Why is a Protected Areas Database Important?

Protected areas are important to each person in their own way.  Be it a special spot, a rare habitat or unique ecosystem, we all have our reasons for caring.  While I care deeply about the intrinsic value of protected areas, I also care about the data that helps us catalog these places.  One of CBI’s recent projects is PAD-US 1.1 (CBI Edition) dataset, a national inventory of protected areas.

Why is this data important?  Because it is an inventory of what we (a nation, state, community) have protected.  Whether it has been set aside as wilderness, a research reserve or a local park these areas are represented in this dataset.  By using these data, we can determine what percentage of an ecoregion is protected, calculate the acreage of wilderness areas, or map protected areas that may be affected by an oil spill.  Visually, we can see if there are gaps in wildlife corridors and in combination with land records, can look for opportunities to fill those gaps.  This dataset is so much more than the just the records that make up the inventory of protected areas – it is a tool that allows us as conservation planners to make decisions for future conservation.  

By providing this data, CBI is providing a great opportunity for conservation practitioners to use this data in conjunction with their own datasets to do analyses.   We would love to hear what our users are doing with this data and in the future we will be sharing our analysis efforts as well.

In the meantime, here are some fun facts about PAD-US 1.1 (CBI Edition):

In the PAD-US dataset, there are 146,036 records
Of those, only 98 records are private lands
There are 145,938 records for lands with some level of protection
There are over 74,000 uniquely named protected areas
PAD-US catalogs 281 Designation Types (National Park, Wilderness Area, State Park, etc.)
Colorado has the greatest number of uniquely named areas – 13,432

So, what do you want to know about the PAD?