State Land Acreage by Classification

DEC Lands Disclaimer

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) distributes this data with the understanding that it is approximate, and is intended for broad scale planning, inventory, and analysis activities. Although acreage figures are shown to one-acre accuracy, the geographic information used for area calculations is approximate and no survey level accuracy is conveyed. NYS DEC makes no guarantee or warranty concerning the accuracy of information contained in the data. This data is a work in progress and will continually be improved. For definitions of each land classification please visit our State Land Classifications page. For more information on DEC's administrative regions, including locations, visit our DEC Regions page.

About Conservation Easements

A conservation easement is a land conservation tool employed by the State that protects natural resources while allowing for continued private ownership of land. Despite private ownership, however, conservation easements held by the state do represent a public interest in those lands, and with this interest comes some level of management responsibility on behalf of DEC. For example, the State has acquired varying levels of public recreation rights on most large, working-forest easement properties. For more information, please visit our Conservation Easements page or contact the regional DEC office nearest to where the easement property is located for the current status on recreational access.

State Land Acreage by Classification (All figures are in acres except where noted. Table updated April 2011)
Land Classification		Region 1	Region 2	Region 3	Region 4	Region 5	Region 6	Region 7	Region 8	Region 9	Catskill Park Total	Adirondack Park Total	State Total	Percent of Total State Land and Conservation Easements
State Forest		16,056	758	31,763	102,248	58,354 **	221,924	200,419	55,581	99,121	-	16,264 **	786,224	17%
Forest Preserve	Wilderness	-	-	89,352	53,482	954,601	206,151	-	-	-	142,834	1,160,752	1,303,586	28%
	Wild Forest	-	-	75,588	60,368	938,664 **	367,123	-	-	-	135,956	1,305,787	1,441,743	31%
	Primitive	-	-	-	-	31,309	15,704	-	-	-	-	47,013	47,013	1%
	Primitive Bicycle Corridor	-	-	15	283	-	-	-	-	-	298	-	298	0.006%
	Canoe	-	-	-	-	18,989	-	-	-	-	-	18,989	18,989	0.4%
	Intensive Use	-	-	4,104	1,542	21,591	1,828	-	-	-	5,646	23,419	29,065	0.6%
	Administrative	-	-	392	0 ***	384	7	-	-	-	392	391	783	0.02%
	Historic	-	-	-	-	531	-	-	-	-	-	531	531	0.01%
	Pending Classification	-	-	-	-	259	111	-	-	-	-	370	370	0.007%
	Under Water* (Unclassified)	-	-	-	-	17,395	6,534	-	-	-	-	23,929	23,929	0.5%
	Detached Parcel	-	-	1,382	4,141	1,441	4,318	-	-	-	-	-	11,282	0.2%
	Total Forest Preserve	-	-	170,833	119,816	2,001,313	601,776	-	-	-	285,126	2,597,267	2,893,738	61%
Wildlife Management Area		6,007	-	12,021	18,518 ***	6,524 **	46,371	49,562	41,462	17,178	407 ***	2,755 **	197,643	4%
Conservation Easement		108	21	7,264	7,286	488,463	336,783	436	-	10	9,437	769,579	840,371	18%
TOTALS:		22,171	779	221,881	247,868	2,554,654	1,206,854	250,417	97,043	116,309	294,970	3,385,865	4,717,976	100%

* Certain lake beds are considered Forest Preserve, despite some level of private ownership adjacent to the lakes. These underwater lands are not classified. For the purposes of this table, however, lakes and ponds that are completely surrounded by Forest Preserve have been classified the same as the adjacent land.
** Where State Forests and Wildlife Management Areas exist within the Adirondack Park, the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan also classifies these lands as Wild Forest. However, since these lands are not Forest Preserve, State Forest and Wildlife Management Area acreages within the Adirondack Park were NOT included in the Wild Forest category of this table.
*** Where Wildlife Management Areas exist within the Catskill Park, the Catskill Park State Land Master Plan also classifies these lands as Administrative. For calculation purposes in this table, however, Wildlife Management Area acreage within the Catskill Park was NOT also included in the Administrative category.