The LANDFIRE Prototype Project: nationally consistent and locally relevant geospatial data for wildland fire management

The Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools Prototype Project, or LANDFIRE Prototype Project, began in April of 2002 and ended in April of 2005. The project was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior. The objectives of the LANDFIRE Prototype Project were to develop the methods, tools, and protocols for producing consistent and comprehensive digital maps of current vegetation composition and structure, wildland fuel, historical fire regimes, and fire regime condition class (FRCC) to be applied across the entire United States at a 30-meter spatial resolution. The LANDFIRE Prototype Project was conducted in two large study areas: the first in the highlands of central Utah and the second in the northern Rocky Mountains of Idaho and Montana. The LANDFIRE Prototype Project involved the compilation of a large field-referenced database to serve as training data for developing predictive landscape models; the development of Landsat image catalogs and biophysical gradient layers to serve as spatial predictors for mapping vegetation and wildland fuel characteristics; the development of vegetation and fuel map unit classifications; the development of a suite of vegetation dynamics models for simulating vegetation development over time; the implementation of a landscape succession model (LANDSUMv4) for simulating historical fire regimes and vegetation reference conditions; and the development of maps of surface and canopy fuel and fire effects fuel models for application in wildland fire management planning. This report describes the scientific foundations of LANDFIRE and provides details on the methods and results of the LANDFIRE Prototype Project.