Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) 4.1 Vector Analysis and Summary Statistics

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 4.1 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 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_1VectorAnalysis_GAP_PADUS_Only_ClipCENSUS.zip") data was created by clipping the PAD-US 4.1 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_1_VectorAnalysisFile_OtherExtents_ClipCENSUS2022.zip").  Comma-separated Value (CSV) tables ("PADUS4_1_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 4.1 combined file without other extent boundaries ("PADUS4_1VectorAnalysis_GAP_PADUS_Only_ClipCENSUS.zip") allow for other applications that require a representation of overall protection status without overlapping designation boundaries. The "PADUS4_1VectorAnalysis_State_Clip_CENSUS2022" feature class ("PADUS4_1_VectorAnalysisFile_OtherExtents_ClipCENSUS2022.gdb") is the source of the PAD-US 4.1 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: https://www.usgs.gov/programs/gap-analysis-project/science/pad-us-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.

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Organization: Department of the Interior