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 2022 (230) Update: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P974JF8W.
Summary
LANDFIRE's (LF) 2022 update (LF 2022) Existing Vegetation Cover (EVC) represents the vertically projected percent cover of the live canopy for a 30-m cell. EVC is produced separately for tree, shrub, and herbaceous lifeforms. Training data depicting percentages of canopy cover are obtained from plot-level ground-based visual assessments and lidar observations. These are combined with Landsat imagery (from multiple seasons), to inform models built independently for each lifeform. Tree, shrub, and herbaceous lifeforms each have a potential range from 10% to 100% (cover values less than 10% are binned into the 10% value). The three independent lifeform datasets are merged into a single product based on the dominant lifeform of each pixel. [...]
Summary
LANDFIRE's (LF) 2022 update (LF 2022) Existing Vegetation Cover (EVC) represents the vertically projected percent cover of the live canopy for a 30-m cell. EVC is produced separately for tree, shrub, and herbaceous lifeforms. Training data depicting percentages of canopy cover are obtained from plot-level ground-based visual assessments and lidar observations. These are combined with Landsat imagery (from multiple seasons), to inform models built independently for each lifeform. Tree, shrub, and herbaceous lifeforms each have a potential range from 10% to 100% (cover values less than 10% are binned into the 10% value). The three independent lifeform datasets are merged into a single product based on the dominant lifeform of each pixel. The EVC product is then reconciled through QA/QC measures to ensure lifeform is synchronized with Existing Vegetation Height (EVH). Urban and developed areas are derived from the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), and the latest available Microsoft Building Footprint dataset. Agricultural lands originate from the 2022 Cropland Data Layer (CDL) and the 2019 California Statewide Crop Mapping layer. Disturbance events after 2016 are accounted for by incorporating transition rulesets using LF 2022 Fuel Disturbance (FDist). LF uses EVC as an input for LF 2022 Fuel Vegetation Cover (FVC).
The LANDFIRE 2022 Update (LF 2022) is designed to produce vegetation, disturbance, and fuels products that inform wildland fire and ecological decision systems. LF 2022 is another update to the LF 2016 Remap base map and LF 2020, it includes adjustments to vegetation and fuels in disturbed areas for disturbances recorded in 2021 and 2022. Disturbances in 2022 represent the first full fiscal year of disturbance. Transition rulesets for vegetation account for disturbances from 2017 to 2022 while fuel updates utilize 2012 to 2022 disturbances. In LF 2022 Existing Vegetation Type (EVT) Ecological Systems classifications are the same as LF 2020, except in areas where agriculture or urban areas have changed. LF 2022 contains the first application of the "zero to one" Time Since Disturbance (TSD) rules for EVC and EVH transition rules. Both LF Existing Vegetation Cover (EVC) and Height (EVH), as well as all fuels products, are 2023 capable in disturbed areas. LF 2022 products are designed to facilitate national and regional level strategic fire and resource management planning and reporting of management activities. The principal purposes of the products include providing, 1) national level, landscape scale geospatial products to support fire and fuels management planning, and 2) consistent fuels products to support fire planning, analysis, and budgeting to evaluate fire management alternatives. Products are created at a 30 meter raster; however, the applicability of products varies by location and specific use. LF products were designed to support 1) national (all states) strategic planning, 2) regional (single large states or groups of smaller states), and 3) strategic/tactical planning for large sub regional landscapes and Fire Management Units (FMUs) (such as significant portions of states or multiple federal administrative entities). The applicability of LF products to support fire and land management planning on smaller areas will vary by product, location, and specific use. Managers and planners must evaluate LF products according to the scale and requirements specific to their needs.
