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Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) 4.0 Vector Analysis and Summary Statistics

Metadata Updated: October 29, 2025

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 4.0 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 ("PADUS4_0_VectorAnalysis_Script_Python3.zip") 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_0VectorAnalysis_GAP_PADUS_Only_ClipCENSUS.zip") data was created by clipping the PAD-US 4.0 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_0_VectorAnalysisFile_OtherExtents_ClipCENSUS2022.zip"). Comma-separated Value (CSV) tables ("PADUS4_0_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 4.0 combined file without other extent boundaries ("PADUS4_0VectorAnalysis_GAP_PADUS_Only_ClipCENSUS.zip") allow for other applications that require a representation of overall protection status without overlapping designation boundaries. The "PADUS4_0VectorAnalysis_State_Clip_CENSUS2022" feature class ("PADUS4_0_VectorAnalysisFile_OtherExtents_ClipCENSUS2022.gdb") is the source of the PAD-US 4.0 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: http://www.protectedlands.net/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.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 29, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 12, 2025
Metadata Updated Date October 29, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-652d4ebbd34e44db0e2ee458
Data Last Modified 2024-04-25T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 10a36860-386d-4905-8dbe-af9b35eb2d4b
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -180.0000, -14.6000, 180.0000, 71.3600
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash e58176ad1dde031ebf10b2547bfad690e743859132ae9fe986dd96469e8d3a1a
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -180.0000, -14.6000, -180.0000, 71.3600, 180.0000, 71.3600, 180.0000, -14.6000, -180.0000, -14.6000}

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