Using Satellite Maps and Related Spatial Data Sets to Identify Remaining Wild Areas of the Eastern US

Roadless and wild areas of 12 states comprising the eastern United States were derived from a combination of satellite image data products (tree cover, urbanized areas, etc), a road network database, and related spatial data sets. These remote areas were defined as having greater than 60 percent tree cover of at least ~5000 acre (2000 ha) contiguous tracts situated more than 500m from any road. Detailed maps of the region were produced and then overlaid with information on existing parks, protected areas, easements, and state and national forest land boundaries. Statistics were tabulated on a regional and statewide basis, and are presented together with the derived map. A total of 1468 wild areas were mapped in the study area. Forty three percent of those were in areas offering some form of protected land disignation, but only 548 (37 percent) of the areas were at least 50 percent protected. Many of the areas identified as roadless wild lands not known to be currently protected in any form were, not surprisingly, located in the states of Maine and West Virginia. Other significant lands meeting the criteria were identified in New York and Tennessee and, to a lesser extent, Pennsylvania, Vermont and New Hampshire. This work forms, as far as we know, the first quantitative assessment across the region using consistent data sets and accepted national criteria for roadless areas. It underscores the urgent need for reserving some of the remaining wild lands to protect forest resources and biological diversity before exurban development encroaches of the last of these unique resource lands of the East. Our approach may also provide acceptable criteria for a national assessment, and results are discussed in this context.