The Protected Areas
Database of the United States (PAD-US) is a geodatabase that
illustrates and describes public land ownership, management and
conservation lands nationally, including voluntarily provided
privately protected areas. The lands included in PAD-US are assigned
conservation measures that qualify their intent to manage lands for
the preservation of biological diversity and to other natural,
recreational and cultural uses; managed for these purposes through
legal or other effective means. The geodatabase includes: 1)
Geographic boundaries of public land ownership and voluntarily
provided private conservation lands (e.g., Nature Conservancy
Preserves); 2) The combination land owner, land manager, management
designation or type, parcel name, GIS Acres and source of geographic
information of each mapped land unit 3) GAP Status Code conservation
measure of each parcel based on USGS National Gap Analysis Program
(GAP) protection level categories which are intended to provide a
measurement of management commitment for long-term biodiversity
conservation derived from land management plans or land manager
interviews 4) IUCN category for a protected area's inclusion into
UNEP-World Conservation Monitoring Centre's World Database for
Protected Areas. IUCN protected areas are defined as, "A
clearly defined geographical space, recognized, dedicated and
managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the
long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services
and cultural values" and are categorized following a
classification scheme available through USGS GAP; 5) World Database
of Protected Areas (WDPA) Site Codes linking the multiple parcels of
a single protected area in PAD-US and connecting them to the Global Community.
