The Gap Analysis Project (GAP) is an element of the U.S. Geological Survey. GAP helps to implement the Department of the Interior’s goals of inventory, monitoring, research, and information transfer. GAP has three primary goals:
- Identify conservation gaps that help keep common species common;
- Provide conservation information to the public so that informed resource management decisions can be made; and
- 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 conducts national projects, utilizing cooperative efforts among federal and state agencies and private organizations. GAP is one of the core products of the USGS Core Science Systems | Science Analytics and Synthesis program. The national GAP office is based in Boise, Idaho. Staff and cooperators are located at North Carolina State University http://www.basic.ncsu.edu/, New Mexico State University http://case.nmsu.edu/case/index.htm, and Boise State University https://www.boisestate.edu/. The National Project Coordinator is Kevin Gergely, based in Boise, Idaho.
