Type Shapefile
The North American Forest map shows the distribution of eighteen different primary ecological zones pertaining to forest systems within Canada, Mexico, and the United States. North America contains approximately 17% of the world’s forest area and is known to be the most diverse region as it consists of all but two global primary ecological zones. This map was developed by the forestry agencies of the three countries: Canadian Forest Service, US Forest Service and the Comisión Nacional Forestal (CONAFOR). Their collaboration results in an update of the FAO ecological zones data from 2000, based on the CEC’s terrestrial ecoregion data.
This data set shows forests of North America, classified according to FAO ecological zones (EZ). The data set was created by modifying the Ecological Regions of North America (ecoregions) data included in the North American Atlas. Ecoregion classifications were converted to the FAO EZ classes, based on the Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) 2010, and minor adjustments were made to polygon geometry. In addition, data were added for Hawaii and Puerto Rico, and additional lakes were imported.
The FAO ecological zones are based on a combination of climate (temperature and precipitation) and potential vegetation classifications. They are broad areas of relatively homogeneous vegetation, with similar physical characteristics.
Some ecological zones (i.e. temperate steppe) contain limited or no forest; areas are considered forested when they have a 10 percent minimum crown cover. Orchards and other fruit tree plantations used for agricultural production are not classified as forest.
Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). 2011. “North American Environmental Atlas - Forests, 2011”. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) - North American Forest Commission (NAFC). Ed. 1.0, Vector digital data [1:10,000,000].
This material is licensed under CC BY 4.0, allowing non-exclusive rights to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, including for commercial purposes, so long as attribution is given to the creator.
| West | -180 | East | -50 |
| North | 85 | South | 14 |
| Maximum (zoomed in) | 1:5,000 |
| Minimum (zoomed out) | 1:150,000,000 |
The North American Forest map shows the distribution of eighteen different primary ecological zones pertaining to forest systems within Canada, Mexico, and the United States. North America contains approximately 17% of the world’s forest area and is known to be the most diverse region as it consists of all but two global primary ecological zones. This map was developed by the forestry agencies of the three countries: Canadian Forest Service, US Forest Service and the Comisión Nacional Forestal (CONAFOR). Their collaboration results in an update of the FAO ecological zones data from 2000, based on the CEC’s terrestrial ecoregion data. The FAO ecological zones are based on a combination of climate (temperature and precipitation) and potential vegetation classifications. They are broad areas of relatively homogeneous vegetation, with similar physical characteristics. Some ecological zones (i.e. temperate steppe) contain limited or no forest; areas are considered forested when they have a 10 percent minimum crown cover. Orchards and other fruit tree plantations used for agricultural production are not classified as forests. The data were generated by the North American Forestry Commission (NAFC) Inventory and Monitoring Working Group as part of the NAFC’s reporting requirements to the FAO- Global Forest Resources Assessment. The primary data were re-assigned to the CEC terrestrial ecoregions level III for consistency and integration into the North American Environmental Atlas.
El mapa de los bosques de América del Norte muestra la distribución de 18 zonas ecológicas primarias pertenecientes a los sistemas forestales de Canadá, Estados Unidos y México. América del Norte posee alrededor de 17 por ciento de la superficie forestal mundial y se considera la región más rica en diversidad, pues se compone de todas —salvo dos— las zonas ecológicas primarias del mundo. Elaboraron este mapa las dependencias forestales de los tres países: el Servicio Forestal Canadiense (Canadian Forest Service), el Servicio Forestal de Estados Unidos (US Forest Service) y la Comisión Nacional Forestal (Conafor) de México. Su colaboración resultó en una actualización de los datos de las zonas ecológicas de la FAO de 2000, con base en los datos de la CCA sobre ecorregiones terrestres. Las zonas ecológicas de la FAO se determinan por una combinación clasificaciones de clima (temperatura y precipitación) y de vegetación potencial. Se trata de amplias áreas de vegetación relativamente homogénea con características físicas similares. Algunas zonas ecológicas (como la estepa templada) comprenden bosques limitados o nulos; una superficie se considera boscosa cuando tiene como mínimo diez por ciento de cubierta de copa. Los huertos y las plantaciones de otros árboles frutales relacionados con la producción agrícola no se clasifican como bosque. Los datos fueron generados por el Grupo de Trabajo sobre Inventario Forestal y Monitoreo de la Comisión Forestal para América del Norte (COFAN), como parte de los registros requeridos para la Evaluación de los recursos forestales mundiales (FRA, por sus siglas en inglés) de la FAO. Los datos primarios se reasignaron al nivel III de las ecorregiones terrestres de la CCA en aras de su coherencia e integración en el Atlas ambiental de América del Norte.
La carte des forêts de l’Amérique du Nord illustre la répartition des 18 zones écologiques de forêts primaires au Canada, au Mexique et aux États-Unis. L’Amérique du Nord abrite environ 17 % des forêts mondiales et est la région la plus diversifiée, du fait qu’elle englobe toutes les zones écologiques primaires du monde, sauf deux. Cette carte a été produite par les organismes responsables des forêts dans les trois pays : le Service canadien des forêts, l’US Forest Service (Service des forêts des États-Unis) et la Comisión Nacional Forestal (Conafor, Commission nationale des forêts). La collaboration entre ces organismes a mené à la mise à jour des données de 2000 sur les zones écologiques de la FAO, à partir des données sur les écorégions terrestres de la CCE. Les zones écologiques de la FAO sont réparties selon un ensemble de classifications de climat (température et précipitations) et de végétation potentielle. Il s’agit de vastes zones où la végétation est relativement homogène et dont les caractéristiques physiques sont similaires. Certaines zones écologiques (p. ex., la steppe tempérée) abritent peu ou pas de forêt; une zone est considérée boisée lorsque son couvert vertical au sol est d’au moins 10 %. Les vergers et autres plantations d’arbres fruitiers servant à la production agricole ne sont pas classés comme des forêts. Les données ont été produites par le groupe d’étude sur l’inventaire et la surveillance de la Commission des forêts pour l’Amérique du Nord (CFAN), dans le cadre de la préparation des rapports que la CFAN doit présenter à la FAO pour l’Évaluation des ressources forestières mondiales. Les données brutes ont été réaffectées aux écorégions terrestres de niveau III de la CCE pour en garantir la cohérence et les intégrer à l’Atlas environnemental de l’Amérique du Nord.
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) is an international organization created by Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), which came into force at the same time as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The CEC was established to address regional environmental concerns, help prevent potential trade and environmental conflicts, and to promote the effective enforcement of environmental law. As of 2020, the CEC operates in accordance with the Environmental Cooperation Agreement, which entered into force at the same time as the CUSMA/T-MEC/USMCA trade agreement. Further information on ecological zones is available in the FAO’s Global Forest Resource Assessment 2000, http://www.fao.org/docrep/006/ad652e/ad652e00.htm. This data set is available in several formats, including Shapefile, Map package, and a PDF Map, along with other files appropriate to particular format, such as .lyrx and .qlr files.
Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). 2011. “North American Environmental Atlas - Forests, 2011”. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) - North American Forest Commission (NAFC). Ed. 1.0, Vector digital data [1:10,000,000].
This dataset includes forests distribution for all of North America.
This material is licensed under CC BY 4.0, allowing non-exclusive rights to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, including for commercial purposes, so long as attribution is given to the creator.
This material is licensed under CC BY 4.0, allowing non-exclusive rights to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, including for commercial purposes, so long as attribution is given to the creator.
This data set includes forests for all of North America. Classification is based on a conversion from North American ecosystems to the FAO ecological zones.
No tests for attribute accuracy were performed on this data set. The attribute accuracy is unknown.
No tests for logical consistency were performed on this data set.
This data set shows forests of North America, classified according to FAO ecological zones (EZ). The data set was created by modifying the Ecological Regions of North America (ecoregions) data included in the North American Atlas. Ecoregion classifications were converted to the FAO EZ classes, based on the Forest Resource Assessment (FRA) 2010, and minor adjustments were made to polygon geometry. In addition, data were added for Hawaii and Puerto Rico, and additional lakes were imported. The FAO ecological zones are based on a combination of climate (temperature and precipitation) and potential vegetation classifications. They are broad areas of relatively homogeneous vegetation, with similar physical characteristics. Some ecological zones (i.e. temperate steppe) contain limited or no forest; areas are considered forested when they have a 10 percent minimum crown cover. Orchards and other fruit tree plantations used for agricultural production are not classified as forest.
This data set was created using the geometry of the Ecological Regions of North America (NA Ecoregions). The NA Ecoregions data were exported to a new file; the data contained small lakes in Mexico that were manually reassigned to the ecoregions in which they fell. If the lake was on an ecoregion boundary, it was split between the two ecoregions. Terrestrial ecoregion classifications were equated with FAO forest ecological zones, by joining the CEC ecoregion table with the data set. (The ecoregion table was created through deliberation by experts from Canada, Mexico, and the United States of America.) Unnecessary attributes were deleted from the data set. Hawaii and Puerto Rico were added, using the geometry from the North American Boundaries file. An ecological zone was assigned to these new areas based on input from experts at the USDA Forest Service.
Lakes larger than 2,000 km² were added. The large lakes were extracted from the 2010 hydrography data, combined with the forest data, and identified as water.
An attribute for Area was added to the file, and values were calculated for the area in hectares.
The purpose of this step was to update the coastline in the Forest data using the most recent boundary data available. Using NA Boundaries, which was updated in 2010, a new boundary file was created by removing all polygons outside Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and then by doing a “dissolve” on the file, resulting in a single polygon feature. This dissolved boundary file was combined with the forest ecological zones file, and then used to clip out extraneous forest areas (those areas outside the new boundaries) from the ecological zones. The new boundary file was also used to identify areas that were not in the original ecoregions file but that were defined by the new boundaries. These areas were exported to a new shapefile for processing, and were converted to individual polygons; at this point they did not have forest ecological zones assigned. The Spatial Join function was used to automatically assign forest classes based on the classification of the nearest forest polygon. These were then manually checked for consistency and any polygons that were misidentified were corrected. The result was combined with the clipped Forest ecological zones data (described in the previous paragraph) to produce a Forests data set with updated coastal boundaries.
North American Environmental Atlas - Ecological Regions, Level 3
Master CEC Ecoregion Table, Revised
North American Environmental Atlas - Political Boundaries
North American Environmental Atlas – Hydrography
An area of broad yet relatively homogenous natural forest vegetation. Area distinctions are also based on precipitation, temperature, and landforms.
Commission for Environmental Cooperation
Internal feature number.
Esri
Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated.
Feature geometry.
Esri
Coordinates defining the features.
The FAO ecological zone number.
Commission for Environmental Cooperation
The FAO ecological zone designation in English.
Commission for Environmental Cooperation
The FAO ecological zone designation in Spanish.
Commission for Environmental Cooperation
The FAO ecological zone designation in French.
Commission for Environmental Cooperation
The size of the ecological zone, in hectares.
Commission for Environmental Cooperation
None. Acknowledgement of the Commission for Environmental Cooperation and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) - North American Forest Commission (NAFC) would be appreciated in products derived from these data.
This material is licensed under CC BY 4.0, allowing non-exclusive rights to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, including for commercial purposes, so long as attribution is given to the creator.