The CBI Protected Areas Database provides baseline conservation information about protected areas in the United States. It includes only holdings that have a protection level of Gap 1, 2, 3 or 4. It will be useful in helping natural resource managers assess which habitat types, species, etc. are adequately protected in existing reserve networks and where gaps in protection exist. The database emphasizes federal and state owned areas, but includes county, city, and private reserves when data were available. Although most data used to assemble the database are at 1:100,000 or finer mapscale, some data are at a coarser scale (up to 1:2 million). Therefore, the CBI Protected Areas Database should be used for conservation planning projects at the state or ecoregion level.
The database includes information on the identity, ownership, and protection level of each protected area. The database can be queried by any of the fields shown below.
| Attribute | Description |
| AREANAME | Primary name of parcel when known |
| AREANAME2 | Secondary name of parcel, or name of larger parcel in which primary parcel is located |
| DESIGNATION | Type of protected area (e.g. State Park, National Forest) |
| DESIGNATION2 | Type of area in which primary parcel is located |
| OWNER | State, Federal, Local, Private - Inholding, Private - Protected, Tribal, or Unknown |
| AGENCY | Owner or managing agency, when known |
| IUCNCAT | Global IUCN protection level |
| GAPCAT | GAP protection level (1-4) |
| STATE | 2-letter state abbreviation for parcels in U.S.A. |
| SOURCE | Character code corresponding to a list of data sources |
| ACRES | Area of individual parcel in acres |
| HA | Area of individual parcel in hectares |
| AVSORT | Simplified designation name for use in mapping in ESRI's ArcView® |