Data collected and managed by Forest Service programs is available in a map service and two downloadable file formats – in a shape file and an ESRI file geodatabase.
Metadata is available that describes the content, source, and currency of the data.
You can filter the list by the topic categories in the menu at the left to help you find information you are interested in.
You can view the feature classes in a single dataset by clicking on the name of the parent dataset at the bottom of the abstract.
More Forest Service map services are available in ArcGIS Online
Shapefiles do not exist for all National Datasets.
This format has technical limitations which make them unsuitable for multiple datasets within this clearinghouse. These constraints include file size, attribute name length, field length, number of fields, limited data types, lack of topological representations and floating-point rounding errors leading to inevitable data loss.
The EDW Team is unable to support Shapefile exports for datasets that approach those limits. Esri File Geodatabases (FGDB) will remain available. Alternative formats including GeoPackage, GeoJSON, Character Separated Values (CSV), Map Services and Geospatial Discovery Tool offerings will be used to provide open format access to these National Datasets. Once these formats are available for all National Datasets, EDW will retire the shapefile format as a supported file exchange format.
Requests for KML/KMZ output
The Enterprise Data Warehouse Team tested exporting out to KML/KMZ files as a deliverable and due to the complexity and size of the datasets this has been unsuccessful.
To obtain a KML file for any EDW dataset, go to the Geospatial Data Discovery Tool and search for the dataset. An option to download to KML is available from that website.
If you have questions, contact: SM.FS.data@usda.gov.
Feature Classes
Abstract
Forest Service developed sites subject to regulation
This feature class includes States, Counties or Boroughs, Congressional Districts, Alaska Recording Districts, County Subdivisions, and Places boundaries that are derived from the latest official Census Bureau and Alaska Department of Natural Resources datasets. Features within Forest Service Administrative Forest boundaries
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may have been modified by the Forest Service for improved accuracy and spatial coincidence(vertical integration).
Polygons representing Forest Service land areas with a regulated use specification authorized by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980. These areas generally contain hazardous waste considerations.
The Land Management Planning Unit (LMPU) feature class displays the plan revision status for FS land management planning units, their boundaries, FS Region, planning phase milestone and associated date, and link to a related planning website. A land management plan provides a framework for integrated resource management and
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for guiding project and activity decision-making on a nationalforest, grassland, prairie, or other administrative unit. New plan development is required for new NFS units; an existing plan may be amended at any time.
An area depicting ownership parcels of the subsurface estate, representing mineral rights; it is collected only if the subsurface estate is different than the overlying surface estate.
A boundary within which National Forest System land parcels have managment or use limits placed on them by legal authority. Examples are: National Recreation Area, National Monument, and National Game Refuge.
A boundary of an area designation within which National Forest System land parcels have management or use limits placed on them by legal authority above the Agency level (e.g. Congress and/or President). Areas that have been designated by Congress, Executive Order, Presidential Proclamation, or an Executive branch Department,
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excluding National Wilderness and National Wild and Scenic Rivers, with related details including the date of designation, status of the final boundary description, authority, and land status case and document information. Each area designation is characterized by a date, boundary status, and authority and may be just one of several designations that comprise a single national designated area.
An NFS Land Unit is nationally significant classification of Federally owned forest, range, and related lands that are administered by the USDA Forest Service or designated for administration through the Forest Service. NFS Land Unit types include proclaimed national forest, purchase unit, national grassland, land utilization
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project, research and experimental area, national preserve, and other land area. Each NFS Land Unit is identified by a National Forest Fiscal Identifier (NFFID) code, a unique 4-digit number that is used for accounting purposes.
The FS National Forests Dataset (US Forest Service Proclaimed Forests) is a depiction of the boundaries encompassing the National Forest System (NFS) lands within the original proclaimed National Forests, along with subsequent Executive Orders, Proclamations, Public Laws, Public Land Orders, Secretary of Agriculture Orders,
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and Secretary of Interior Orders creating modifications thereto, along with lands added to the NFS which have taken on the status of 'reserved from the public domain' under the General Exchange Act. The following area types are included: National Forest, Experimental Area, Experimental Forest, Experimental Range, Land Utilization Project, National Grassland, Purchase Unit, and Special Management Area.
This polyline feature class depicts the river corridors of each Wild and Scenic River designated by Congress or the Secretary of the Interior for the United States and Puerto Rico. This GIS data layer was created from a multi-agency effort by the US Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and the US
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Fish and Wildlife Service. The spatial data were referenced to the latest High Resolution National Hydrological Data Layer (NHD 1:24,000 Scale or better), published by United States Geological Survey (USGS).
This polyline feature class depicts the classification of each wild and scenic river segment designated by Congress and the Secretary of the Interior for the United States and Puerto Rico. This layer was created by a multi-agency effort including the US Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management and the
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Fish and Wildlife Service. The spatial data were referenced to the latest High Resolution National Hydrological Data Layer (NHD 1:24,000 Scale or better), published by United States Geological Survey (USGS). "Wild" rivers are free of dams, generally inaccessible except by trail, and represent vestiges of primitive America. "Scenic" rivers are free of dams, with shorelines or watersheds still largely primitive and shorelines largely undeveloped, but accessible in places by roads. ?Recreational? rivers are readily accessible by road or railroad, may have some development along their shorelines, and may have been dammed in the past.
A National Grassland unit designated by the Secretary of Agriculture and permanently held by the Department of Agriculture under Title III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act.
This layer includes both Proclaimed Forest and National Grassland boundary areas. A Proclaimed Forest boundary is the boundary encompassing National Forest System land within a national forest that is set aside and reserved from the public domain by executive order or proclamation; congressional action is required to terminate
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a proclaimed boundary; if, at some point in time, no National Forest System land remains within the proclaimed boundary, then there is no legal significance to the proclaimed boundary, however, its legal status remains. National Grasslands are lands designated "National Grasslands" by the Secretary of Agriculture and permanently held by the Department of Agriculture for administration under Title III of the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act.
An area depicting ownership parcels of the subsurface estate, excluding mineral rights; it is collected only if the subsurface estate is different than the overlying surface estate.
Federal land parcels that are withdrawn from settlement, sale, location, or entry under some or all of the general land and mineral laws in order to maintain other public values or purposes. A withdrawal area has one or more associated segregations. A segregation is a specific activity from which the area has been withdrawn
A land survey point from a GCDB LX file, survey plat, or captured from a CFF land net coverage. Includes points generated by calculating an aliquot breakdown of a section.
A featureclass depicting survey monuments. A monument is a permanent marker placed at the location of a corner. Today, permanent monuments can be an aluminum pipe and cap or an iron rod and plastic cap. In the past, original PLSS surveys often utilized wooden stakes or posts, marked trees, or stones, mounds of rocks, pits, or
This Quarter Section feature class depicts PLSS Second Divisions . PLSS townships are subdivided in a spatial hierarchy of first, second, and third division. These divisions are typically aliquot parts ranging in size from 640 acres to 160 to 40 acres, and subsequently all the way down to 2.5 acres. The data in this feature
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class was translated from the PLSSSecondDiv feature class in the original production data model, which defined the second division for a specific parcel of land.
An area defined by the Public Lands Survey System grid that is referenced by its tier and range numbers, and is normally a rectangle approximately 6 miles on a side with boundaries conforming to meridians and parallels.
A unit designated by the Secretary of Agriculture or previously approved by the National Forest Reservation Commission for purposes of Weeks Law acquisition.
An area depicting a privilege to pass over the land of another in some particular path; usually an easement over the land of another; a strip of land used in this way for railroad and highway purposes, for pipelines or pole lines and for private and public passage.
A boundary within which National Forest System land parcels have management or use limits placed on them by the Forest Service. Examples include: Archaeological Area, Research Natural Area, and Scenic Area.
A land area that has distinct management/use authorities or agreements for Forest Service action. Includes: Cost Share Agreement Areas, Exchange Authority Areas, Land Adjustment Plan Areas, Forest Reserves, and Secretary's Order Areas.
An area depicting ownership parcels of the surface estate. Each surface ownership parcel is tied to a particular legal transaction. The same individual or organization may currently own many parcels that may or may not have been acquired through the same legal transaction. Therefore, they are captured as separate entities
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rather than merged together. This is in contrast to Basic Ownership, in which the surface ownership parcels having the same owner are merged together. Basic Ownership provides the general user with the Forest Service versus non-Forest Service view of land ownership within National Forest boundaries. Surface Ownership provides the land status user with a current snapshot of ownership within National Forest boundaries.
Surface Management Agency (SMA) lines represent the surveyed boundary lines for which the Forest Service is responsible for marking and posting. These include the boundaries between NFS lands and non-NFS lands and the boundaries of congressionally designated areas such as National Wilderness.
A depiction of a survey parcel described by a metes and bounds description. Examples include: land lots, housing subdivision lots, mineral surveys, and homestead entry surveys.
A boundary of an area designation that comprises all or a portion of a National Wild, Scenic or Recreational River in the Wild and Scenic River System. Each area designation is characterized by a date, boundary status, and authority and may be just one of several designations that comprise a single National Wild and Scenic
A boundary of an area designation that comprises all or a portion of a National Wilderness in the National Wilderness Preservation System. Each area designation is characterized by a date, boundary status, and authority and may be just one of several designations that comprise a single National Wilderness.
