The amount, configuration, and condition of grasslands, prairies, and savannas in the Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks Landscape Conservation Cooperative (GCPO LCC) was assessed at 30 meter spatial resolution. Each pixel was assigned a score based on a dichotomous decision tree evaluating the following: whether described as a grassland ecological system class, if not, whether potentially restorable to grassland, if grassland, whether dominated by native plants (prairie), whether in a patch >100 acres in size, and whether described as having any of four condition endpoints: vegetation height (> 1 meter), vegetation cover (> 80% herbaceous or < 20% shrub), tree density (< 10 trees per acre), and disturbance pattern (disturbed at least once between 1999 - 2012). Input layers include LANDFIRE existing vegetation type (evt), National Land Cover (NLCD) Database 2012, LANDFIRE biophysical settings (BpS), LANDFIRE existing vegetation height (evh), LANDFIRE existing vegetation cover (evc), a USFS estimation of live tree density per acre, LANDFIRE CONUS vegetation disturbance, and polygons of known prairie patches obtained from various state agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the Protected Areas Database (PADUS 1.4). Condition index values range from 0 - 21 and represent the following conditions: 0 = neither grassland nor potentially restorable as such; 1 = Not grassland, but potentially restorable, 2 - 6 = grassland pixels in small (< 100 acre) patches with 0 - 4 endpoints met; 7 - 10 = grassland pixels in large (> 100 acres) patches with 0 - 3 endpoints met (no pixels in this group indicated the presence of all four condition endpoints, so scores of 11 do not exist); 12 - 16 = prairie pixels in small (< 100 acre) patches with 0 - 3 endpoints met (no pixels in this group indicated the presence of all four condition endpoints, so scores of 16 do not exist); 17 - 20 = prairie pixels in large patches with 0 - 3 endpoints met (no pixels in this group indicated the presence of all four condition endpoints, so scores of 21 do not exist). The complete raster data layer also contains a bar code field which describes, for each pixel, exactly which conditions contributed to the condition index value.
