Criterion 1. Conservation of Biological Diversity
National Report on Sustainable Forests—2010
Indicator 1.02.
Area and Percent of Forest in Protected Areas by Forest Ecosystem Type, and by Age Class or
Successional Stage
What is the indicator and why is it important?
The area and percent of forest ecosystems reserved in some
form of protected status provides an indication of the emphasis
our society places on preserving representative ecosystems as a
strategy to conserve biodiversity. Important forest management
questions also can be addressed by maintaining information
on a network of representative forest types within protected
areas. Traditionally, protected areas have been set aside, in
part, for their conservation, scenic, and recreational values.
The ecosystems in any one area might not represent the full
range of biodiversity, but if it is part of a national conservation
strategy (including rare and endangered species), then some
degree of overall protection is available. Over time, forest
types and their associated flora and fauna within protected
areas will change and must be monitored as part of an overall
strategy for conserving biodiversity. Adequate protection of
the ecosystems and species in protected areas may also provide
more management flexibility in forests under management for
wood production and other uses.
What does the indicator show?
The United States has a long history of forest protection. Yellow­stone, one of the world’s first national parks, had its land area
set aside in 1872. In the late 1800s, the Forest Reserves (now
the national forests) were established to protect water and
provide timber. The passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964
(Public Law 88-577, 16 U.S. C. 1131–1136) provided further
protection to millions of acres of forest throughout the United
States. Protected forest areas are scattered throughout the United
States but are most abundant in the West, predominantly on
Federal public land. In the East, the Adirondack and Catskills
Reserves managed by the State of New York, at nearly 3 million
acres total area, and set aside nearly 100 years ago as wild for­ever, are two of the largest areas of protected forest in nonFederal ownership.
This indicator currently addresses public protected forest areas,
but millions of acres of private protected forests exist as well.
These forests are primarily in various forms of conservation
easements and fee simple holdings of several nongovernmental
Last Updated June 2011 organizations (NGOs), such as The Nature Conservancy, Ducks
Unlimited, The Conservation Fund, and The Trust for Public
Land. The National Land Trust Census in 2005 conservatively
estimated 37 million acres of private land in protected status.
The overall data from the various sources, however, are
inconsistent both spatially and as to how much of the areas are
forested. Major efforts are under way to improve the quality
and coverage of this data and future reports will be able to
address these areas in a more consistent way.
Public protected areas in the United States are found within
six IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)
categories (wilderness, national parks, National Monuments,
wildlife management areas, protected landscapes, and managed
resource areas—see Glossary for more detailed descriptions),
and are estimated to cover about 154 million acres (7 percent
of all land) in the United States. An estimated 106 million acres
of these protected lands are forested, representing 14 percent
of all forest land (fig. 2-1). Conifer forests, particularly on
public lands in the West (Rocky Mountain, Pacific Coast, and
Alaska Regions), have a larger percentage of area in protected
status in the United States (fig. 2-2a). The highest proportions
of protection in conifer types are lodgepole pine at 49 percent,
followed by western white pine at 38 percent and fir-spruce at
34 percent of total forest area in each type.
Figure 2-1. Forest land by major forest land class in the
United States (excluding Alaska and Hawaii), 2007.
500 miles
Albers Equal-Area Conic Projection
Protected forest
Timber land
Other forest
1
A smaller proportion of broadleaf forests are in protected
status because many of these forests are in the Eastern United
States, where private ownership is predominant. (fig. 2-2b).
The highest proportions of protection in the East are spruce-fir
at 6 percent, maple-beech-birch at 6 percent and white-red-jack
pine at 5 percent.
Figure 2-2a. Percent of public forest land protected by
cover type in the West, 2007.
Protected forests are relatively older than those on unprotected
lands (fig. 2-3). Roadless areas have 52 percent of stands more
than 100 years old and other protected areas have 49 percent
of stands more than 100 years old, although all other forests
outside protected areas have only 14 percent of stands more
than 100 years old. The more active management for wood
products on the latter skews the forest area to younger age
classes. Many of the younger stands in protected areas are the
result of fires that have occurred in western forests at higher
levels of frequency in recent years.
Cover type
Cover type
Cover type
National Report on Sustainable Forests—2010
Protected
forest outside roadless
cover type
in the East,
2007.
Aspen-birch
Roadless forest
Maple-beech-birch
Other forest types
Elm-ash-cottonwood
Aspen-birch
Oak-gum-cypress
Maple-beech-birch
Other forest types
Oak-hickory
Elm-ash-cottonwood
Aspen-birch
Oak pine
Oak-gum-cypress
Maple-beech-birch
Loglolly-shortleaf pine
Oak-hickory
Elm-ash-cottonwood
Longleaf-slash
Oak pine
pine
Oak-gum-cypress
Spruce-fir
Loglolly-shortleaf
pine
Oak-hickory
White-red-jack
pine
Longleaf-slash pine
Oak pine
0
Spruce-fir
Loglolly-shortleaf
pine
1
2
3
4
Percent of type protected
5
6
White-red-jack
Longleaf-slash pine
pine Protected forest outside roadless
Roadless forest
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
Spruce-fir
Percent of type protected
White-red-jack pine
Protected forest outside roadless
Roadless forest
0
1
3
4
5
6
Source: Conservation Biology
Institute
and2USDA Forest
Service,
Forest
35
Percent of type protected
Inventory and Analysis
30
Protected forest outside roadless
Roadless forest
25
r
ol
de
19
9
an
d
to
920
0
15
0
10
0
to
14
9
99
to
79
80
to
59
60
40
to
39
to
20
to
15
25
35
10
20
30
5
15
25
0
10
20
5
15
0
10
19
35
Figure
2-3. Protected and other forest land by stand-age
20
class,302007 (does not reflect private protected forests).
0
The area of public protected forests has changed little since
2003. As described in Indicator 27 and earlier in this indicator,
conservation easements and related mechanisms by which
private lands are assured some level of protection are growing
in importance. Currently, the total area protected in this fashion
is smaller relative to the area of publicly protected lands, but it
is growing rapidly with the support of both public and private
funding sources and will play a significant role in future forest
policies both locally and nationally.
Lodgepole
pine
Other
softwoods
Pinyon-juniper
Larch
Redwood
Western hardwoods
Hemlock-Sitka
spruce
Lodgepole
pine
Other softwoods
Fir-spruce
Larch
Redwood
Western white
pine
Hemlock-Sitka
spruce
Lodgepole pine
Ponderosa
pine
Fir-spruce
Larch
Douglas-fir
Western
white
pine
Hemlock-Sitka spruce
10
20
30
40
50
60
Ponderosa
pine 0
Fir-spruce
Percent of type protected
Douglas-fir
Western white pineProtected forest outside roadless
Roadless forest
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Ponderosa pine
Source: Conservation
Biology Institute and USDA Forest Service, Forest
Percent of type protected
Inventory and Analysis
Douglas-fir
Protected forest outside roadless
Roadless forest
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Percent
of type
protected
Other
forest types
Figure
2-2b.
Percent of public
forest
land
protected by
Cover type
Cover type
Cover type
What has changed since 2003?
Other
softwoods
Pinyon-juniper
Redwood
Western hardwoods
Percent of
Percent
area inPercent
ofage
area
class
inofage
area
class
in age class
If protected areas are not large enough to support the full range
of habitat attributes need to sustain all ecosystem components,
areas outside protected status are needed to contribute to biodiversity goals. The ability to manage both public and private
unprotected forest lands for these broader goals will depend on
the management objectives of the owners and their willingness
to consider management options that can be integrated with
those for protected areas.
Pinyon-juniper
Western hardwoods
de
r
ol
de
r
an
d
0
20
15
0
to
19
920
0
15
0
an
d
to
ol
19
9
9
14
to
10
0
80
to
99
10
0
to
14
99
80
to
79
60
to
79
60
to
59
40
to
59
40
to
39
to
to
39
20
20
0
to
19
0
to
19
Stand-age class (years)
Protected forest area outside roadless
Roadless forest area
All other forest
0
Stand-age class (years)
Protected forest area outside roadless
Roadless forest area
All other forest
Stand-age class (years)
Protected forest area outside roadless
Roadless forest area
All other forest
Source: Conservation Biology Institute and USDA Forest Service, Forest
Inventory and Analysis
5
Last Updated June 2011 2