Nonfederal and Federal Lands Inventory in North Carolina

Surface Area of Nonfederal and Federal Land and Water Areas

Note: State of North Carolina Estimated
Surface Area = 33,709,300 acres

Background

The NRI is designed to account for the total surface area of North Carolina, including land and water. However, it does not collect detailed land use data on federal lands. The inventory is primarily designed to provide information on the nation’s non-federal lands. In 1997, the total surface area of North Carolina was estimated to be 33,709,300 acres.

DEFINITIONS

Federal land :  A land ownership class designating land that is owned by the Federal Government. It does not include, for example, trust lands administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs nor Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) land. No data are collected for any year that land is in this ownership. [NRI-97]

Water body : A type of (permanent open) water area which includes ponds, lakes, reservoirs, bays or gulfs, and estuaries. There are 3 size categories: (1) less than 2 acres; (ii) 2-40 acres; and (iii) at least 40 acres. [NRI-97]

Nonfederal land : Includes all land and water areas where the ownership is by private, municipal, county or parish, state, Indian tribal, individual trust, the Tennessee Valley Authority, or areas under temporary control of a Federal, state, county or municipal agency or government for foreclosure or nonpayment of taxes.

Rural transportation land : A Land Cover/Use category which consists of all highways, roads, railroads and associated rights- of-way outside urban and built-up areas; including private roads to farmsteads or ranch headquarters, logging roads, and other private roads, except field lanes. [NRI-97]

Developed land : A combination of land cover/use categories, Urban and built-up areas, and Rural Transportation Land.

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