Development and applications of the LANDFIRE forest structure layers

The LANDFIRE program is developing 2010 maps of vegetation and wildland fuel attributes for the United States at 30-meter resolution. Currently available vegetation layers include ca. 2001 and 2008 forest canopy cover and canopy height derived from Landsat and Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) plot measurements. The LANDFIRE canopy cover layer for the conterminous United States is the first of its kind developed with FIA tree measurements as the source of ground reference data. The mapping process is based on regression tree models with FIA plot values as the dependent variables (canopy cover, canopy height), using predictor variables derived from reflectance, terrain, and a Shuttle Radar Topography Mission-based height metric. Base vegetation maps are updated beginning with a set of annual disturbance maps that combine extant fire severity mapping with Landsat time-series disturbance and polygon data describing management activities on Federal and state lands. FIA plot data are used in the Forest Vegetation Simulator to model disturbance effects on forest vegetation for each disturbance type and severity class. Updated 2010 products are scheduled for delivery during early 2013. The 2010 products include a new tree list layer in which stand structure is depicted explicitly by approximating a representative list of trees occurring at each 30-m pixel. The tree list layer provides a more detailed characterization of canopy fuel structure than is available with standard LANDFIRE products, facilitating new applications and research in fire behavior and fire effects simulation.