What is PAD-US?

PAD-US provides a comprehensive geospatial database of protected and managed areas in the United States (fig. 1). We assemble known protected areas whose primary purpose is biodiversity conservation, as well as lands and waters that provide public access to nature. As a National Geospatial Data Asset (https://ngda-portfolio-community-geoplatform.hub.arcgis.com/), the PAD-US database (https://www.usgs.gov/programs/gap-analysis-project/science/protected-areas) is an aggregation of land and water management boundaries provided by authoritative sources and standardized into a common format.

Who helps build PAD-US?

PAD-US is managed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS; USGS, 2022), but it takes many partners to create this database. Our large collaborator network includes Federal, State, and nongovernmental organizations (NGO) whose work is closely aligned with PAD-US goals.

Federal data stewards coordinate through the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Federal Lands Workgroup (FLWG) and include geospatial professionals from Federal land management agencies and other Federal stakeholders. Federal land management agencies are the authoritative source of Federal protected areas data in PAD-US.

State and local data stewards coordinate through the State Land Working Group (SLWG) and include representatives from State government agencies, local governments, universities, and NGO. State data-stewards provide State lands data and local government and private lands data.

NGO also work closely with PAD-US to contribute data for privately-owned protected areas and easements, as well as some data for local park areas.

For more information, see our Data Stewards overview (https://www.usgs.gov/programs/gap-analysis-project/science/pad-us-data-stewards#overview).

How are PAD-US data used?

By giving the American public a detailed accounting of shared investments, PAD-US makes it possible to inform decisions related to biodiversity conservation, climate, outdoor recreation, resource management, public health, and emergency response, including wildland fire coordination. Data contributors also benefit from using PAD-US data to inform their agency’s decisions.

PAD-US provides summary statistics of areas managed for biodiversity protection and for public access for the entire nation as well as by State, county, Department of the Interior Region, Congressional District, ecoregions, and other geographic units. PAD-US provides key data components that support national initiatives like America the Beautiful (https://www.doi.gov/priorities/america-the-beautiful) and the American Conservation and Stewardship Atlas.

PAD-US Vision

PAD-US aims to assemble known protected areas that have a primary purpose of biodiversity conservation, as well as lands and waters that provide public access to nature. Moving forward, USGS is interested in working with Tribal communities to appropriately represent protected areas in the lands and waters of these Tribal nations.

PAD-US will continue collaborating with Mexico and Canada to map protected areas in North America. This will be accomplished through collaboration with the North America Intergovernmental Committee on Cooperation for Wilderness and Protected Areas Conservation (NAWPA; https://nawpacommittee.org/). PAD-US also collaborates with United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC; https://www.unep-wcmc.org/en) to submit United States protected areas data for inclusion in the World Database of Protected Areas (WDPA; https://www.protectedplanet.net/en/thematic-areas/wdpa?tab=WDPA).

Goals for 2023–2025

Get ready to submit your data!

USGS develops information and tools to assist stewards with the data submission process. Several resources like a PAD-US Data Manual are available on USGS’s website to provide stewards with requirements necessary for successful data integration into PAD-US.

Contact the PAD-US Team (pad-us@usgs.gov) for additional guidance.