Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools (LANDFIRE), Earth Resources Observation and Science Center (EROS), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and Hatten, T.D., 2023, LANDFIRE 2014 (140) NGDA Products: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9YKVN2R.
Summary
The LANDFIRE fuel data describe the composition and characteristics of both surface fuel and canopy fuel. Specific products include fire behavior fuel models, canopy bulk density (CBD), canopy base height (CBH), canopy cover (CC), canopy height (CH), and fuel loading models (FLMs). These data may be implemented within models to predict the behavior and effects of wildland fire. These data are useful for strategic fuel treatment prioritization and tactical assessment of fire behavior and effects. CC describes percent cover of tree canopy in a stand. A spatially-explicit map of canopy cover supplies information for fire behavior models such as FARSITE (Finney 1998) to determine surface fuel shading for calculating dead fuel moisture [...]
Summary
The LANDFIRE fuel data describe the composition and characteristics of both surface fuel and canopy fuel. Specific products include fire behavior fuel models, canopy bulk density (CBD), canopy base height (CBH), canopy cover (CC), canopy height (CH), and fuel loading models (FLMs). These data may be implemented within models to predict the behavior and effects of wildland fire. These data are useful for strategic fuel treatment prioritization and tactical assessment of fire behavior and effects. CC describes percent cover of tree canopy in a stand. A spatially-explicit map of canopy cover supplies information for fire behavior models such as FARSITE (Finney 1998) to determine surface fuel shading for calculating dead fuel moisture and for calculating wind reductions. In FARSITE, canopy characteristics are used to compute shading, wind reduction factors, spotting distances, crown fuel volume, spread characteristics of crown fires and incorporate the effects of ladder fuels for transitions from a surface to crown fire.
Canopy characteristics refer to the tree canopy. Where there are tree canopies, i.e. existing vegetation types that are forest and woodland, LANDFIRE has attributed the grid with canopy characteristics with some exceptions. There will be no canopy characteristics in fuel types where the tree canopy is considered a part of the surface fuel and the surface fire behavior fuel model is chosen as such. This is because LANDFIRE assumes the potential burnable biomass in the tree canopy has been accounted for in the surface fuel model parameters. For example, young or short conifer stands where the trees are represented by a shrub type fuel model will not have canopy characteristics. CC is derived from Existing Vegetation Cover (EVC) using the Landfire Total Fuel Change (ToFuDelta) ArcGIS toolbar. Forested EVC values are reclassified from the nine Landfire EVC codes to represent the midpoint of the classification. CC values are represented in 10 percent increments starting with fifteen and ending at ninety-five. Where EVC is not forested or the tree cover is considered to be part of the surface fuel CC receives a value of 0 percent. Certain types of agriculture that a deemed burnable get a value added by ToFuDelta based on region and type of vegetation. Field plot data contributed either directly or indirectly to this LANDFIRE National data product. Go to http://landfire.gov/participate_refdata_sub.php for more information regarding contributors of field plot data. LANDFIRE 2014 (lf_1.4.0) used LANDFIRE 2012 (lf_1.3.0) data as a launching point to incorporate disturbance and its severity, both managed and natural, which occurred on the landscape after 2012. Specific examples of disturbance are: fire, vegetation management, wind, and insect and disease. Disturbance data used in the updating is the result of several efforts that include data derived in part from remotely sensed land change methods, Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS), and the LANDFIRE events data call. Vegetation growth was modeled where disturbance occurred. LANDFIRE data products are designed to facilitate national- and regional-level strategic planning and reporting of management activities. Data products are created at a 30-meter grid spatial resolution raster data set; however, the applicability of data products varies by location and specific use. Principal purposes of the data products include providing, 1) national-level, landscape-scale geospatial products to support fire and fuels management planning, and, 2) consistent fuels data to support fire planning, analysis, and budgeting to evaluate fire management alternatives. Users are advised to evaluate the data carefully for their applications.
