DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17279333
title: Protected Rivers Assessment of the United States (PRA-US) Version 1.2.

description: Conservation Science Partners, in partnership with American Rivers, has developed the Protected Rivers Assessment of the United States, a data-driven nationwide inventory of present-day river protection status. The Protected Rivers Assessment of the United States (PRA-US) helps conservation practitioners, policymakers, scientists and the public understand the current state of river protection and identify opportunities to expand protection in the future. This assessment leverages a large array of datasets capturing the different mechanisms conferring protection to rivers, including river conservation (e.g., Wild and Scenic River designations, Outstanding National or Tribal Resource Waters), riparian and floodplain conservation (e.g., Riparian National Conservation Areas, Emergency Watershed Protection – Floodplain Easements, Northwest Forest Plan Riparian Reserves), policies focusing on endangered species (Endangered Species Act Critical Habitat), and terrestrial protected areas that incidentally protect rivers (e.g., National Wilderness Preservation System, National Parks, Areas of Critical Environmental Concern). The Protected River Index (PRI) was developed by attributing different weights to each protection mechanism according to their potential conservation of five key ecological attributes that are essential for the long-term persistence of socio-environmental values (hydrologic regime, connectivity, water quality, habitat, biotic composition). Protection classes were then defined according to data ranges (Comprehensive > Effective > Limited > Inadequate > No protection), considering protection to be “viable” if more than one quarter of the key ecological attributes of rivers are intended for protection. The extent of protection was then summarized at the stream segment and watershed scales for each protection mechanism and PRI categories and by considering both local and upstream protection. Finally, a set of variables capturing the values and threats to rivers were summarized to provide contextual information in support of protection prioritization. 
description: This dataset provides the extent of protection of streams and rivers across the United States, estimated at the river segment and subwatershed [Hydrologic Unit Code 12 (HUC 12)] levels. For this assessment, we used the National Hydrographic Dataset version 2.1 (NHDPlus v2.1) for the contiguous U.S. and Hawaii and the National Hydrography Dataset Best Resolution for the state of Alaska.

PRA_US_riversegment.zip:

PRA_US_riversegment.gpkg: Geopackage dataset (gpkg) containing the river segments as well as the river segment-level PRA-US results. All the protection fields are in %, and total length in miles. For this assessment, we used the National Hydrographic Dataset version 2.1 (NHDPlus v2.1) for the contiguous U.S. and Hawaii and the National Hydrography Dataset Best Resolution for the state of Alaska. See metadata_PRA_US_riversegments_gpkg.csv for detailed information about fields.

PRA_US_riversegment.csv: Comma Separated Value (CSV) file containing tabular segment-level PRA-US results. All the protection and length fields are in miles. For this assessment, we used the National Hydrographic Dataset version 2.1 (NHDPlus v2.1) for the contiguous U.S. and Hawaii and the National Hydrography Dataset Best Resolution for the state of Alaska. See metadata_PRA_US_riversegments_csv.csv for detailed information about fields.

PRA_US_subwatersheds.zip

PRA_US_subwatersheds.gpkg: Geopackage dataset (gpkg) containing the subwatersheds [Hydrologic Unit Code 12 (HUC12)] as well as the subwatershed-level PRA-US results. For this assessment, we used the National Hydrographic Dataset version 2.1 (NHDPlus v2.1) for the contiguous U.S. and Hawaii and the National Hydrography Dataset Best Resolution for the state of Alaska. See metadata_PRA_US_subwatersheds_gpkg.csv for detailed information about fields.
description: To make these data more accessible, we have also created an interactive, online mapping explorer that allows anyone to explore the extent of protection and identify conservation opportunities for U.S. rivers at https://map.myriver.americanrivers.org/.