Percentage of Protected Area Amounts within each Watershed Boundary for the Conterminous US

EPA/600/C-12/510 I April 2012 I www.epa.gov/research
Spatial Data Summary
Title: Percentage of Protected Area Amounts within each Watershed Boundary for the
Conterminous US
Author: Spatial data generated by Donald Ebert, Landscape Ecology Branch, U.S. EPA
Abstract: This dataset uses spatial information from the Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD,
March 2011) and the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US Version 1.0). The
resulting data layer, with percentages of protected areas by category, was created using the
ATtlLA 2004 (Analytical Tools Interface for Landscape Assessments) software extension within
the Arc View© 3.x desktop Geographic Information System (GIS) package. Starting with the 12-
digit Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) watersheds (or drainages) identified in the WBD, the
percentage of each of the protection categories contained in the watershed was computed. The
protection categories used were those defined by the Gap Analysis Program (GAP) or
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Percentages were computed for GAP
status codes 1, 2, and 3, as well as for status 1 and 2 combined; and percentages were computed
for the IUCN categories la, lb, II, III, IV, V, and VI, as well as for all the categories combined.
To aid in the speed of the analysis, the PAD-US data layer was transformed into a raster dataset
with al5mx 15m grid cell resolution before processing within ATtlLA.
Keywords: ATtlLA; GAP, IUCN, PAD-US, protection categories, WBD
Organization or location where data will be published: Online by NatureServe.
Article(s) in which the data generation technique(s) are described:
ArcView "Help," ArcView© 3.x
Wade, Timothy. G. and Donald. W. Ebert. 2005. Analytical Tools Interface for Landscape
Assessments (ATTILA) User Manual. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC,
EPA/600/R-04/083.
Jones, K. Bruce; Riitters, Kurt H.; Wickham, James D.; Tankersley, Roger D., Jr.; O'Neill,
Robert V.; Chaloud, Deborah J.; Smith, Elizabeth R.; Neale, Anne C. 1997. An Ecological
Assessment of the United States Mid-Atlantic Region: A Landscape Atlas. United States
Environmental Protection Agency. Office of Research and Development, Washington DC,
20460. EPA/600/R-97/130.
Clearance history: The two original data sets were accepted "as is" from their developers; the
WBD was developed by the Natural Resource Conservation Service of the US Department of
Agriculture; and the PAD-US was developed by the PAD-US partnership
(http://www.protectedlands.net/partnership/). The computational methods used to calculate the
percentages were internally and externally reviewed during the clearance process for the reports
listed above.
Location where data are maintained: D:\ESRP_NatlAtlas\Outputs_Mar2011, non-networked
workstation in EXC140, Landscape Ecology Branch, ESD-LV.
Disclaimers: The United States Environmental Protection Agency through its Office of
Research and Development funded and managed the research described here. It has been
subjected to Agency review and approved for publication. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not
constitute endorsement or recommendation by EPA for use.

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