Notes: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology & Management Lesson 8 - PDF document

NR406 Notes: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology & Management Lesson 8 Landfire: Concepts and Data NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: LANDFI RE LANDFI RE LANDFIRE, also known as the Landscape Fire and Resource A nationally consistent and locally A nationally consistent and locally Management Planning Tools Project, is a five-year, multi- relevant fire, fuels, and risk assessm ent relevant fire, fuels, and risk assessm ent partner project producing consistent and comprehensive maps and data describing vegetation, wildland fuel, and fire regimes http://www.landfire.gov across the United States. It is a shared project between the wildland fire management programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior. The project has four components: the LANDFIRE Prototype, LANDFIRE Rapid Assessment, LANDFIRE National, and Training/Technology Transfer. The Landfire data products will include GIS data layers of vegetation composition and structure, surface and canopy fuels, historical fire regimes and more. Data products can currently be downloaded at http://gisdata.usgs.net/website/landfire/. In this lesson you will learn about Landfire, data products, access and use. The Landfire products are intended to assist with: • Identification of areas across the nation at risk due to accumulation of wildland fuel • Prioritization of national hazardous fuel reduction projects • Improved collaboration between agencies with regard to fire and other natural resource management • Modeling of real-time fire behavior to support tactical decisions to ensure sufficient wildland firefighting capacity and safety • Regional modeling of potential fire behavior and effects to strategically plan projects for hazardous fuel reduction and restoration of ecosystem integrity on fire-adapted landscapes

NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: LANDFI RE: A History LANDFI RE: A History The idea for Landfire began in 1999 when the Missoula Fire • Fall 1 99 9 Science laboratory was asked by the Forest Service to provide Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory asked by USFS F&AM to provide a fine scale (30 m) nationally consistent FRCC data. fine scale (30-m) Nationally consistent FRCC data. • Spring 2 00 1 LANDFIRE Prototype funded. USGS-EDC and MFSL to prepare Roberts Fire Glacier National Park August 2003 methods frameworks and prototype LANDFIRE deliverables for 2 areas. NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: General Accounting Office – 2 00 1, 20 0 2 The Landfire project intend to provide adequate data for “ Unfortunately, federal land m anagem ent making informed decisions in regards to fire and fuels agencies do not have adequate data for m aking inform ed decisions and m easuring the management across the nation. agencies ’ progress in reducing fuels. ” “ On the basis of our review , LANDFI RE is the only proposed research project so far that appears capable of producing consistent national inventory data for im proving the prioritization of fuel projects and com m unities. ” NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: LANDFI RE Prototype Areas LANDFI RE Prototype Areas Landfire was first developed and tested in two prototype Central Utah areas, one in Utah and one in Montana/Idaho Over 7 million hectares with 55% forested and 45% non-forested lands. NW Montana/ I daho 10.5 million hectares with 65% forested and 35% non-forested lands. NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: MRLC2 0 0 0 MRLC2 0 0 0 Order of Map zones for LANDFI RE yet to be determ ined Order of Map zones for LANDFI RE yet to be determ ined Mapping zones for Landfire. The numbers do not refer to the order in which the zones are being mapped. All mapping zones are currently not completed.

NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: W hat is LANDFI RE? W hat is LANDFI RE? The National Fire Plan (http://www.fireplan.gov/) requires • National fire plan requires consistent, consistent, comprehensive, and impartial data and analysis comprehensive, and impartial data and tools. Landfire provides nationwide maps of FRCC’s, fuels, analysis tools. and vegetation condition and is intended to act as a • LANDFIRE provides mapped FRCCs, fuels foundation for fire management planning at a landscape scale. characteristics, and vegetation condition. • LANDFIRE is a foundation for Landscape and Fire Management Planning based on current peer-reviewed scientific methods; and is fully repeatable. NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: Coarse-Scale FRCCs Coarse-Scale FRCCs There are plans within Landfire to produce spatial data at Coarse-Scale multiple scale for multiple purposes relating to fire and fuels FRCCs Coarse-Scale management. The Coarse-Scale FRCC assessment is Re-Do #1 completed and FRCC and Farsite data exists for many LANDSUM Coarse-Scale Fire Regime Re-Do #2 Modeling mapping regions. In this Lesson you will become familiar with FARSITE how to access Landfire data for use in spatial analysis. New Fire Behavior FRCC Fuel Models Project Level LANDFIRE Guidebook MRLC FIREMON/ National FIA Vegetation FLAMMAP Mapping Prioritization Fuels Treatments NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: LANDFI RE Theory Building on Coarse Scale Data LANDFI RE Theory Building on Coarse Scale Data The data produced by Landfire are intended to help quantify Fire Regim es – characterized by: fire regimes and fire regime condition class at a landscape • Fire frequency scale. • Fire size • Fire intensity • Geography • Duration and scale FRCC – Based on changes in: • Canopy closure • Stand structure • Stand age • Species com position NR406: GIS Applications in Fire Ecology and Management Notes: LANDFI RE Theory LANDFI RE Theory The Landfire data is based on ground-reference data, • Based on extensive ground-based reference data incorporates existing vegetation characteristics, fuels and fuel condition. Landfire integrates the most current remote sensing • Incorporates existing vegetation characteristics, vegetation condition, and biophysical settings. imagery and ecological modeling techniques. Landfire maps originate in classification of Landsat satellite imagery for the • Focuses on fuels and fuel condition. entire USA. The pixel size for Landsat is 30 m. • Integrates the most current remote sensing, ecosystem modeling, and predictive landscape mapping techniques. � Maps created at 30-m 2 cell size