cover of the United States --Map predicted distributions of vertebrate species for the U.S. --Map the location, ownership and stewardship of protected areas --Document the representation of vertebrate species and land cover types in areas managed for the long-term maintenance of biodiversity --Provide this information to the public and those entities charged with land use research, policy, planning, and management --Build institutional cooperation in the application of this information to state and regional management activities. GAP provides the following data and web services: The Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is a geodatabase that illustrates and describes public land ownership, management and other conservation lands, including voluntarily provided privately protected areas. The PADUS GAP Status Layer web service can be found at http://gis1.usgs.gov/arcgis/rest/services/gap/PADUS_Status/MapServer . The Land Cover Data creates a seamless data set for the contiguous United States from the four regional Gap Analysis Projects and the LANDFIRE project. The Raster data in both ArcGIS Grid and ERDAS Imagine format is available for download at http://gis1.usgs.gov/csas/gap/viewer/land_cover/Map.aspx . In addition to the raster datasets the data is available in Web Mapping Services (WMS) format for each of the six NVC classification levels (Class, Subclass, Formation, Division, Macrogroup, Ecological System) at the following links. http://gis1.usgs.gov/arcgis/rest/services/gap/GAP_Land_Cover_NVC_Class_Landuse/MapServer http://gis1.usgs.gov/arcgis/rest/services/gap/GAP_Land_Cover_NVC_Subclass_Landuse/MapServer http://gis1.usgs.gov/arcgis/rest/services/gap/GAP_Land_Cover_NVC_Formation_Landuse/MapServer http://gis1.usgs.gov/arcgis/rest/services/gap/GAP_Land_Cover_NVC_Division_Landuse/MapServer http://gis1.usgs.gov/arcgis/rest/services/gap/GAP_Land_Cover_NVC_Macrogroup_Landuse/MapServer http://gis1.usgs.gov/arcgis/rest/services/gap/GAP_Land_Cover_Ecological_Systems_Landuse/MapServer The GAP species range data show a coarse representation of the total areal extent of a species or the geographic limits within which a species can be found (Morrison and Hall 2002). The GAP species distribution models represent the areas where species are predicted to occur based on habitat associations. A full report documenting the parameters used in each species model can be found via: http://gis1.usgs.gov/csas/gap/viewer/species/Map.aspx Web map services for species distribution models can be accessed from: http://gis1.usgs.gov/arcgis/rest/services/NAT_Species_Birds http://gis1.usgs.gov/arcgis/rest/services/NAT_Species_Mammals http://gis1.usgs.gov/arcgis/rest/services/NAT_Species_Amphibians http://gis1.usgs.gov/arcgis/rest/services/NAT_Species_Reptiles A table listing all of GAP's available web map services can be found here: http://gapanalysis.usgs.gov/species/data/web-map-services/