Georgia Gap
Consevation Lands
Ownership of Protected Lands | Protection Status of Protected Lands
Land Area by Managing Authority and GAP Status
Ownership of protected lands
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Lands are classified by protection status. The characteristics
used to determine protection status are as follows:
- Permanence of protection from conversion of natural
land cover to unnatural (human-induced barren, exotic-dominated, arrested
succession).
- Relative amount of the tract managed for natural cover.
- Inclusiveness of the management, i.e., single feature
or species versus all biota.
- Type of management and degree that it is mandated
through legal and institutional arrangements.
The four status categories can generally be defined as
follows (after Scott et al. 1993, Edwards et al. 1995, Crist et al.
1995)
| Status 1: |
An area having permanent protection
from conversion of natural land cover and a mandated management
plan in operation to maintain a natural state within which disturbance
events (of natural type, frequency, and intensity) are allowed
to proceed without interference or are mimicked through management. |
| Status 2: |
An area having permanent protection
from conversion of natural land cover and a mandated management
plan in operation to maintain a primarily natural state, but which
may receive use or management practices that degrade the quality
of existing natural communities. |
| Status 3: |
An area having permanent protection
from conversion of natural land cover for the majority of the
area, but subject to extractive uses of either a broad, low-intensity
type or localized intense type. It also confers protection to
federally listed endangered and threatened species throughout
the area. |
| Status 4: |
Lack of irrevocable easement or mandate
to prevent conversion of natural habitat types to anthropogenic
habitat types. Allows for intensive use throughout the tract.
Also includes those tracts for which the existence of such restrictions
or sufficient information to establish a higher status is unknown. |
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Protection Status of Protected Lands
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Land Area by Managing Authority and GAP Status
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Land cover
type by protection status (Adobe PDF document)
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