This is series-level metadata for the USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) data released by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). PAD-US is the nation's inventory of protected areas, including public land and voluntarily provided private protected areas. Starting with version 1.4 PAD-US was identified as an A-16 National Geospatial Data Asset in the Cadastre Theme ( https://ngda-cadastre-geoplatform.hub.arcgis.com/ ). The PAD-US is an ongoing project with several published versions of a spatial database including areas dedicated to the preservation of biological diversity, and other natural (including extraction), recreational, or cultural uses, managed for these purposes through legal or other effective means. The database was originally designed to support biodiversity assessments; however, its scope expanded in recent years to include all open space public and nonprofit lands and waters. Most are public lands owned in fee (the owner of the property has full and irrevocable ownership of the land); however, permanent and long-term easements, leases, agreements, Congressional (e.g. 'Wilderness Area'), Executive (e.g. 'National Monument'), and administrative designations (e.g. 'Area of Critical Environmental Concern') documented in agency management plans are also included. The PAD-US strives to be a complete inventory of U.S. public land and other protected areas, compiling "best available" data provided by managing agencies and organizations. The PAD-US geodatabase maps and describes areas using thirty-six attributes and five separate feature classes representing the U.S. protected areas network: Fee (ownership parcels), Designation, Easement, Marine, Proclamation and Other Planning Boundaries. An additional Combined feature class includes the full PAD-US inventory to support data management, queries, web mapping services, and analyses. The Feature Class (FeatClass) field in the Combined layer allows users to extract data types as needed. A Federal Data Reference file geodatabase lookup table facilitates the extraction of authoritative federal data provided or recommended by managing agencies from the Combined PAD-US inventory. For more information regarding the PAD-US dataset please visit, https://www.usgs.gov/programs/gap-analysis-project/science/protected-areas/. For more information about data aggregation please review the PAD-US Data Manual available at https://www.usgs.gov/programs/gap-analysis-project/pad-us-data-manual . A version history of PAD-US updates is summarized below (See https://www.usgs.gov/programs/gap-analysis-project/pad-us-data-history for more information): - Current Version - January 2022 (Version 3.0) https://doi.org/10.5066/P9Q9LQ4B - Revised - September 2020 (Version 2.1) https://doi.org/10.5066/P92QM3NT - Revised - September 2018 (Version 2.0) https://doi.org/10.5066/P955KPLE - Revised - May 2016 (Version 1.4) https://doi.org/10.5066/F7G73BSZ - Revised - November 2012 (Version 1.3) https://doi.org/10.5066/F79Z92XD - Revised - April 2011 (Version 1.2 - available from the PAD-US: Team pad-us@usgs.gov) - Revised - May 2010 (Version 1.1 - available from the PAD-US: Team pad-us@usgs.gov) - First posted - April 2009 (Version 1.0 - available from the PAD-US: Team pad-us@usgs.gov) Comparing protected area trends between PAD-US versions is not recommended without consultation with USGS as many changes reflect improvements to agency and organization GIS systems, or conservation and recreation measure classification, rather than actual changes in protected area acquisition on the ground.

Important Note: This item is in mature support as of September 2023 and will be retired in December 2025. A new version of this item is available for your use. Esri recommends updating your maps and apps to use the new version.The USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is the official inventory of public parks and other protected open space. 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.GAP Status Code is a measure of management intent to permanently protect biodiversity. GAP 1 and 2 areas are primarily managed for biodiversity, GAP 3 are managed for multiple uses including conservation and extraction, GAP 4 no known mandate for biodiversity protection.This vector tile layer was created for use in a webmap with a feature layer created from the same data set.PAD-US is published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS), Gap Analysis Project (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. See the GAP webpage for more information about GAP and other GAP data including species and land cover.

NOTE: A more current version of the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is available: PAD-US 2.1 https://doi.org/10.5066/P92QM3NT. The USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is the nation's inventory of protected areas, including public land and voluntarily provided private protected areas, identified as an A-16 National Geospatial Data Asset in the Cadastre Theme (https://communities.geoplatform.gov/ngda-cadastre/). The PAD-US is an ongoing project with several published versions of a spatial database including areas dedicated to the preservation of biological diversity, and other natural (including extraction), recreational, or cultural uses, managed for these purposes through legal or other effective means. The database was originally designed to support biodiversity assessments; however, its scope expanded in recent years to include all public and nonprofit lands and waters. Most are public lands owned in fee; however, long-term easements, leases, agreements, Congressional (e.g. 'Wilderness Area'), Executive (e.g. 'National Monument'), and administrative designations (e.g. 'Area of Critical Environmental Concern') documented in agency management plans are also included. The PAD-US strives to be a complete inventory of public land and other protected areas, compiling “best available” data provided by managing agencies and organizations. The PAD-US geodatabase maps and describes areas with over twenty-five attributes in nine feature classes to support data management, queries, web mapping services, and analyses. NOTE: A more current version of the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is available: PAD-US 2.1 https://doi.org/10.5066/P92QM3NT This PAD-US Version 2.0 dataset includes a variety of updates and changes from the previous Version 1.4 dataset. The following list summarizes major updates and changes: 1) Expanded database structure with new layers: the geodatabase feature class structure now includes nine feature classes separating fee owned lands, conservation (and other) easements, management designations overlapping fee lands, marine areas, proclamation boundaries and various 'Combined' feature classes (e.g. 'Fee' + 'Easement' + 'Designation' feature classes); 2) Major update of the Federal estate including data from 8 agencies, developed in collaboration with the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Federal Lands Working Group (FLWG, https://communities.geoplatform.gov/ngda-govunits/federal-lands-workgroup/); 3) Major updates to 30 States and limited additions to 16 other States; 4) Integration of The Nature Conservancy's (TNC) Secured Lands geodatabase; 5) Integration of Ducks Unlimited's (DU) Conservation and Recreation Lands (CARL) database; 6) Integration of The Trust for Public Land's (TPL) Conservation Almanac database; 7) The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Lands database update: the national source of lands owned in fee or managed by TNC; 8) National Conservation Easement Database (NCED) update: complete update of non-sensitive (suitable for publication in the public domain) easements; 9) Complete National Marine Protected Areas (MPA) update: from the NOAA MPA Inventory, including conservation measure ('GAP Status Code', 'IUCN Category') review by NOAA; 10) First integration of Bureau of Energy Ocean Management (BOEM) managed marine lands: BOEM submitted Outer Continental Shelf Area lands managed for natural resources (minerals, oil and gas), a significant and new addition to PAD-US; 11) Fee boundary overlap assessment: topology overlaps in the PAD-US 2.0 'Fee' feature class have been identified and are available for user and data-steward reference (See Logical_Consistency_Report Section).
For more information regarding the PAD-US dataset please visit, https://usgs.gov/gapanalysis/PAD-US/. For more information about data aggregation please review the “Data Manual for PAD-US” available at https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/science-analytics-and-synthesis/gap/pad-us-data-manual .

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/ .

Important Note: This item is in mature support as of September 2023 and will be retired in December 2025. A new version of this item is available for your use. Esri recommends updating your maps and apps to use the new version.The USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is the official inventory of public parks and other protected open space. 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.GAP 1 and 2 areas are primarily managed for biodiversity, GAP 3 are managed for multiple uses including conservation and extraction, GAP 4 no known mandate for biodiversity protection. Provides a general overview of protection status including management designations. PAD-US is published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS), Gap Analysis Project (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. See the GAP webpage for more information about GAP and other GAP data including species and land cover.The USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) classifies lands into four GAP Status classes:GAP Status 1 - Areas managed for biodiversity where natural disturbances are allowed to proceedGAP Status 2 - Areas managed for biodiversity where natural disturbance is suppressedGAP Status 3 - Areas protected from land cover conversion but subject to extractive uses such as logging and miningGAP Status 4 - Areas with no known mandate for protectionIn the United States, areas that are protected from development and managed for biodiversity conservation include Wilderness Areas, National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, and Wild & Scenic Rivers. Understanding the geographic distribution of these protected areas and their level of protection is an important part of landscape-scale planning. Dataset SummaryPhenomenon Mapped: Areas protected from development and managed to maintain biodiversity Coordinate System: Web Mercator Auxiliary SphereExtent: 50 United States plus Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands and other Pacific Ocean IslandsVisible Scale: 1:1,000,000 and largerSource: USGS Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS), Gap Analysis Project (GAP) PAD-US version 3.0Publication Date: July 2022Attributes included in this layer are: CategoryOwner TypeOwner NameLocal OwnerManager TypeManager NameLocal ManagerDesignation TypeLocal DesignationUnit NameLocal NameSourcePublic AccessGAP Status - Status 1, 2, or 3GAP Status DescriptionInternational Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Description - I: Strict Nature Reserve, II: National Park, III: Natural Monument or Feature, IV: Habitat/Species Management Area, V: Protected Landscape/Seascape, VI: Protected area with sustainable use of natural resources, Other conservation area, UnassignedDate of EstablishmentThe source data for this layer are available here. What can you do with this Feature Layer?Feature layers work throughout the ArcGIS system. Generally your work flow with feature layers will begin in ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Pro. Below are just a few of the things you can do with a feature service in Online and Pro.ArcGIS OnlineAdd this layer to a map in the map viewer. The layer is limited to scales of approximately 1:1,000,000 or larger but a vector tile layer created from the same data can be used at smaller scales to produce a webmap that displays across the full range of scales. The layer or a map containing it can be used in an application.Change the layer’s transparency and set its visibility rangeOpen the layer’s attribute table and make selections and apply filters. Selections made in the map or table are reflected in the other. Center on selection allows you to zoom to features selected in the map or table and show selected records allows you to view the selected records in the table.Change the layer’s style and filter the data. For example, you could set a filter for Gap Status Code = 3 to create a map of only the GAP Status 3 areas.Add labels and set their propertiesCustomize the pop-upArcGIS ProAdd this layer to a 2d or 3d map. The same scale limit as Online applies in ProUse as an input to geoprocessing. For example, copy features allows you to select then export portions of the data to a new feature class. Note that many features in the PAD-US database overlap. For example wilderness area designations overlap US Forest Service and other federal lands. Any analysis should take this into consideration. An imagery layer created from the same data set can be used for geoprocessing analysis with larger extents and eliminates some of the complications arising from overlapping polygons.Change the symbology and the attribute field used to symbolize the dataOpen table and make interactive selections with the mapModify the pop-upsApply Definition Queries to create sub-sets of the layerThis layer is part of the Living Atlas of the World that provides an easy way to explore the landscape layers and many other beautiful and authoritative maps on hundreds of topics.

The USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is the nation's inventory of protected areas, including public land and voluntarily provided private protected areas, identified as an A-16 National Geospatial Data Asset in the Cadastre Theme ( https://communities.geoplatform.gov/ngda-cadastre/ ). The PAD-US is an ongoing project with several published versions of a spatial database including areas dedicated to the preservation of biological diversity, and other natural (including extraction), recreational, or cultural uses, managed for these purposes through legal or other effective means. The database was originally designed to support biodiversity assessments; however, its scope expanded in recent years to include all open space public and nonprofit lands and waters. Most are public lands owned in fee (the owner of the property has full and irrevocable ownership of the land); however, permanent and long-term easements, leases, agreements, Congressional (e.g. 'Wilderness Area'), Executive (e.g. 'National Monument'), and administrative designations (e.g. 'Area of Critical Environmental Concern') documented in agency management plans are also included. The PAD-US strives to be a complete inventory of U.S. public land and other protected areas, compiling “best available” data provided by managing agencies and organizations. The PAD-US geodatabase maps and describes areas using thirty-six attributes and five separate feature classes representing the U.S. protected areas network: Fee (ownership parcels), Designation, Easement, Marine, Proclamation and Other Planning Boundaries. An additional Combined feature class includes the full PAD-US inventory to support data management, queries, web mapping services, and analyses. The Feature Class (FeatClass) field in the Combined layer allows users to extract data types as needed. A Federal Data Reference file geodatabase lookup table (PADUS3_0Combined_Federal_Data_References) facilitates the extraction of authoritative federal data provided or recommended by managing agencies from the Combined PAD-US inventory. This PAD-US Version 3.0 dataset includes a variety of updates from the previous Version 2.1 dataset (USGS, 2020, https://doi.org/10.5066/P92QM3NT ), achieving goals to: 1) Annually update and improve spatial data representing the federal estate for PAD-US applications; 2) Update state and local lands data as state data-steward and PAD-US Team resources allow; and 3) Automate data translation efforts to increase PAD-US update efficiency. The following list summarizes the integration of "best available" spatial data to ensure public lands and other protected areas from all jurisdictions are represented in the PAD-US (other data were transferred from PAD-US 2.1). Federal updates - The USGS remains committed to updating federal fee owned lands data and major designation changes in annual PAD-US updates, where authoritative data provided directly by managing agencies are available or alternative data sources are recommended. The following is a list of updates or revisions associated with the federal estate: 1) Major update of the Federal estate (fee ownership parcels, easement interest, and management designations where available), including authoritative data from 8 agencies: Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Census Bureau (Census Bureau), Department of Defense (DOD), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Park Service (NPS), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The federal theme in PAD-US is developed in close collaboration with the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Federal Lands Working Group (FLWG, https://communities.geoplatform.gov/ngda-govunits/federal-lands-workgroup/ ). 2) Improved the representation (boundaries and attributes) of the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands, in collaboration with agency data-stewards, in response to feedback from the PAD-US Team and stakeholders. 3) Added a Federal Data Reference file geodatabase lookup table (PADUS3_0Combined_Federal_Data_References) to the PAD-US 3.0 geodatabase to facilitate the extraction (by Data Provider, Dataset Name, and/or Aggregator Source) of authoritative data provided directly (or recommended) by federal managing agencies from the full PAD-US inventory. A summary of the number of records (Frequency) and calculated GIS Acres (vs Documented Acres) associated with features provided by each Aggregator Source is included; however, the number of records may vary from source data as the "State Name" standard is applied to national files. The Feature Class (FeatClass) field in the table and geodatabase describe the data type to highlight overlapping features in the full inventory (e.g. Designation features often overlap Fee features) and to assist users in building queries for applications as needed. 4) Scripted the translation of the Department of Defense, Census Bureau, and Natural Resource Conservation Service source data into the PAD-US format to increase update efficiency. 5) Revised conservation measures (GAP Status Code, IUCN Category) to more accurately represent protected and conserved areas. For example, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Waterfowl Production Area Wetland Easements changed from GAP Status Code 2 to 4 as spatial data currently represents the complete parcel (about 10.54 million acres primarily in North Dakota and South Dakota). Only aliquot parts of these parcels are documented under wetland easement (1.64 million acres). These acreages are provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and are referenced in the PAD-US geodatabase Easement feature class 'Comments' field. State updates - The USGS is committed to building capacity in the state data-steward network and the PAD-US Team to increase the frequency of state land updates, as resources allow. The USGS supported efforts to significantly increase state inventory completeness with the integration of local parks data in the PAD-US 2.1, and developed a state-to-PAD-US data translation script during PAD-US 3.0 development to pilot in future updates. Additional efforts are in progress to support the technical and organizational strategies needed to increase the frequency of state updates. The PAD-US 3.0 included major updates to the following three states: 1) California - added or updated state, regional, local, and nonprofit lands data from the California Protected Areas Database (CPAD), managed by GreenInfo Network, and integrated conservation and recreation measure changes following review coordinated by the data-steward with state managing agencies. Developed a data translation Python script (see Process Step 2 Source Data Documentation) in collaboration with the data-steward to increase the accuracy and efficiency of future PAD-US updates from CPAD. 2) Virginia - added or updated state, local, and nonprofit protected areas data (and removed legacy data) from the Virginia Conservation Lands Database, provided by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation's Natural Heritage Program, and integrated conservation and recreation measure changes following review by the data-steward. 3) West Virginia - added or updated state, local, and nonprofit protected areas data provided by the West Virginia University, GIS Technical Center. For more information regarding the PAD-US dataset please visit, https://www.usgs.gov/gapanalysis/PAD-US/. For more information about data aggregation please review the PAD-US Data Manual available at https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/science-analytics-and-synthesis/gap/pad-us-data-manual . A version history of PAD-US updates is summarized below (See https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/science-analytics-and-synthesis/gap/pad-us-data-history for more information): 1) First posted - April 2009 (Version 1.0 - available from the PAD-US: Team pad-us@usgs.gov). 2) Revised - May 2010 (Version 1.1 - available from the PAD-US: Team pad-us@usgs.gov). 3) Revised - April 2011 (Version 1.2 - available from the PAD-US: Team pad-us@usgs.gov). 4) Revised - November 2012 (Version 1.3) https://doi.org/10.5066/F79Z92XD 5) Revised - May 2016 (Version 1.4) https://doi.org/10.5066/F7G73BSZ 6) Revised - September 2018 (Version 2.0) https://doi.org/10.5066/P955KPLE 7) Revised - September 2020 (Version 2.1) https://doi.org/10.5066/P92QM3NT 8) Revised - January 2022 (Version 3.0) https://doi.org/10.5066/P9Q9LQ4B Comparing protected area trends between PAD-US versions is not recommended without consultation with USGS as many changes reflect improvements to agency and organization GIS systems, or conservation and recreation measure classification, rather than actual changes in protected area acquisition on the ground.

Important Note: This item is in mature support as of September 2023 and will be retired in December 2025. A new version of this item is available for your use. Esri recommends updating your maps and apps to use the new version.The USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is the official inventory of public parks and other protected open space. 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.Manager Name describes the land manager or administrative agency name standardized for the Nation (USFS, BLM, State Fish and Wildlife, State Parks and Rec, City, NGO, etc). DOD lands shown with outline.This map provides a general overview of land and water managers including management designations. This map displays locations from the PAD-US version 3.0 symbolized with the manager name field. This map includes 20 layers created from a feature layer and saved in the map that draw at scales of 1:1,000,000 and larger. A vector tile layer is used at scales smaller than 1:1,000,000. The feature layer was saved as individual layers to control drawing order in overlapping features.PAD-US is published by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS), Gap Analysis Project (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. See the GAP webpage for more information about GAP and other GAP data including species and land cover.This map is part of the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World. The Living Atlas provides an easy way to explore many other beautiful and authoritative maps on hundreds of topics.

Important Note: This item is in mature support as of June 2024 and will be retired in December 2026. A new version of this item is available for your use. Esri recommends updating your maps and apps to use the new version.The Protected Areas Database of the United States provides a comprehensive map of lands protected by government agencies and private land owners. This database combines federal lands with information on state and local government lands and conservation easements on private lands to create a powerful resource for land-use planning.Dataset SummaryPhenomenon Mapped: Areas mapped in the Protected Areas Data base of the United States (GAP Status 1-4)Units: MetersCell Size: 30.92208102 metersSource Type: ThematicPixel Type: 8-bit unsigned integerData Coordinate System: WGS 1984Mosaic Projection: Web Mercator Auxiliary SphereExtent: 50 United States plus Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.Source: USGS National Gap Analysis Program PAD-US version 3.0Publication Date: July 2022ArcGIS Server URL: https://landscape10.arcgis.com/arcgis/This layer displays lands mapped in Protected Areas Database of the United States version 3.0 created by the USGS National Gap Analysis Program. This layer displays all four GAP Status classes: GAP Status 1 - Areas managed for biodiversity where natural disturbances are allowed to proceedGAP Status 2 - Areas managed for biodiversity where natural disturbance is suppressedGAP Status 3 - Areas protected from land cover conversion but subject to extractive uses such as logging and miningGAP Status 4 - Areas with no known mandate for protectionThe source data for this layer are available here. A feature layer published from this dataset is also available. The polygon vector layer was converted to raster layers using the Polygon to Raster Tool using the National Elevation Dataset 1 arc second product as a snap raster.The service behind this layer was published with 8 functions allowing the user to select different views of the service. Other layers created from this service using functions include:USA Protected AreasUSA Protected from Land Cover ConversionUSA Unprotected AreasUSA Protected Areas - Gap Status 1USA Protected Areas - Gap Status 2USA Protected Areas - Gap Status 3USA Protected Areas - Gap Status 4What can you do with this Layer? This layer is suitable for both visualization and analysis across the ArcGIS system. This layer can be combined with your data and other layers from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro to create powerful web maps that can be used alone or in a story map or other application.Because this layer is part of the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World it is easy to add to your map:In ArcGIS Online, you can add this layer to a map by selecting Add then Browse Living Atlas Layers. A window will open. Type "Protected Areas" in the search box and browse to the layer. Select the layer then click Add to Map.In ArcGIS Pro, open a map and select Add Data from the Map Tab. Select Data at the top of the drop down menu. The Add Data dialog box will open on the left side of the box, expand Portal if necessary, then select Living Atlas. Type "Protected Areas" in the search box, browse to the layer then click OK.In ArcGIS Pro you can use the built-in raster functions to create custom extracts of the data. Imagery layers provide fast, powerful inputs to geoprocessing tools, models, or Python scripts in Pro.The ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World provides an easy way to explore many other beautiful and authoritative maps on hundreds of topics like this one.

The USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is the nation's inventory of protected areas, including public land and voluntarily provided private protected areas, identified as an A-16 National Geospatial Data Asset in the Cadastre Theme ( https://communities.geoplatform.gov/ngda-cadastre/ ). The PAD-US is an ongoing project with several published versions of a spatial database including areas dedicated to the preservation of biological diversity, and other natural (including extraction), recreational, or cultural uses, managed for these purposes through legal or other effective means. The database was originally designed to support biodiversity assessments; however, its scope expanded in recent years to include all open space public and nonprofit lands and waters. Most are public lands owned in fee (the owner of the property has full and irrevocable ownership of the land); however, permanent and long-term easements, leases, agreements, Congressional (e.g. 'Wilderness Area'), Executive (e.g. 'National Monument'), and administrative designations (e.g. 'Area of Critical Environmental Concern') documented in agency management plans are also included. The PAD-US strives to be a complete inventory of U.S. public land and other protected areas, compiling “best available” data provided by managing agencies and organizations. The PAD-US geodatabase maps and describes areas using thirty-six attributes and five separate feature classes representing the U.S. protected areas network: Fee (ownership parcels), Designation, Easement, Marine, Proclamation and Other Planning Boundaries. An additional Combined feature class includes the full PAD-US inventory to support data management, queries, web mapping services, and analyses. The Feature Class (FeatClass) field in the Combined layer allows users to extract data types as needed. A Federal Data Reference file geodatabase lookup table (PADUS3_0Combined_Federal_Data_References) facilitates the extraction of authoritative federal data provided or recommended by managing agencies from the Combined PAD-US inventory. This PAD-US Version 3.0 dataset includes a variety of updates from the previous Version 2.1 dataset (USGS, 2020, https://doi.org/10.5066/P92QM3NT ), achieving goals to: 1) Annually update and improve spatial data representing the federal estate for PAD-US applications; 2) Update state and local lands data as state data-steward and PAD-US Team resources allow; and 3) Automate data translation efforts to increase PAD-US update efficiency. The following list summarizes the integration of "best available" spatial data to ensure public lands and other protected areas from all jurisdictions are represented in the PAD-US (other data were transferred from PAD-US 2.1). Federal updates - The USGS remains committed to updating federal fee owned lands data and major designation changes in annual PAD-US updates, where authoritative data provided directly by managing agencies are available or alternative data sources are recommended. The following is a list of updates or revisions associated with the federal estate: 1) Major update of the Federal estate (fee ownership parcels, easement interest, and management designations where available), including authoritative data from 8 agencies: Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Census Bureau (Census Bureau), Department of Defense (DOD), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Park Service (NPS), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), U.S. Forest Service (USFS), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The federal theme in PAD-US is developed in close collaboration with the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Federal Lands Working Group (FLWG, https://communities.geoplatform.gov/ngda-govunits/federal-lands-workgroup/ ). 2) Improved the representation (boundaries and attributes) of the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands, in collaboration with agency data-stewards, in response to feedback from the PAD-US Team and stakeholders. 3) Added a Federal Data Reference file geodatabase lookup table (PADUS3_0Combined_Federal_Data_References) to the PAD-US 3.0 geodatabase to facilitate the extraction (by Data Provider, Dataset Name, and/or Aggregator Source) of authoritative data provided directly (or recommended) by federal managing agencies from the full PAD-US inventory. A summary of the number of records (Frequency) and calculated GIS Acres (vs Documented Acres) associated with features provided by each Aggregator Source is included; however, the number of records may vary from source data as the "State Name" standard is applied to national files. The Feature Class (FeatClass) field in the table and geodatabase describe the data type to highlight overlapping features in the full inventory (e.g. Designation features often overlap Fee features) and to assist users in building queries for applications as needed. 4) Scripted the translation of the Department of Defense, Census Bureau, and Natural Resource Conservation Service source data into the PAD-US format to increase update efficiency. 5) Revised conservation measures (GAP Status Code, IUCN Category) to more accurately represent protected and conserved areas. For example, Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) Waterfowl Production Area Wetland Easements changed from GAP Status Code 2 to 4 as spatial data currently represents the complete parcel (about 10.54 million acres primarily in North Dakota and South Dakota). Only aliquot parts of these parcels are documented under wetland easement (1.64 million acres). These acreages are provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and are referenced in the PAD-US geodatabase Easement feature class 'Comments' field. State updates - The USGS is committed to building capacity in the state data-steward network and the PAD-US Team to increase the frequency of state land updates, as resources allow. The USGS supported efforts to significantly increase state inventory completeness with the integration of local parks data in the PAD-US 2.1, and developed a state-to-PAD-US data translation script during PAD-US 3.0 development to pilot in future updates. Additional efforts are in progress to support the technical and organizational strategies needed to increase the frequency of state updates. The PAD-US 3.0 included major updates to the following three states: 1) California - added or updated state, regional, local, and nonprofit lands data from the California Protected Areas Database (CPAD), managed by GreenInfo Network, and integrated conservation and recreation measure changes following review coordinated by the data-steward with state managing agencies. Developed a data translation Python script (see Process Step 2 Source Data Documentation) in collaboration with the data-steward to increase the accuracy and efficiency of future PAD-US updates from CPAD. 2) Virginia - added or updated state, local, and nonprofit protected areas data (and removed legacy data) from the Virginia Conservation Lands Database, provided by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation's Natural Heritage Program, and integrated conservation and recreation measure changes following review by the data-steward. 3) West Virginia - added or updated state, local, and nonprofit protected areas data provided by the West Virginia University, GIS Technical Center. For more information regarding the PAD-US dataset please visit, https://www.usgs.gov/gapanalysis/PAD-US/. For more information about data aggregation please review the PAD-US Data Manual available at https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/science-analytics-and-synthesis/gap/pad-us-data-manual . A version history of PAD-US updates is summarized below (See https://www.usgs.gov/core-science-systems/science-analytics-and-synthesis/gap/pad-us-data-history for more information): 1) First posted - April 2009 (Version 1.0 - available from the PAD-US: Team pad-us@usgs.gov). 2) Revised - May 2010 (Version 1.1 - available from the PAD-US: Team pad-us@usgs.gov). 3) Revised - April 2011 (Version 1.2 - available from the PAD-US: Team pad-us@usgs.gov). 4) Revised - November 2012 (Version 1.3) https://doi.org/10.5066/F79Z92XD 5) Revised - May 2016 (Version 1.4) https://doi.org/10.5066/F7G73BSZ 6) Revised - September 2018 (Version 2.0) https://doi.org/10.5066/P955KPLE 7) Revised - September 2020 (Version 2.1) https://doi.org/10.5066/P92QM3NT 8) Revised - January 2022 (Version 3.0) https://doi.org/10.5066/P9Q9LQ4B Comparing protected area trends between PAD-US versions is not recommended without consultation with USGS as many changes reflect improvements to agency and organization GIS systems, or conservation and recreation measure classification, rather than actual changes in protected area acquisition on the ground.

Important Note: This item is in mature support as of June 2024 and will be retired in December 2026. A new version of this item is available for your use. Esri recommends updating your maps and apps to use the new version.In the United States, areas that are protected from development and managed for biodiversity conservation include Wilderness Areas, National Parks, National Wildlife Refuges, and Wild & Scenic Rivers. Understanding the geographic distribution of these protected areas and their level of protection is an important part of landscape-scale planning. The Protected Areas Database of the United States classifies lands into four GAP Status classes. This layer displays the two highest levels of protection GAP Status 1 and 2. These two classes are commonly referred to as protected areas.Dataset SummaryPhenomenon Mapped: Areas protected from development and managed to maintain biodiversity (GAP Status 1 and 2)Units: MetersCell Size: 30.92208102 metersSource Type: ThematicPixel Type: 8-bit unsigned integerData Coordinate System: WGS 1984Mosaic Projection: Web Mercator Auxiliary SphereExtent: 50 United States plus Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.Source: USGS National Gap Analysis Program PAD-US version 3.0Publication Date: July 2022ArcGIS Server URL: https://landscape10.arcgis.com/arcgis/This layer displays protected areas from the Protected Areas Database of the United States version 3.0 created by the USGS National Gap Analysis Program. This layer displays GAP Status 1, areas managed for biodiversity where natural disturbances are allowed to proceed or are mimicked by management, and GAP Status 2, areas managed for biodiversity where natural disturbance is suppressed. The source data for this layer are available here. A feature layer published from this dataset is also available. The polygon vector layer was converted to raster layers using the Polygon to Raster Tool using the National Elevation Dataset 1 arc second product as a snap raster.The service behind this layer was published with 8 functions allowing the user to select different views of the service. Other layers created from this service using functions include:USA Protected from Land Cover ConversionUSA Unprotected AreasUSA Protected Areas - Gap Status 1-4USA Protected Areas - Gap Status 1USA Protected Areas - Gap Status 2USA Protected Areas - Gap Status 3USA Protected Areas - Gap Status 4What can you do with this Layer? This layer is suitable for both visualization and analysis across the ArcGIS system. This layer can be combined with your data and other layers from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro to create powerful web maps that can be used alone or in a story map or other application.Because this layer is part of the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World it is easy to add to your map:In ArcGIS Online, you can add this layer to a map by selecting Add then Browse Living Atlas Layers. A window will open. Type "Protected Areas" in the search box and browse to the layer. Select the layer then click Add to Map.In ArcGIS Pro, open a map and select Add Data from the Map Tab. Select Data at the top of the drop down menu. The Add Data dialog box will open on the left side of the box, expand Portal if necessary, then select Living Atlas. Type "Protected Areas" in the search box, browse to the layer then click OK.In ArcGIS Pro you can use the built-in raster functions to create custom extracts of the data. Imagery layers provide fast, powerful inputs to geoprocessing tools, models, or Python scripts in Pro.The ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World provides an easy way to explore many other beautiful and authoritative maps on hundreds of topics like this one.

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/

This data set depicts federal lands having restrictions on access or activities -- that is, lands mangaed by the National Park Service, Defense Department, or Energy Department -- in western North America. The data set was created by reformatting and merging state- and province-based ownership data layers originally acquired from diverse sources (including state GAP programs, USBLM state offices and other sources). For each original dataset 3 additional fields, "Pub_Pvt", "CA_OWN", and "SOURCE" were added and populated based on the specific ownership information contained in the source data. The original coverages were then merged based on the "CA_OWN" field. Finally, NPS, DOD, and DOE lands were selected out of the ownership layer. All work was completed in AcMap 8.3. This product and all source data are available online from SAGEMAP: http://sagemap.wr.usgs.gov.

The geospatial data reflected in the protected area layer mostly pertain to natural and wilderness areas where development of utility-scale renewable energy is prohibited and were heavily based on RETI 1.0 blackout areas.1 The protected area layer is distinguished for solar PV technology by the BLM greater sage grouse habitat management area which provides separate exclusion areas for the different technology types. Tables 1 and 2 below lists the data sources and precise selection query for each dataset, if applicable, that make up the protected area layer.Table 1: Datasets used in the Protected Area Layer Dataset Example Designations Citation or hyperlink PAD-US (CBI Edition) National Parks, GAP Status 1 and 2, State Parks, Open Spaces, Natural Areas “PAD-US (CBI Edition) Version 2.1b, California”. Conservation Biology Institute. 2016. https://databasin.org/datasets/64538491f43e42ba83e26b849f2cad28. Conservation Easements California Conservation Easement Database (CCED), 2022a. 2022. www.CALands.org. Accessed December 2022. Inventoried Roadless Areas “Inventoried Roadless Areas.” US Forest Service. Dec 12, 2022. https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/roadless/2001roadlessrule/maps/?cid=stelprdb5382437 BLM National Landscape Conservation System Wilderness Areas, Wilderness Study Areas, National Monuments, National Conservation Lands, Conservation Lands of the California Desert, Scenic Rivers https://gbp-blm-egis.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/BLM-EGIS::blm-ca-wilderness-areas https://gbp-blm-egis.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/BLM-EGIS::blm-ca-wilderness-study-areas https://gbp-blm-egis.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/BLM-EGIS::blm-ca-national-monuments-nca-forest-reserves-other-poly/ Greater Sage Grouse Habitat Conservation Areas (BLM) For solar technology: BLM_Managm IN (‘PHMA’, ‘GHMA’, ‘OHMA’) For wind technology: BLMP_Managm = ‘PHMA’ “Nevada and Northeastern California Greater Sage-Grouse Approved Resource Management Plan Amendment.” US Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Nevada State Office. 2015. https://eplanning.blm.gov/public_projects/lup/103343/143707/176908/NVCA_Approved_RMP_Amendment.pdf Other BLM Protected Areas Areas of Critical Environmental Concern (ACECs), Recreation Areas (SRMA, ERMA, OHV Designated Areas), including Vinagre Wash Special Recreation Management Area, National Scenic Areas, including Alabama Hills National Scenic Area https://gbp-blm-egis.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/BLM-EGIS::blm-ca-off-highway-vehicle-designations

The USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is the nation's inventory of protected areas, including public land and voluntarily provided private protected areas, identified as an A-16 National Geospatial Data Asset in the Cadastre Theme ( https://ngda-cadastre-geoplatform.hub.arcgis.com/ ). The PAD-US is an ongoing project with several published versions of a spatial database including areas dedicated to the preservation of biological diversity, and other natural (including extraction), recreational, or cultural uses, managed for these purposes through legal or other effective means. The database was originally designed to support biodiversity assessments; however, its scope expanded in recent years to include all open space public and nonprofit lands and waters. Most are public lands owned in fee (the owner of the property has full and irrevocable ownership of the land); however, permanent and long-term easements, leases, agreements, Congressional (e.g. 'Wilderness Area'), Executive (e.g. 'National Monument'), and administrative designations (e.g., 'Area of Critical Environmental Concern') documented in agency management plans are also included. The PAD-US strives to be a complete inventory of U.S. public land and other protected areas, compiling “best available” data provided by managing agencies and organizations. PAD-US provides a full inventory geodatabase, spatial analysis, statistics, data downloads, web services, poster maps, and data submissions included in efforts to track global progress toward biodiversity protection. PAD-US integrates spatial data to ensure public lands and other protected areas from all jurisdictions are represented. PAD-US version 4.0 includes new and updated data from the following data providers. All other data were transferred from previous versions of PAD-US. Federal updates - The USGS remains committed to updating federal fee owned lands data and major designation changes in regular PAD-US updates, where authoritative data provided directly by managing agencies are available or alternative data sources are recommended. Revisions associated with the federal estate in this version include updates to the Federal estate (fee ownership parcels, easement interest, management designations, and proclamation boundaries), with authoritative data from 7 agencies: Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Census Bureau (Census Bureau), Department of Defense (DOD), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), National Park Service (NPS), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The federal theme in PAD-US is developed in close collaboration with the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Federal Lands Working Group (FLWG, https://ngda-gov-units-geoplatform.hub.arcgis.com/pages/federal-lands-workgroup/ ). This includes improved the representation of boundaries and attributes for the National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands, in collaboration with agency data-stewards, in response to feedback from the PAD-US Team and stakeholders. Additionally, National Cemetery boundaries were added using geospatial boundary data provided by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and NASA boundaries were added using data contained in the USGS National Boundary Dataset (NBD). State Updates - USGS is committed to building capacity in the state data steward network and the PAD-US Team to increase the frequency of state land and NGO partner updates, as resources allow. State Lands Workgroup ( https://ngda-gov-units-geoplatform.hub.arcgis.com/pages/state-lands-workgroup ) is focused on improving protected land inventories in PAD-US, increase update efficiency, and facilitate local review. PAD-US 4.0 included updates and additions from the following seventeen states and territories: California (state, local, and nonprofit fee); Colorado (state, local, and nonprofit fee and easement); Georgia (state and local fee); Kentucky (state, local, and nonprofit fee and easement); Maine (state, local, and nonprofit fee and easement); Montana (state, local, and nonprofit fee); Nebraska (state fee); New Jersey (state, local, and nonprofit fee and easement); New York (state, local, and nonprofit fee and easement); North Carolina (state, local, and nonprofit fee); Pennsylvania (state, local, and nonprofit fee and easement); Puerto Rico (territory fee); Tennessee (land trust fee); Texas (state, local, and nonprofit fee); Virginia (state, local, and nonprofit fee); West Virginia (state, local, and nonprofit fee); and Wisconsin (state fee data). Additionally, the following datasets were incorporated from NGO data partners: Trust for Public Land (TPL) Parkserve (new fee and easement data); The Nature Conservancy (TNC) Lands (fee owned by TNC); TNC Northeast Secured Areas; Ducks Unlimited (land trust fee); and the National Conservation Easement Database (NCED). All state and NGO easement submissions are provided to NCED. For more information regarding the PAD-US dataset please visit, https://www.usgs.gov/programs/gap-analysis-project/science/protected-areas . For more information regarding the PAD-US dataset please visit, https://www.usgs.gov/programs/gap-analysis-project/science/protected-areas . For more information about data aggregation please review the PAD-US Data Manual available at https://www.usgs.gov/programs/gap-analysis-project/pad-us-data-manual . A version history of PAD-US updates is summarized below (See https://www.usgs.gov/programs/gap-analysis-project/pad-us-data-history/ for more information): 1) First posted - April 2009 (Version 1.0 - available from the PAD-US: Team pad-us@usgs.gov). 2) Revised - May 2010 (Version 1.1 - available from the PAD-US: Team pad-us@usgs.gov). 3) Revised - April 2011 (Version 1.2 - available from the PAD-US: Team pad-us@usgs.gov). 4) Revised - November 2012 (Version 1.3) https://doi.org/10.5066/F79Z92XD 5) Revised - May 2016 (Version 1.4) https://doi.org/10.5066/F7G73BSZ 6) Revised - September 2018 (Version 2.0) https://doi.org/10.5066/P955KPLE 7) Revised - September 2020 (Version 2.1) https://doi.org/10.5066/P92QM3NT 8) Revised - January 2022 (Version 3.0) https://doi.org/10.5066/P9Q9LQ4B 9) Revised - April 2024 (Version 4.0) https://doi.org/10.5066/P96WBCHS Comparing protected area trends between PAD-US versions is not recommended without consultation with USGS as many changes reflect improvements to agency and organization GIS systems, or conservation and recreation measure classification, rather than actual changes in protected area acquisition on the ground.

The Terrestrial 30x30 Conserved Areas map layer was developed by the CA Nature working group, providing a statewide perspective on areas managed for the protection or enhancement of biodiversity. Understanding the spatial distribution and extent of these durably protected and managed areas is a vital aspect of tracking and achieving the “30x30” goal of conserving 30% of California's lands and waters by 2030.

Terrestrial and Freshwater Data
• The California Protected Areas Database (CPAD), developed and managed by GreenInfo Network, is the most comprehensive collection of data on open space in California. CPAD data consists of Holdings, a single parcel or small group of parcels which comprise the spatial features of CPAD, generally corresponding to ownership boundaries.

• The California Conservation Easement Database (CCED), managed by GreenInfo Network, aggregates data on lands with easements. Conservation Easements are legally recorded interests in land in which a landholder sells or relinquishes certain development rights to their land in perpetuity.
Easements are often used to ensure that lands remain as open space, either as working farm or ranch lands, or areas for biodiversity protection. Easement restrictions typically remain with the land through changes in ownership.

•The Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), hosted by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), is developed in coordination with multiple federal, state, and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners. PAD-US, through the Gap Analysis Project (GAP), uses a numerical coding system in which GAP codes 1 and 2 correspond to management strategies with explicit emphasis on protection and enhancement of biodiversity. PAD-US is not specifically aligned to parcel boundaries and as such,
boundaries represented within it may not align with other data sources.

• Numerous datasets representing designated boundaries for entities such as
National Parks and Monuments, Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness Areas,
and others, were downloaded from publicly available sources, typically
hosted by the managing agency.

Methodology
1.CPAD and CCED represent the most accurate location and ownership information for
parcels in California which contribute to the preservation of open space
and cultural and biological resources.

2. Superunits are collections of parcels (Holdings) within CPAD which share a name,
manager, and access policy. Most Superunits are also managed with a
generally consistent strategy for biodiversity conservation. Examples of
Superunits include Yosemite National Park, Giant Sequoia National
Monument, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

3. Some Superunits, such as those owned and managed by the Bureau of Land
Management, U.S. Forest Service, or National Park Service , are
intersected by one or more designations, each of which may have a
distinct management emphasis with regards to biodiversity. Examples of
such designations are Wilderness Areas, Wild and Scenic Rivers, or
National Monuments.

4. CPAD Superunits and CCED easements were
intersected with all designation boundary files to create the operative
spatial units for conservation analysis, henceforth 'Conservation
Units,' which make up the Terrestrial 30x30 Conserved Areas map layer. Each easement was functionally considered to be a Superunit.

5. Each Conservation Unit was intersected with the PAD-US dataset in order to
determine the management emphasis with respect to biodiversity, i.e.,
the GAP code. Because PAD-US is national in scope and not specifically
parcel aligned with California assessors' surveys, a direct spatial
extraction of GAP codes from PAD-US would leave tens of thousands of GAP
code data slivers within the 30x30 Conserved Areas map. Consequently, a generalizing approach was adopted, such that any Conservation Unit with greater than 80% areal overlap with a single
GAP code was uniformly assigned that code. Additionally, the total area
of GAP codes 1 and 2 were summed for the remaining uncoded Conservation
Units. If this sum was greater than 80% of the unit area, the Conservation Unit was coded as GAP 2.

6.Subsequent to this stage of analysis, certain Conservation Units remained uncoded,
either due to the lack of a single GAP code (or combined GAP codes 1&2) overlapping 80% of the area, or because the area was not sufficiently represented in the PAD-US dataset.

7.These uncoded Conservation Units were then broken down into their
constituent, finer resolution Holdings, which were then analyzed
according to the above workflow.

8. Areas remaining uncoded following the two-step process of coding at the Superunit and
then Holding levels were assigned a GAP code of 4. This is consistent
with the definition of GAP Code 4: areas unknown to have a biodiversity
management focus.

9. Greater than 90% of all areas in the Terrestrial 30x30 Conserved
Areas map layer were GAP coded at the level of CPAD Superunits intersected by designation boundaries, the coarsest land units of analysis. By adopting these coarser analytical units, the Terrestrial 30X30 Conserved Areas map layer avoids hundreds of thousands of spatial slivers that result from intersecting designations with smaller, more numerous parcel records. In most cases, individual parcels reflect the management scenario and GAP status of the umbrella Superunit and other spatially coincident designations.

10. PAD-US is a principal data source for understanding the spatial distribution of GAP coded lands, but it is national in scope, and may not always be the most current source of data with respect to California holdings. GreenInfo Network, which develops and maintains the CPAD and CCED datasets, has taken a lead role in establishing communication with land stewards across California in order to make GAP attribution of these lands as current and accurate as possible. The tabular attribution of these datasets is analyzed in addition to PAD-US in order to understand whether a holding may be considered conserved.

Tracking Conserved Areas
The total acreage of conserved areas will increase as California works towards its 30x30 goal. Some changes will be due to shifts in legal protection designations or management status of specific lands and waters. However, shifts may also result from new data representing
improvements in our understanding of existing biodiversity conservation
efforts. The California Nature Project is expected to generate a great deal of excitement regarding the state's trajectory towards achieving the 30x30 goal. We also expect it to spark discussion about how to shape that trajectory, and how to strategize and optimize outcomes. We encourage landowners, managers, and stakeholders to investigate how their lands are represented in the Terrestrial 30X30 Conserved Areas Map Layer. This can be accomplished by using the Conserved Areas Explorer web application, developed by the CA Nature working group. Users can zoom into the locations they understand best and share their expertise with us to improve the data representing the status of conservation efforts at these sites. The Conserved Areas Explorer presents a tremendous opportunity to strengthen our existing data infrastructure and the channels of communication between land stewards and data curators, encouraging the transfer of knowledge and improving the quality of data.

CPAD, CCED, and PAD-US are built from the ground up. Data is derived from available parcel information and submissions from those who own and manage the land. So better data starts with you. Do boundary lines require updating? Is the GAP code inconsistent with a Holding’s conservation status? If land under your care can be better represented in the Terrestrial 30X30 Conserved Areas map layer, please use this link to initiate a review.The results of these reviews will inform updates to the California Protected Areas Database, California Conservation Easement Database, and PAD-US as appropriate for incorporation into future updates to CA Nature and tracking progress to 30x30.

This dataset shows the percentage of each National Hydrography Dataset Plus (NHDPlus) V2 12-digit Hydrologic Unit (HUC) that is included in the USGS National Gap Analysis Program (GAP) or International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) protection categories in the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PADUS). Percentages for GAP status 1 and 2 combined, GAP status 3, and GAP status 1, 2, and 3 combined are provided. The percentages for IUCN categories Ia, Ib, II, III, IV, V, and VI are provided, as well as for all the categories combined. Datasets for other geographies were produced separately; metadata for these related datasets may be found here: Alaska https://enviroatlas.epa.gov/enviroatlas/MetadataFGDC/Protection_AK.xml, Hawaii https://enviroatlas.epa.gov/enviroatlas/MetadataFGDC/Protection_HI.xml, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands https://enviroatlas.epa.gov/enviroatlas/MetadataFGDC/Protection_PRVI.xml This dataset was produced by the US EPA to support research and online mapping activities related to EnviroAtlas. EnviroAtlas (https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas) allows the user to interact with a web-based, easy-to-use, mapping application to view and analyze multiple ecosystem services for the contiguous United States. The dataset is available as downloadable data (https://edg.epa.gov/data/Public/ORD/EnviroAtlas) or as an EnviroAtlas map service. Additional descriptive information about each attribute in this dataset can be found in its associated EnviroAtlas Fact Sheet (https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas/enviroatlas-fact-sheets).

Important Note: This item is in mature support as of June 2024 and will be retired in December 2026. A new version of this item is available for your use. Esri recommends updating your maps and apps to use the new version. Areas protected from conversion include areas that are permanently protected and managed for biodiversity such as Wilderness Areas and National Parks. In addition to protected lands, portions of areas protected from conversion includes multiple-use lands that are subject to extractive uses such as mining, logging, and off-highway vehicle use. These areas are managed to maintain a mostly undeveloped landscape including many areas managed by the Bureau of Land Management and US Forest Service.The Protected Areas Database of the United States classifies lands into four GAP Status classes. This layer displays lands managed for biodiversity conservation (GAP Status 1 and 2) and multiple-use lands (GAP Status 3). Dataset SummaryPhenomenon Mapped: Protected and multiple-use lands (GAP Status 1, 2, and 3)Units: MetersCell Size: 30.92208102 metersSource Type: ThematicPixel Type: 8-bit unsigned integerData Coordinate System: WGS 1984Mosaic Projection: Web Mercator Auxiliary SphereExtent: 50 United States plus Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa.Source: USGS National Gap Analysis Program PAD-US version 3.0Publication Date: July 2022ArcGIS Server URL: https://landscape10.arcgis.com/arcgis/This layer displays protected areas from the Protected Areas Database of the United States version 3.0 created by the USGS National Gap Analysis Program. This layer displays areas managed for biodiversity where natural disturbances are allowed to proceed or are mimicked by management (GAP Status 1), areas managed for biodiversity where natural disturbance is suppressed (GAP Status 2), and multiple-use lands where extract activities are allowed (GAP Status 3). The source data for this layer are available here. A feature layer published from this dataset is also available.The polygon vector layer was converted to raster layers using the Polygon to Raster Tool using the National Elevation Dataset 1 arc second product as a snap raster.The service behind this layer was published with 8 functions allowing the user to select different views of the service. Other layers created from this service using functions include:USA Protected AreasUSA Unprotected AreasUSA Protected Areas - Gap Status 1-4USA Protected Areas - Gap Status 1USA Protected Areas - Gap Status 2USA Protected Areas - Gap Status 3USA Protected Areas - Gap Status 4What can you do with this layer? This layer is suitable for both visualization and analysis across the ArcGIS system. This layer can be combined with your data and other layers from the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World in ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Pro to create powerful web maps that can be used alone or in a story map or other application.Because this layer is part of the ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World it is easy to add to your map:In ArcGIS Online, you can add this layer to a map by selecting Add then Browse Living Atlas Layers. A window will open. Type "Protected from Land Cover Conversion" in the search box and browse to the layer. Select the layer then click Add to Map.In ArcGIS Pro, open a map and select Add Data from the Map Tab. Select Data at the top of the drop down menu. The Add Data dialog box will open on the left side of the box, expand Portal if necessary, then select Living Atlas. Type "Protected from Land Cover Conversion" in the search box, browse to the layer then click OK.In ArcGIS Pro you can use the built-in raster functions to create custom extracts of the data. Imagery layers provide fast, powerful inputs to geoprocessing tools, models, or Python scripts in Pro.The ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World provides an easy way to explore many other beautiful and authoritative maps on hundreds of topics like this one.

This dataset shows the percentage of each National Hydrography Dataset Plus (NHDPlus) V2 12-digit Hydrologic Unit (HUC) that is included in the USGS National Gap Analysis Program (GAP) or International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) protection categories in the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PADUS). Percentages for GAP status 1 and 2 combined, GAP status 3, and GAP status 1, 2, and 3 combined are provided. The percentages for IUCN categories Ia, Ib, II, III, IV, V, and VI are provided, as well as for all the categories combined. This dataset was produced by the US EPA to support research and online mapping activities related to EnviroAtlas. EnviroAtlas (https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas) allows the user to interact with a web-based, easy-to-use, mapping application to view and analyze multiple ecosystem services for the contiguous United States. The dataset is available as downloadable data (https://edg.epa.gov/data/Public/ORD/EnviroAtlas) or as an EnviroAtlas map service. Additional descriptive information about each attribute in this dataset can be found in its associated EnviroAtlas Fact Sheet (https://www.epa.gov/enviroatlas/enviroatlas-fact-sheets).

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 Terrestrial 30x30 Conserved Areas map layer was developed by the CA Nature working group, providing a statewide perspective on areas managed for the protection or enhancement of biodiversity. Understanding the spatial distribution and extent of these durably protected and managed areas is a vital aspect of tracking and achieving the “30x30” goal of conserving 30% of California's lands and waters by 2030.Terrestrial and Freshwater Data• The California Protected Areas Database (CPAD), developed and managed by GreenInfo Network, is the most comprehensive collection of data on open space in California. CPAD data consists of Holdings, a single parcel or small group of parcels, such that the spatial features of CPAD correspond to ownership boundaries. • The California Conservation Easement Database (CCED), managed by GreenInfo Network, aggregates data on lands with easements. Conservation Easements are legally recorded interests in land in which a landholder sells or relinquishes certain development rights to their land in perpetuity. Easements are often used to ensure that lands remain as open space, either as working farm or ranch lands, or areas for biodiversity protection. Easement restrictions typically remain with the land through changes in ownership. • The Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), hosted by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), is developed in coordination with multiple federal, state, and non-governmental organization (NGO) partners. PAD-US, through the Gap Analysis Project (GAP), uses a numerical coding system in which GAP codes 1 and 2 correspond to management strategies with explicit emphasis on protection and enhancement of biodiversity. PAD-US is not specifically aligned to parcel boundaries and as such, boundaries represented within it may not align with other data sources. • Numerous datasets representing designated boundaries for entities such as National Parks and Monuments, Wild and Scenic Rivers, Wilderness Areas, and others, were downloaded from publicly available sources, typically hosted by the managing agency.Methodology1. CPAD and CCED represent the most accurate location and ownership information for parcels in California which contribute to the preservation of open space and cultural and biological resources.2. Superunits are collections of parcels (Holdings) within CPAD which share a name, manager, and access policy. Most Superunits are also managed with a generally consistent strategy for biodiversity conservation. Examples of Superunits include Yosemite National Park, Giant Sequoia National Monument, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. 3. Some Superunits, such as those owned and managed by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, or National Park Service , are intersected by one or more designations, each of which may have a distinct management emphasis with regards to biodiversity. Examples of such designations are Wilderness Areas, Wild and Scenic Rivers, or National Monuments.4. CPAD Superunits and CCED easements were intersected with all designation boundary files to create the operative spatial units for conservation analysis, henceforth 'Conservation Units,' which make up the Terrestrial 30x30 Conserved Areas map layer. Each easement was functionally considered to be a Superunit. 5. Each Conservation Unit was intersected with the PAD-US dataset in order to determine the management emphasis with respect to biodiversity, i.e., the GAP code. Because PAD-US is national in scope and not specifically parcel aligned with California assessors' surveys, a direct spatial extraction of GAP codes from PAD-US would leave tens of thousands of GAP code data slivers within the 30x30 Conserved Areas map. Consequently, a generalizing approach was adopted, such that any Conservation Unit with greater than 80% areal overlap with a single GAP code was uniformly assigned that code. Additionally, the total area of GAP codes 1 and 2 were summed for the remaining uncoded Conservation Units. If this sum was greater than 80% of the unit area, the Conservation Unit was coded as GAP 2. 6. Subsequent to this stage of analysis, certain Conservation Units remained uncoded, either due to the lack of a single GAP code (or combined GAP codes 1&2) overlapping 80% of the area, or because the area was not sufficiently represented in the PAD-US dataset. 7. These uncoded Conservation Units were then broken down into their constituent, finer resolution Holdings, which were then analyzed according to the above workflow. 8. Areas remaining uncoded following the two-step process of coding at the Superunit and then Holding levels were assigned a GAP code of 4. This is consistent with the definition of GAP Code 4: areas unknown to have a biodiversity management focus. 9. Greater than 90% of all areas in the Terrestrial 30x30 Conserved Areas map layer were GAP coded at the level of CPAD Superunits intersected by designation boundaries, the coarsest land units of analysis. By adopting these coarser analytical units, the Terrestrial 30X30 Conserved Areas map layer avoids hundreds of thousands of spatial slivers that result from intersecting designations with smaller, more numerous parcel records. In most cases, individual parcels reflect the management scenario and GAP status of the umbrella Superunit and other spatially coincident designations.Tracking Conserved AreasThe total acreage of conserved areas will increase as California works towards its 30x30 goal. Some changes will be due to shifts in legal protection designations or management status of specific lands and waters. However, shifts may also result from new data representing improvements in our understanding of existing biodiversity conservation efforts. The California Nature Project is expected to generate a great deal of excitement regarding the state's trajectory towards achieving the 30x30 goal. We also expect it to spark discussion about how to shape that trajectory, and how to strategize and optimize outcomes. We encourage landowners, managers, and stakeholders to investigate how their lands are represented in the Terrestrial 30X30 Conserved Areas Map Layer. This can be accomplished by using the Conserved Areas Explorer web application, developed by the CA Nature working group. Users can zoom into the locations they understand best and share their expertise with us to improve the data representing the status of conservation efforts at these sites. The Conserved Areas Explorer presents a tremendous opportunity to strengthen our existing data infrastructure and the channels of communication between land stewards and data curators, encouraging the transfer of knowledge and improving the quality of data. CPAD, CCED, and PAD-US are built from the ground up. Data is derived from available parcel information and submissions from those who own and manage the land. So better data starts with you. Do boundary lines require updating? Is the GAP code inconsistent with a Holding’s conservation status? If land under your care can be better represented in the Terrestrial 30X30 Conserved Areas map layer, please use this link to initiate a review. The results of these reviews will inform updates to the California Protected Areas Database, California Conservation Easement Database, and PAD-US as appropriate for incorporation into future updates to CA Nature and tracking progress to 30x30.