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.
This dataset contains the detailed information about the individual asset linear features such as roads and trails that make up Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) projects. This data can be used together with the project summary data to display general project locations. The data is refreshed on a nightly basis from the US Forest Service database of infrastructure projects which is stewarded by the individual National Forests and Grasslands.For more information about Forest Service GAOA projects visit our website: https://www.fs.usda.gov/managing-land/gaoa
The feature class indicates the specific types of motorized vehicles allowed on the designated routes and their seasons of use. The feature class is designed to be consistent with the Motor Vehicle Use Map (MVUM). Only roads with a SYMBOL attribute value of 1, 2, 3, 4, 11, and 12 are Forest Service System roads and contain data concerning their availability for OHV (Off Highway Vehicle) use. This data is published and refreshed on a unit by unit basis as needed. Information for each individual unit must be verified as to be consistent with the published MVUMs prior to inclusion in this data. Not every National Forest has data included in this feature class.
Purpose:
This feature class contains National Forest System roads which have been designated as open to motorized vehicles under the Travel Management Rule (36 CFR 212, Subpart B, Designation of Roads, Trails, and Areas for Motor Vehicle Use). Routes not designated for motor vehicle use (such as non-motorized trails, single-purpose roads and trails, unauthorized roads and trails, and temporary roads and trails) are not included.
Existing Forest Service roads with attributes representing their characteristics. Each feature represents a segment of road where the attributes are the same. Attributes apply either to the entire road or to some measured distance along the road.
Purpose:
This feature class represents existing National Forest System (NFSR) roads necessary for the protection, administration and utilization of the National Forest. Only roads under the jurisdiction of the Forest Service are included.
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 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.
This dataset is intended for read-only use. This dataset provides a preliminary determination of where and what type of rights of way exist. Not all rights of way held by the Forest Service across others land are open to public use. The purpose of these data is to provide display, identification, and analysis tools for determining current boundary information for Forest Service managers, GIS specialists, and others.
Purpose:
This dataset represents legal rights to pass over the land of another along a specified route. Rights of way are usually for roads, trails, railroads, or utilities. This dataset contains rights held by the USFS/USA across others land, and rights held by others across National Forest System lands. Not all rights of way are open to public use.
Surface Drinking Water Importance - Forests on the Edge
These data have been depreciated and an updated dataset is available titled Forests to Faucets 2.0 (2022). More information about Forests to Faucets 2.0 can be found at: https://www.fs.usda.gov/ecosystemservices/FS_Efforts/forests2faucets.shtml
The Forests on the Edge feature class is based on the digital hydrologic unit boundary layer to the Subwatershed (12-digit) 6th level for the continental United States. This 2015 data set is an updated version of the 2011 Forests to Faucets data set. America’s private forests provide a vast array of public goods and services, including abundant, clean surface water. Forest loss and development can affect water quality and quantity when forests are removed and impervious surfaces, such as paved roads, spread across the landscape. In this study rank watersheds across the conterminous United States were ranked according to the contributions of private forest land to surface drinking water and by threats to surface water from increased housing density. Private forest land contributions to drinking water are greatest in the East but are also important in Western watersheds. Development pressures on these contributions are concentrated in the Eastern United States but are also found in the North-Central region, parts of the West and Southwest, and the Pacific Northwest; nationwide, more than 55 million acres of rural private forest land are projected to experience a substantial increase in housing density from 2000 to 2030. Planners, communities, and private landowners can use a range of strategies to maintain freshwater ecosystems, including designing housing and roads to minimize impacts on water quality, managing home sites to protect water resources, and using payment schemes and management partnerships to invest in forest stewardship on public and private lands.
