This polygon data set includes the protected areas of the Eastern United
States of America that are managed by national, state, provincial, or
territorial authorities. As defined by the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a protected area is an area of land
and/or sea especially dedicated to the protection and maintenance of
biological diversity, and of natural and associated cultural resources,
and managed through legal or other effective means. The data set was
assembled for the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) from
other public data sets containing data on protected areas in Canada,
Mexico, and the United States. Protected area data was obtained from
Natural Resources Canada for areas in Canada; the National Commission of
Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) and the Nature Conservancy, Pronatura,
and the National Commission for Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity
(CONABIO) for areas in Mexico; and the Conservation Biology Institute
(CBI) for areas in the United States. This is an updated version of
the March, 2008 data set. States included in this dataset: Connecticut,
Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.