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This feature class contains data that depicts National Forest System (NFS) Lands within 38 States designated under section 602 and 603 of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act. Designated areas were selected based on a set of eligibility criteria regarding forest health and do not include any areas coinciding with Wilderness and Wilderness Study Areas. The data is comprised of selected HUC-6 units or other areas of similar size and scope clipped to Proclaimed National Forest System lands. Non-Forest Service land ownership areas (inholdings) are also removed. In some cases, entire National Forests were designated. Some state designations' methodologies may differ from the national standard.Please note that this data is current as of February 28, 2023, and changes to designated areas will be republished and archived on weekly basis. Therefore, the most current layer along with previous years' data are available, and the user should ensure that they understand which layer is being accessed. Previous years' data will have a date stamp in the file name, while the most current layer will not. Further, the attribute, “Latest_Revision_Date” contains the date of the most recent designation layer for each state. |