Introduction
The PAD-US vision is for each state to have a data steward organization that can aggregate and maintain data on all public parks and protected areas in that state. These organizations are critical partners with PAD-US as they contribute all State and local protected areas information to the database.
State data-stewards include public agencies, universities, and nongovernmental organizations – some states do not have a data-steward, in which case PAD-US may work with individual agencies when possible, or with other partners until a primary State data-steward can be established. Learn more about State data-stewards and the completeness of each state’s data at www.protectedlands.net/data-stewards.
These steward organizations are also a part of the FGDC National Boundaries Group State Lands Working Group. To learn more, see www.protectedlands.net/data-stewards and a fact sheet on the State Stewards Network.
States are classified by the PAD-US team in tiers representing their data capacity:
- Tier 1 stewards use PAD-US compatible schemas for their data and have complete or mostly complete collections
- Tier 2 stewards have reliable but significantly incomplete aggregated data that may also not easily fit with the PAD-US schema, or requires other revision
- Tier 3 stewards have limited capacity
These tiers help in directing available resources to areas of highest need.
Details on current state data stewards and their status can be found here: www.protectedlands.net/data-stewards.