Theprotected areas of the United States are managed by an array of different federal, state, tribal and local level authorities and receive widely varying levels of protection. Some areas are managed aswilderness, while others are operated with acceptablecommercial exploitation. As of 2022[update], the 42,826protected areas covered 1,235,486 km2 (477,024 sq mi), or 13 percent of the land area of theUnited States.[2] This is also one-tenth of the protected land area of the world.[citation needed] The U.S. also had a total of 871National Marine Protected Areas, covering an additional 1,240,000 sq mi (3,200,000 km2), or 26 percent of the total marine area of the United States.[3]
Federal protected areas include lands and waters owned outright ("Fee ownerships"), as well as areas that are secured by easements, leases, etc. In addition to ownership-defined areas, there are numerous overlaying policy designations that apply management protections and use conditions on all or some of individual protected areas (e.g., Wilderness Areas, National Monuments, etc.).
As of 2007[update], according to theUnited Nations Environment Programme, the U.S. had a total of 6,770 terrestrial nationally designated (federal) protected areas. Federal level protected areas are managed by a variety of agencies, most of which are a part of theNational Park Service, a bureau of theUnited States Department of the Interior. They are often considered the crown jewels of the protected areas. Other areas are managed by theUnited States Forest Service, theBureau of Land Management and theUnited States Fish and Wildlife Service. TheUnited States Army Corps of Engineers is claimed to provide 30 percent of the recreational opportunities on federal lands, mainly through lakes and waterways that they manage.
The highest levels of protection, as described by theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), areLevel I (Strict Nature Reserves & Wilderness Areas) andLevel II (National Parks). The United States maintains 12 percent of the Level I and II lands in the world. These lands had a total area of 210,000 sq mi (540,000 km2).[citation needed]
Because U.S. federal protected areas include both ownership based names, and names related to overlaying policy designations, the naming system for U.S. protected areas results in some types being used by more than one agency. For instance, both the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service manage areas designatedNational Preserves andNational Recreation Areas. The National Park Service, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Bureau of Land Management manage areas callednational monuments.National Wilderness Areas are designated within other protected areas, managed by various agencies and sometimes wilderness areas span areas managed by multiple agencies. Those relying on U.S. protected areas data are advised to learn more about all of these conventions by reviewing the extensivePAD-US Help system.
There are existing federal designations of historic or landmark status that may support preservation via tax incentives, but that do not necessarily convey any protection, including a listing on theNational Register of Historic Places or a designation as aNational Historic Landmark. States and local zoning bodies may or may not choose to protect these. The state ofColorado, for example, is very clear that it does not set any limits on owners of NRHP properties.[4]
Federal protected area designations[1]
International protected area designations
Every state has a system ofstate parks as well as many other types of protected areas (forests, reserves, refuges, recreation areas, etc.). State parks vary widely from urban parks to very large parks that are on a par with national parks. Some state parks, likeAdirondack Park, are similar to thenational parks of England and Wales, with numerous towns inside the borders of the park. About half the area of the park, some 3,000,000 acres (1,200,000 ha), is state-owned and preserved as "forever wild" by theForest Preserve of New York.Wood-Tikchik State Park inAlaska is the largest state park by the amount of contiguous protected land; it is larger than many U.S. National Parks, with some 1,600,000 acres (650,000 ha), making it larger than the state ofDelaware. Many states also operategame and recreation areas.
U.S. counties, cities and towns, metropolitan authorities,regional park systems, recreation districts and other units manage a wide variety of local public parks and other protected areas. Some of these are little more thanpicnic areas orplaygrounds; however, others are extensivenature reserves.South Mountain Park inPhoenix, Arizona, for example, is called the largestcity park in the United States; it spans 25 sq mi (65 km2) and contains 58 mi (93 km) of trails.
