464 



Habitat Assessments — Our Living Resoitrces 



Table 3. Land ownership and protection status in LUah by major category. 



elevation cover types. The remaining two cover 

 types are wetlands and bairens areas with less 

 than 5'vf vegetation, 



A common perception is that there currently 

 e.xist sufficient protected lands that preserve and 

 maintain biological diversity. Our analyses indi- 

 cate that while some cover types are protected, 

 most of the mapped cover types in Utah have 

 less than 10% of their area protected. Our 

 analyses also indicate that the Utah lands that 

 are protected are more of a random product than 

 a systematic approach to protecting the diversi- 

 ty of vegetation cover types. A more reasoned 

 approach to the management of lands for the 

 conservation of biological resources should 

 include a systematic evaluation of the geo- 

 graphic distribution of resources. 



References 



Edwards, T.C., Jr., J.M. Scott, C.G. Homer, and R.D. 

 Ramsey. 1993. Gap analysis: a geographic approach for 

 assessing national biological diversity. Natural 

 Resources and Environmental Issues 2:65-72. 



Edwards, T.C., Jr.. and J.M. Scott. 1994. Use of gap analy- 

 sis as a tool for the management of biodiversity. 

 Proceedings of the 21st Congress of the International 

 Union of Game Biologists. In press. 



Homer, C.G., T.C. Edwards. Jr., D.H. Ramsey, and K.H. 

 Price. 1993. Use of remote sensing methods in modeling 

 sage grouse winter habitat. Journal of Wildlife 

 Management 57:78-84. 



Noss, R.F. 1991. From endangered species to biodiversity. 

 Pages 227-246 iii K. Kohm, ed. Balancing on the brink 

 of extinction: the Endangered Species Act and lessons for 

 the future. Island Press, Washington, DC. 



Scott, J.M., B. Csuti. K. Smith. J.E. Estes, and S. Caicco. 

 1991. Gap analysis of species richness and vegetation 

 cover: an integrated biodiversity conservation strategy. 

 Pages 282-297 in K. Kohm, ed. Balancing on the brink of 

 extinction: the Endangered Species Act and lessons for 

 the future. Island Press, Washington, DC. 



Scott, J.M., F. Davis, B. Csuti, R. Noss, B. Butterfield, S. 

 Caicco, C. Groves, T.C. Edwards, Jr., J. Ulliman, H. 

 Anderson, R D'Erchia, and R.G. Wright. 1993. Gap 

 analysis: a geographic approach to protection of biologi- 

 cal diversity. Wildlife Monographs 123, 



For further information: 



Thomas C. Edwards, Jr. 

 National Biological Service 

 Utali Cooperative Fish and 



Wildlife Research Unit 



Department of Fisheries and 



Wildlife 



Utah State University 



Logan, UT 84322 



acres). The remaining 5.638.229 ha (25.65%; 

 13.926.440 acres) are status 4 lands. By far. 

 most lands in Utah are nondesignated public 

 lands subject to multiple-use guidelines (i.e., 

 .status 3). Based on the 10% rule, only 6 of the 

 37 mapped vegetation cover types are protected 

 as status I or status 2 lands (Table 1 ). Four of 

 these six cover types are tiinber or other high- 



