Background:

NYPAD is the essential resource for tracking New York State's permanently protected lands, and a planning tool for state agencies, organizations, and individuals working to conserve New York State's lands and waters. It also supports 30x30, the State's initiative to conserve thirty percent of lands and waters by 2030. The data in NYPAD can be viewed in the interactive map, or downloaded for use with a mapping application (such as ArcGIS Pro, or QGIS). Limited attribute information about an area is available in the interactive map. Full attribute information is available in the downloaded data.

Not all lands in NYPAD are open to the public - "protected" is not the same as "open." Inclusion in NYPAD does not imply permission for the public to enter that area – many lands in NYPAD are not publicly accessible. We do not provide information on public access in this map viewer. Assume any protected area included in NYPAD is closed to the public until you verify it is open by contacting the managing organization or consulting their website for information on public access and other rules regarding use of the area.

NYPAD is an ever-evolving database. Early versions will include publicly owned lands open to the public, such as municipal parks and playgrounds; State Forests, Forest Preserve lands, Wildlife Management Areas, and State Parks; and National Recreation Areas, National Seashores, and National Forests. Preserves of The Nature Conservancy will also be in early versions of NYPAD. Later versions will add lands owned or under conservation easement by land trusts and other private organizations, lands under conservation easement by New York State, forest lands registered under New York State’s 480-a program, and more.

Data on protected areas have been collected from state, federal, and local governments; private conservation organizations and land trusts; and colleges and universities. Efforts to identify other sources of protected area data, and to obtain the data and incorporate it into NYPAD’s geodatabase, are ongoing. Maintenance of the data is also ongoing; updates will be made as new parcels are protected and as more accurate spatial data becomes available.

NYPAD is a project of the New York Natural Heritage Program, a partnership between the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Collaborators include The Nature Conservancy, Scenic Hudson, and New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.