Resources T0 Support Large Area Analyses: LANDFIRE

The Nature Conservancy

TNC LANDFIRE Team

Jim Smith, Jacksonville FL

Kori Blankenship, Bend OR

Sarah Hagen, Minneapolis MN

Jeannie Patton, Boulder CO

Randy Swaty, Marquette MI

Collaborators

US Dept. of the Interior, Office of Wildland Fire Coordination

US Forest Service, Fire and Aviation Management

The Nature Conservancy, North American Science Team

Presentation Purpose

• Inform, or perhaps remind you about the existence of LANDFIRE,

• describe the current status of the products, what is underway, and future plans,

• provide some examples of application in the non-fire communities—convince you LANDFIRE is not just about “fire”

• Products

• spatial layers,

• vegetation models, and

• GIS tools

• Complete coverage of U.S., ecologically and geographically, all downloadable

• Spatial data and tools applicable (OOTB) at national, regional and very large landscape scales

LANDFIRE Project

Spatial Layers (30m raster) ca 2000

• Vegetation

• Current Vegetation Type [Ecological Systems]

• Current %Cover,

• Current Height,

• Historic Vegetation Type [ES]

• Site Potential [ES]

• Fuel (FBFM + 6)

• Fire Regimes (Succession Class + 7)

Thi (Sl At

LANDFIRE Project

Vegetation Models

• Dynamic state-and-transition models of Pre-European settlement condition for more than 1000 unique vegetation types [ES]

Supporting GIS Tools

• Developed primarily by the National Interagency Fuels and Vegetation Technology Team (NIFTT)

• Preprocessing of spatial data

• Computation of indices

• Local editing

LANDFIRE Project

• Added invasive species/exotic identification

• Updated Western states for large fires since 2000 (Rapid Refresh)

• Remapped vegetation and related layers in the Great Basin area after learning of a systematic mapping issue

Responsive to Users

• Objective is to maintain and improve the benefits originally created by in the LANDFIRE Project by updating vegetation related layers that change/evolve through time,

• Still funded primarily by the federal fire community, but through TNC we are working to expand the application of LANDFIRE beyond fire.

• Currently “Refreshing” the data to bring it to the circa 2008 time period, including “change” information identified via remote sensing using “disturbance” polygons

LANDFIRE Program

• Periodically update vegetation and downstream layers (1 or 2 year cycle)

• Improve processes and overall product quality based upon user feedback (AARs)

• Consider adding new products based upon user needs and collaboration

• Increase outreach, communications and technology transfer activities—in the nonfire arena

Future Plans

Some Non-fire Applications

www.landfire.gov: official Program website, product descriptions, download products, etc.

www.niftt.gov: for learning about and downloading tools

www.conservationgateway.org; learn about LANDFIRE, unique applications, interesting resources

twitter.com/#!/nature_LANDFIRE ; follow us on Twitter

jim smith@tnc org

Need more information?

• Data/information is often the limiting factor in landscape planning and analysis, especially as the area of interest increases in size

• Large area analysis will become more common as organizations think “ecosystems” and “landscapes”

• LANDFIRE can provide thematically rich, cross ownership, large landscape scale spatial data, vegetation models and tools to

Take Home Messages