Development in natural areas is a leading threat to biodiversity. Global conservationists have called for the expansion of protected areas to preserve wildlands that are free from buildings, and in the U.S., the ‘America the Beautiful’ initiative aims to protect 30% of land and water areas by 2030 (known as the ‘30x30’ target). Here, we determined opportunities and limitations for conservation in the conterminous U.S. by assessing the extent of buildings in wildland vegetation. We focused specifically on National Forest lands, as these contain numerous private inholdings where development may occur. Using a newly available building footprint dataset, we determined 1) whether buildings were present and 2) numbers of buildings within three distances of wildland vegetation (100, 250, and 500 m), representing varying magnitudes of ecological impact. Our findings revealed that 29% of wildland vegetation nationwide was within 500 m of a building, 15% was within 250 m, and 5% was within 100 m. National Forest lands were less affected by building disturbance, but a substantial proportion (12%) of wildland vegetation area was within 500 m of a building. Of National Forest lands that were within 500 m of an inholding, 76% was not yet in proximity to a building; consequently, ∼10% of National Forest lands (143,474 km²) are susceptible to impacts from future development on inholdings. We conclude that National Forest inholdings are therefore important opportunity areas for 30x30 conservation goals. Our assessments can inform where conservation efforts can limit impacts from present and future development on biodiversity.

自然区域的开发是对生物多样性的主要威胁。全球环保主义者呼吁扩大保护区以保护没有建筑物的荒地，在美国，“美丽的美国”倡议旨在到 2030 年保护 30% 的土地和水域（称为“30x30”目标）。在这里，我们通过评估荒地植被中建筑物的范围来确定美国本土保护的机会和局限性。我们特别关注国家林地，因为这些土地包含许多可能进行开发的私人土地。我们使用新提供的建筑物足迹数据集，确定 1) 建筑物是否存在以及 2) 荒地植被三个距离（100、250 和 500 米）内的建筑物数量，代表不同程度的生态影响。我们的调查结果显示，全国 29% 的荒地植被位于建筑物 500 米以内，15% 位于 250 米以内，5% 位于建筑物 100 米以内。国家林地受建筑物干扰的影响较小，但相当一部分 (12%) 的荒地植被面积位于建筑物 500 米以内。在距离保护区 500 米以内的国家林地中，有 76% 尚未靠近建筑物；因此，约 10% 的国家林地（143,474 平方公里 76% 尚未靠近建筑物；因此，约 10% 的国家林地（143,474 平方公里 76% 尚未靠近建筑物；因此，约 10% 的国家林地（143,474 平方公里²）易受未来发展对持股的影响。因此，我们得出结论，国家森林控股是实现 30x30 保护目标的重要机会区域。我们的评估可以告知保护工作可以在哪些方面限制当前和未来发展对生物多样性的影响。