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.
In 2021, the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board (FASAB) initiated a tracking mechanism that requires all federal agencies that own or manage land to categorize the acres of those lands into three broad categories of predominant land use and produce an annual report. In this context the USDA Forest Service has considered the definitions of each category and classified all acres of National Forest System (NFS) lands into 1. Conservation/Preservation, 2. Commercial, 3. Operational designations. Those designations are additionally separated by whether the lands have been identified as Stewardship lands, or if the lands were acquired by the federal government for General Plant, Property & Equipment purposes. In response, the Washington Office Lands and Realty Management staff determined the appropriate data sources for this annual report and developed classification rules and a geoprocessing methodology to overlay and extract a seamless and complete NFS acreage total by the required categorizations. The acres of land in each category are dynamic, as the status of surface ownership may change from year to year based on administrative and congressional designations, purchases, dispositions, or exchanges. The data used to generate the report are updated weekly, and this translates into continuously refreshed reporting and mapping products. Presented here is the spatial representation of the rule-based land category designations of NFS lands.
The FASAB land categories are defined as follows:
Conservation/ Preservation: land or land rights that are predominantly used for conservation or preservation purposes.
Conservation: protection and proper use of natural resources.
Preservation: the protection of buildings, objects, and landscapes.
Commercial: land and permanent land rights that are predominately used to generate inflows of resources derived from the land itself or activities that nonfederal third parties perform on the land, usually through special use permits, right-of-way grants, and leases.
Operational: land that is used for general or administrative purposes.
The Land_FASAB dataset covers National Forest System Lands including federally owned units of forest, range, and related land consisting of national forests, purchase units, national grasslands, land utilization project areas, experimental forest areas, experimental range areas, designated experimental areas, other land areas, water areas, and interests in lands that are administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service or designated for administration through the Forest Service.
Additional information on this FASAB and the geoprocessing used to produce this dataset can be found here: https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/default/files/Land-FASAB-dataset-FAQ.pdf
