US Multiple-Use Protected Lands (GAP 3)
This layer maps the lands of the United States that are protected from conversion but managed for multiple uses (PAD-US 4.1 GAP Status 3). It is shown for context only.
Source: PAD-US 4.1 (USGS) Year: 2025 Category: Transition risks · Sensitive areas · Protected areas Coverage: Country (United States), terrestrial Format: Boundary polygons (157,933 features) Used in risk analysis: No — context only
What it shows
This layer maps the lands of the United States that are protected from conversion but managed for multiple uses: national recreation areas, most national forests and Bureau of Land Management lands, state forests and wildlife management areas. Extractive uses (logging, mining, grazing) or off-road vehicles may be allowed on them.
How it is built
The layer is drawn from version 4.1 of the U.S. Protected Areas Database (PAD-US), maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey. It keeps the areas with GAP Status 3, across the Fee, Designation and Easement feature classes. Marine GAP 3 zones are not included.
How to read it
This is a boundary layer, shown for context only. A site inside one of these polygons sits on land that is protected from conversion, but where the management goal is not the conservation of biodiversity alone. These lands do not raise the sensitive-area flag. That flag comes from the GAP 1-2 US Protected Areas layer.
Feature classes overlap, so summing the areas double counts. Union the geometry for a national total.
Class thresholds
This layer has no numeric class thresholds and no proximity trigger. It is a presence mask of GAP Status 3 lands, taken verbatim from PAD-US 4.1.
Source
U.S. Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1), GAP Status 3 — U.S. Geological Survey, Gap Analysis Project (public domain).
Comparison with the WWF Risk Filter Suite
This layer has no direct equivalent in the WWF Risk Filter Suite, whose protected-area indicator (S14_1) reads designated protected areas. Treat it as context for the US Protected Areas layer.
Legend
Symbolised as a single boundary set: stroke and fill #008000. The popup carries the name, category, governance sphere, IUCN category and GAP status.
Generated from darwin/layers/layer-us-multiple-use-protected-lands.toml (develop).