CAR Reserve: Regional Forest Agreement Protected Areas in Australia

A geospatial dataset representing protected forest areas under Australia's Regional Forest Agreements as of March 2020. It combines dedicated reserves from the PLM25 dataset and informal reserves from the FMZ100 layer, extracted in December 2019. The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action maintains this data, which excludes values protected by prescription requiring field verification.

Use Cases

• Map dedicated forest reserves based on the PLM25 Parks and Reserves spatial extent.
• Analyze informal conservation zones based on the FMZ100 Special Protection Zone (SPZ) layer.
• Assess the spatial distribution of Comprehensive, Adequate and Representative (CAR) reserves for regional planning.
• Model land-use change by comparing formal and informal protected area boundaries.

Strengths

• Spatial data is current as at 31 March 2020, providing a specific snapshot.
• Combines two authoritative source datasets (PLM25 and FMZ100) for a consolidated view.
• Available in multiple geospatial file formats (DWG, MIF, DXF, SHP, etc.) for interoperability.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Values protected by prescription are excluded, potentially omitting part of the informal reserve component.

Provenance

Source

Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action

Collection Method

Derived from PLM25 and FMZ100 datasets extracted in December 2019.

Time Range

Data represents areas current as at 31 March 2020.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-09 04:55:39.621995; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Likely covers regions under Australia's Regional Forest Agreements.