Proportions of wildland vegetation in proximity to buildings: Assessments for the conterminous United States, National Forests lands, and private inholdings

This data publication includes maps and summaries of building extent in wildland vegetation of the conterminous United States, based on a Microsoft building footprints dataset (released 2018) and the 2016 National Land Cover Dataset. Data products include 1) raster maps of building extent and intensity in wildland vegetation in the conterminous United States, 2) edited vector digital files used to summarize building impacts in National Forests and within National Forest private inholdings, and 3) tabular summaries of building impacts in wildland vegetation for the entire conterminous United States, for all National Forest System lands, for private inholdings on National Forests, and federally-owned National Forest System lands that are vulnerable to development impacts due to their proximity to private inholdings. The building extent raster indicates building presence within three ecological effect distances - 100, 250, or 500 meters - of wildland vegetation, and building intensity rasters indicate the number of buildings present within these three distances.
Buildings in proximity to wildlands can degrade habitat quality and threaten biodiversity. Conservationists have called for efforts to expand protected areas in order to combat the global threat of development in wildlands, and the U.S. government has set a goal of protecting 30% of all land and water areas by 2030. However, identifying opportunities for conservation actions must account for existing development. Here, we quantified the extent and intensity of buildings in wildland vegetation in the conterminous U.S. and on U.S. National Forest System lands, which have experienced rapid housing growth on private inholdings. These maps and summaries can be used to assess development impacts in wildlands, and to identify wildland areas that are either impacted by development or currently free of development. Identifying these areas can be a useful criteria for prioritizing conservation actions based on current levels of development and the potential for future impacts.
These data were published on 01/13/2023. Metadata updated on 10/17/2023 to include reference to newly published article. For more information about these data, see Carlson et al. (2023).