Protecting Units Public

Overview The Wildland Fire Protecting Units dataset outlines the entities responsible for providing direct wildland fire incident management and related services as determined by jurisdictional authority or as established through law, contract, or formal agreement. Cooperative agreements between federal, state, and local entities are the primary mechanisms that provide the framework for wildland fire protection responsibilities. In the absence of a legally binding agreement, wildland fire protection responsibilities belong to the Jurisdictional Unit. Data Sources This dataset is an aggregation of multiple spatial data sources: - Alaska: https://nifc.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=bc92c00fb3cd4fd4a4383ae42ffce3ca - California: https://nifc.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=c30d1f923212468ab6f44bd7d19ca1c1 - Idaho: No online source (Data provided directly from Idaho Department of Lands, BLM, and USFS contacts) - Minnesota: No online source (Data provided directly from Minnesota Department of Natural Resources contacts) - Montana: https://gis.dnrc.mt.gov/arcgis/rest/services/FD/MTFireProtection/MapServer/2 - New Mexico: https://gbp-blm-egis.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/BLM-EGIS::blm-nm-fire-initial-attack-zones/explore - Nevada: No offset protection, refer to Jurisdictional Unit layer - Utah: https://nifc.maps.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=2484caca628945c7a34b913b4f037d03 Note: Data is collected through an open solicitation process. We recognize that additional wildland fire protection data may exist for other states; however, this information has not been provided to us at this time. If you have relevant data to share or would like to discuss further, please contact us at [e-mail]. Other Relevant NWCG Definition Standards For additional information on the NWCG geospatial data standards used to create this layer, please see the NWCG Organizational Kind/Category Standard and the Protecting Unit Standard. These two standards were updated in 2025 and 2026 and implemented in this dataset. Data Processing The attributes of each layer were edited to attach the NWCG Unit ID, Unit Name, Unit Kind, and Unit Category where necessary. These edits did not impact the original integrity of the data, and no polygons were changed, removed, or added. Data updates occur on a rolling state‑by‑state basis as new versions are released by the authoritative sources. Attributes Field Name Definition ProtectingUnitID Where it could be determined, this is the NWCG Unit Identifier (Unit ID) that corresponds to the entity responsible for providing direct incident management and services to a given area pursuant to its jurisdictional responsibility or as specified by law, contract or agreement. Where it is unknown, the value is ‘Null’. Null Unit IDs can occur because a unit may not have a Unit ID, or because one could not be reliably determined from the source data. Not every protecting unit has an NWCG Unit ID. Unit ID assignment rules are available in the Unit ID standard. ProtectingUnitID_sansUS NWCG Unit ID with the "US" characters removed from the beginning. Provided for backwards compatibility. ProtectingUnitName The name of the Protecting Unit. This should match the name associated with Protecting Unit Identifier field above. Where it is unknown, the value is ‘Null’. Null Unit IDs can occur because a unit may not have a Unit ID, or because one could not be reliably determined from the source data. Not every protecting unit has an NWCG Unit ID. ProtectingUnitKind This field describes the Protecting Unit Kind using the NWCG Organizational Kind/Category Standard. If the protecting unit is unknown, the value is set to 'Null'. A 'Null' value occurs when a piece of land lacks an assigned protecting unit, or when the authority cannot be reliably determined from the source data. ProtectingUnitCategory This field describes the Protecting Unit Category using the NWCG Organizational Kind/Category Standard. If the protecting unit is unknown, the value is set to 'Null'. A 'Null' value occurs when a piece of land lacks an assigned protecting unit, or when the authority cannot be reliably determined from the source data. State The state abbreviation in which the entity with protection responsibilities exists. Agreement Contract Agreement, State Master Agreement, or Sub-Geographic Area Operating Plan that outlines protection responsibilities. AgreementDate Date the Agreement or Contract was signed into effect. Contact Point of contact for source dataset and/or agreement. DataSource The database or hosted GIS service from which the source polygons originated. SourceUniqueID Identifier (GUID or ObjectID) in the data source. Used to trace the polygon back to its authoritative source. GISSourceDate The date of the last edit to the source dataset. ImportDate Date data was extracted from sources for aggregation. RevisionDate Date the Protection Unit team last published or revised the records. Comments Additional information describing the feature. Point of Contact: The Wildland Fire Management Research Development and Application Program Data Management Team [e-mail]