DCR began digitally mapping the boundaries for agency owned and managed State Parks and State Natural Area Preserves in 1998. In August of 1999, the Department of Technology Planning designated DCR as the lead agency in developing the Commonwealth’s state-wide Conservation Lands Database. Since this mandate, our database has grown to include state, federal, private, and locally managed lands and conservation easements.
DCR is also responsible for tracking Virginia’s progress towards the Chesapeake Bay 2000 Agreement land conservation goal of protecting 20% of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed by 2010. In addition, Governor Tim Kaine recently announced an initiative to protect 400,000 acres of land by the year 2010. This land conservation information is gathered from many sources on a monthly basis and managed within a tabular database. DCR includes these lands in the Conservation Lands Database as soon as an accurate boundary can be delineated.
GIS boundaries for conservation lands are acquired in digital form when available from state and federal land management agencies and localities. DCR State Park and State Natural Area Preserve boundaries were created in-house from best available sources, including digital surveys. Boundaries for many locally owned and managed conservation lands were created by DCR staff using a variety of maps and other sources. The methods of boundary creation, and the resulting accuracy, are dependent on the mapping sources that were made available. Several attribute fields are included in the download data that note the original format, accuracy, and origin of individual boundaries.
In cases of boundary overlap between different land management agencies, we did not attempt to edgematch or otherwise correct conflicts. These inconsistencies are a result of the differences in data development methods and the accuracy of source materials. Please contact the original data creator with questions concerning boundary accuracy, placement, and overlap. DCR hopes to begin addressing some of these issues after migrating conservation lands to a geodatabase format in 2007.
DCR continually seeks GIS data to update and improve this database. To contribute, contact the Conservation Lands GIS Planner or print, fill out, and mail a Conservation Lands Mapping Form.
DCR is continually reviewing and updating the Conservation Lands Database. Updated data will be provided on a quarterly basis in March, June, September and December. The current quarterly date will be posted next to each dataset in the download data section.
Metadata and ArcView Shapefile format data are provided for download in compressed ZIP files. Shapefiles are in decimal degrees (unprojected), and North American Datum 1983. All of the shapefile attribute tables are consistent allowing for easy merging in GIS. Great effort has been taken to create a database that is user friendly and may be applied to many types of analyses. The MATYPE field may be used to classify the conservation lands into different groups.
GIS boundaries are not intended for legal uses and no warranty, expressed or implied, is made by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) as to the accuracy of this data. The act of distribution shall not constitute any such warranty, and no responsibility is assumed by the DCR or in the use of these data. Re-distribution of these data for profit is prohibited.
View Data Online: Virginia Land Conservation Data Explorer(LCDE)
We have created an online GIS mapping application to allow searching and display of Virginia's conservation lands database in an online application. Here you can select conservation lands in a county or a watershed and generate lists and simple maps. This site is best viewed using Netscape 6.0 or Internet Explorer 5.0 or above.
Virginia Land Conservation Statistics
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Virginia Conservation Lands Sample Summaries:
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| Of the estimated total land area of Virginia, 25.27 million acres, over 3.4 million acres or 13.69% is "currently protected". June 2007 | ||
| GROUP | ACRES CONSERVED | PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL |
|---|---|---|
| Federal | 2,321,043.11 | 67.09% |
| State | 854,097.10 | 24.69% |
| Local | 121,313.34 | 3.51% |
| Private | 162,908.92 | 4.71% |
| TOTALS: | 3,459,362.47 | 100.00% |
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Chesapeake Bay 2000 Goal of protecting 20% of the lands in the |
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| JURISDICTION | WATERSHED(ACRES) | PROTECTED (ACRES) | PROTECTED(%) | REMAINING TARGET ACRES |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maryland | 6,208,025 | 1,336,278.23 | 21.53 | -94,673.227 |
| Virginia | 13,831,890 | 2,419,333.74* | 17.49 | 347,044.259 |
| Pennsylvania | 14,522,124 | 3,075,898 | 21.18 | -171,473.20 |
| D.C. | 39,000 | 6,692 | 17.16 | 1,107.90 |
| TOTALS: | 34,601,039 | 6,838,202.07 | 19.76 | 82,005,732 |
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* Includes Department of Defense lands in Virginia
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June 2007
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