Information About Methodologies and Sources

Methodology

In compiling data, a conscientious effort was made to include only lands that could be categorized as permanently conserved. Lands acquired and conserved in the context of the Conservation Almanac encompass lands held in fee title for conservation purposes and lands over which conservation easements have been placed, but does not include leased lands nor lands managed pursuant to contracts. Data has been collected on a yearly basis for the 1998 through 2005-time period. A baseline figure represents an aggregate figure of acres acquired at present. Local conservation land and private conservation land (e.g., those held by land trusts), while available on a widely scattered basis, are not consistently available and have been omitted. Their omission should not be construed as an indication that local and private conservation are somehow less important. They play a vital role in land conservation and hopefully will be included in future updates of the Conservation Almanac. Some portions of state forests are not included because it was not possible to adequately delineate what was permanently conserved.

The Total Acres Conserved figures consist of the total baseline number of acres owned in fee or held with conservation easements by state and federal agencies. This figure does not include acres acquired through NAWCA, Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund, and National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grants due to the fact that some acres would be double counted and in other cases detailed data could not be provided. In contrast, the charts entitled Acres Conserved 1998-2005 and Public Dollars Spent on Land Conservation provide a snapshot of land conservation acquisitions, both fee and conservation easements, and acquisition expenditures for 1998 through 2005.

It should be stated clearly:

In some instances state agencies or programs were not able to provide data on a yearly basis, but rather as an aggregate figure. In this case we have distributed total acres acquired and dollars spent evenly by year.

The Acres Developed for 1998 to 2005 is based upon a regression analysis of 2003 data from the National Resources Inventory by the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United State Department of Agriculture. Using the available historical data, the annual rate of growth in acres developed was regressed on the annual rates of growth in population, housing units and employment (from Census Bureau) for 1998 through 2005. The results of this regression were used to project the annual rate of growth in acres developed for each year from 1998 to 2005. The estimates of Acres Developed for each year from 1998 to 2005 are based on these projected rates of growth in acres developed. It should be noted that there is some statistical uncertainty in the projections from 1998 to 2005, but we believe these to be the best possible estimates.

It should be stated clearly:

Alaska and Hawaii: In the absence of any data on land developed for any year in real data, we could not calculate the amount developed as a projection.

At the time of publication some Federal programs or agencies were not able to provide all data requested. In these instances data is provided in the best available format. Attempts to gather this information will be made in subsequent updates to the Conservation Almanac.

• Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
  Bureau of Reclamation - Data pertinent to state trust lands, and tribal lands was not included in the Conservation Almanac because of their uncertain status as conserved lands. BLM data is only represented in the baseline calculations because yearly detailed data by category was not available.
• The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) - This data was provided by the Forest Service's Land Areas Report, which does not track any conservation easements the USFS owns or helped to acquire. Dollars spent by the USFS that are represented in the Conservation Almanac are comprised of Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) appropriations as this captures the majority of spending that took place between 1998-2005.
• The National Park Service (NPS) - The National Park Service could not provide data for the years 1998 and 1999. All dollars included for the NPS are based on appropriations.
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) and National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grants - Acreage acquired through NAWCA and National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grants, both administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has not been included in the almanac. Because there are often both restoration and enhancement components to the projects funded through these programs, it is impossible to determine which portion of the funding has gone specifically to acquisition.
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Departments of Transportation - Acquisition and cost data proved too difficult to gather and subsequently are not included in this publication.
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund - Because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tracks this program's accomplishments in terms of benefits to species as opposed to number of acres acquired, we have not included acreage data as part of the Conservation Almanac.