LANDFIRE: a nationally consistent vegetation, wildland fire, and fuel assessment

TLDR

LANDFIRE is a five‑year, multipartner project that produces consistent, comprehensive maps and data on vegetation, wildland fuel, fire regimes, and ecological change across the United States to meet agency and partner needs for landscape‑level fire management planning, community and firefighter protection, resource allocation, and interagency collaboration. The project is a shared effort between the USDA Forest Service and the US Department of the Interior, employing an interdisciplinary, science‑based, fully repeatable data‑production framework that integrates biophysical gradient analyses, remote sensing, vegetation modelling, ecological simulation, and landscape disturbance and successional modelling to generate these maps and data. LANDFIRE data products are 30‑m raster grids available online at www.landfire.gov, useful for prioritizing and planning hazardous fuel reduction and ecosystem restoration projects, though their applicability varies by location and may require local adjustment.

Abstract

LANDFIRE is a 5-year, multipartner project producing consistent and comprehensive maps and data describing vegetation, wildland fuel, fire regimes and ecological departure from historical conditions across the United States. It is a shared project between the wildland fire management and research and development programs of the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service and US Department of the Interior. LANDFIRE meets agency and partner needs for comprehensive, integrated data to support landscape-level fire management planning and prioritization, community and firefighter protection, effective resource allocation, and collaboration between agencies and the public. The LANDFIRE data production framework is interdisciplinary, science-based and fully repeatable, and integrates many geospatial technologies including biophysical gradient analyses, remote sensing, vegetation modelling, ecological simulation, and landscape disturbance and successional modelling. LANDFIRE data products are created as 30-m raster grids and are available over the internet at www.landfire.gov, accessed 22 April 2009. The data products are produced at scales that may be useful for prioritizing and planning individual hazardous fuel reduction and ecosystem restoration projects; however, the applicability of data products varies by location and specific use, and products may need to be adjusted by local users.