Local Protected Lands

The Maryland Department of Planning has created a Protected Lands geodatabase shell for local jurisdictions to apply and incorporate the data standards listed in the Chesapeake Bay Program and Chesapeake Conservation Partnership’s document, Essential Protected Lands Data Standards and Best Practices, January 5, 2021.iMap Category: The category in iMAP in Environment\ProtectedLands under which the program falls.Other Program Name: Name of the conservation program used to fund the protection of the property if different from the program listed in the "iMap" field, if "iMap" field is "Other", or if the property is protected under multiple funding programs. Separate multiple funding sources by commas and list the primary funding source first.Category: The general 'Category' for the protection mechanism associated with the protected area. Local Name: The name of the protected area, (e.g. Fair Hill NRMA, Swallow Falls State Park) if applicable.Local Owner: The actual name of the owner of the fee interest (spelled out, not abbreviated) to complement the standardized ‘Owner Name’ above. For example, if “State Fish and Wildlife” is the standardized 'Owner Name' “Pennsylvania Fish & Game Commission” would be a possible “Local Owner” name. Note: it is not necessary to identify the actual owner name for privately held properties; just use “Privately owned”.Easement Holder Type: Where the ‘Category’ of protection code (above) is listed as “Easement”, this field must specify the type of holder of the easement, standardized as follow. Type of entity holding the easement.Date of Protection: The date (yyyy/mm/dd) the protected area was designation, decreed or otherwise established. If month or day is unknown, the date is yyyy/00/00.Date of Establishment : The year (yyyy) the protected area was designated, decreed or otherwise established.GIS Acres: Acreage calculated using ArcGIS (coordinate projection should be NAD_1983_StatePlane_Maryland_FIPS_1900). Easement Holder(s): Where the ‘Category’ of protection code (above) is listed as “Easement”, name of the entity managing or holding the easement (spelled out, not abbreviated).Owner Type: General landowner type of the fee property interest, standardized for the US Owner Name: Land owner or holding agency (e.g. 'Forest Service', 'State Fish and Wildlife', 'City Land', Non-Governmental Organization') standardized for the U.S. Unit Name: The name of the land management unit or protected area (Local Name standardized) standardized to Proper Case with acronyms spelled out. This means the management unit with which the property is affiliated or managed. Note: some private lands under conservation easement may not be associated with any formally named land management unit.Legal Acres: Total acreage of legally protected area (not obtained from GIS calculation).Public Access: Level of 'Public Access' permitted, described as: Open requires no special requirements for public access to the property (may include regular hours of availability); Restricted requires a special permit from the owner for access, a registration permit on public land (e.g. self-permitting Wild and Scenic River, backcountry Wilderness registration) or has highly variable times when open to use (e.g. Wildlife Area with seasonal closures to protect winter range or breeding habitat); Closed occurs where no public access is allowed (e.g. land bank property, special ecological study areas, military bases, many easements, etc.); Unknown is assigned where information is not currently available (assumed Closed). Acreage of Public Accessible Areas: Acreage of areas available for public access.GIS Source: The original source of GIS spatial and attribute information the aggregator obtained (e.g. WYG&F_whmas08.shp) for each record. Preferably, this should reference the authoritative data provided by the land manager. GIS Source