... a multi-decade Interagency partnership between the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) United States Forest Service (USFS) Fire and Aviation Management (FAM) and the Department of Interior's (DOI) Office of Wildland Fire (OWF).
... "The Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools Project", or LANDFIRE for short, whichproduces geospatial data and databases describing vegetation, land cover, wildland fuels, fire regimes, and ecological departure from historical conditions to support land management science and decisions.
... a multistakeholder project (including States, tribal governments, and nongovernmental organizations) providing Comprehensive, Consistent, Compatible, and Current "all-lands" data set of biological/ecological data (30 meter pixel geospatial data and databases) across all 50 states and territories.
FIA is ...
... The Nation's Forest Census. The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Program has been in continuous operation since 1930 with a mission to: "make and keep current a comprehensive inventory and analysis of the present and prospective conditions of and requirements for the renewable resources of the forest and rangelands of the US."
... stronger through partnerships. Our partners are an integral part of FIA's forest inventory and monitoring activities. Without their contributions of personnel and funding and their continued support, the FIA mission to collect, analyze, and report information on the status and trends of America’s forests cannot be attained.
... a critical input to the success of the LANDFIRE Program.
This photo shows a ridge of green conifers with a distant grey mountain peak in the distant background.
When did the partnership start ?
Scroll down for a brief timeline....
This photo shows a timeline. It depicts a large arrow from left to right with dots at the years 2000, 2001, 2004, 2009,2017 and 2020. In this image no dots are highlighted, it is all in grey tones.
This photo shows a timeline. It depicts a large arrow from left to right with dots at the years 2000, 2001, 2004, 2009,2017 and 2020. In this image, the dot and year for 2000 are highlighted along with the text "2000 Need Identified".
This photo shows a timeline. It depicts a large arrow from left to right with dots at the years 2000, 2001, 2004, 2009,2017 and 2020. In this image no dots are highlighted, it is all in grey tones.
Today, LANDFIRE is critical to fuels treatment and decision management of fires on federal land and FIA plots are still the "gold standard" for plot data.
This photo was taken in the high mountains of Adjara, Georgia. The hills are covered with lush green trees. Their tree tops dusted and just visible through a mysterious fog.
How does FIA data support LANDFIRE data ?
This flow chart image show the general hierarchical structure and workflow of LANDFIRE training data inputs (including FIA, NRCS and other training data) and the LANDFIRE products they support.
This image shows a screen shot of the relative database tables and their connections in an Access database example of the LANDFIRE reference database (LFRDB). The screen shot is placed over a larger image of a cut tree trunks' growth rings.
This image shows a screen shot of the title and technical graphs from a USDA Forest Service proceedings paper titled " A Stem-map Model for Predicting Tree Canopy Cover of Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) Plots by Chris Toney, John Shaw and Mark Nelson. The manuscript screen shots are placed over a larger image of a cut tree trunks' growth rings.
Fig 11.1 in Keane, Robert E.; Reeves, Matt. 2012. Use of expert knowledge to develop fuel maps
This image shows a conceptual diagram developed to explain the state and transition models used to simulate the dynamics of the Alkaline Conifer Hardwood Swamp ecosystem altered from Figure 4 in Price, J., et al., Eliciting expert knowledge to inform landscape modeling of conservation scenarios. Ecol. Model. (2011), doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2011.09.010. The conceptual diagram is shown over a larger image of a cut tree trunks' growth rings.
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Photo is a closeup of the growth rings on an old thick tree stump.
This map shows the new 2016 Remap Existing Vegetation Cover map. Tree cover (10-100%) is represented in greens, shrub cover(10-100%) in blue-purple and herbaceous cover (10-100%) in white-brown. An open water and non-forest mask is applied.
This map shows the new 2016 Remap Existing Vegetation Height map. Tree Height (1 to 43 meters) is represented in greens, shrub height (1.0- greater than or equal to 3.0 meters) in blue-purple and herbaceous height (0.1 to greater than or equal to 1.0 meters) in white-brown. An open water and non-forest mask is applied.
Canopy Fuels
Canopy Closure (CC), Canopy Height (CH), Canopy Base Height (CBH) & Canopy Bulk Density (CBD) supply information for fire behavior models, such as FARSITE, to determine the initiation and spread of crown fires across landscapes.
13 Anderson Fire Behavior Fuel Models (FBFM13)
This set of fire behavior fuel models (FBFMs) describe distributions of fuel loadings and are used to estimate Wildfire Behavior and Effects.
40 Scott & Burgan Fire Behavior Fuel Models (FBFM40)
This set of fire behavior fuel models allows user to investigate Wildfire Behavior and Effects beyond the severe fire season, such as prescribed fire and fire use applications using FlamMap and FARSITE. This Forest Service publication explains the Fuel Model classes.
Fire Regimes Group (FRG)
LANDIFRE's FRGs characterize the presumed historical fire regimes within landscapes. LANDFIRE's biophysical settings (BpS) represents the vegetation system that may have been dominant on the landscape prior to Euro-American settlement and are use to describe fire regime condition classes (FRCC).
Ecological System (ES)
LANDFIRE Existing Vegetation Type using NatureServe's ES classification at the group level representing the current distribution of complexes of plant communities. Disturbance products are included in LF 2016 Remap products to describe areas changed within the last 10 years.
National Vegetation Classification (NVC)
NEW for 2016 ReMap ! LANDFIRE now maps existing vegetation (EVT) into US NVC classes - Standard at the Group level hierarchy. The NVC provides a common language for management and conservation of plant communities across ownership boundaries and can help support a wide variety management applications.
LANDFIRE data support ...
FIRE BEHAVIOR MODELS, which predict for surface and crown fires ignition, growth, intensity and spread across the landscape
FIRE EFFECTS FUEL MODELS, which predict tree mortality, fuel consumption, smoke production, and soil heating
FIRE REGIME MAPS that classify the landscape by fire return interval and severity, condition class, and indices of departure from historical condition.
... consistent fuel information to support fire planning, analysis, and budgeting to evaluate fire management alternatives.
... strategic fuel treatment prioritization and tactical assessments.
This photo shows the bottom half of a ridge of green conifers (tips cropped off in photo) on top of a sheer cliff face of exposed rocks lined with strata.
Who uses LANDFIRE ?
Wildland Fire Decision Support Systems use LANDFIRE
"Our Wildland Fire Decision Support System, which integrates data about weather, changing fire predictions, smoke management and the economic values of at-risk resources, is now the primary system used for making strategic decisions on fire incidents" .... Carlos Rodriguez-Franco, Former Deputy Chief, USFS Research and Development
The Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS), is the standard tool for federal agencies to document and assess wildland fire management decisions. This system assists fire managers and analysts in making strategic and tactical decisions for fire incidents.
LANDFIRE data are often used as a starting point, which increases speed and efficiency, because they are consistent across multiple jurisdictions and/or administrative boundaries. LANDFIRE data layers and formated inputs are designed to work for fire models such as Fire Area Simulator–model development and evaluation (FARSITE), FOFEM (First Order Fire Effects Model), and FlamMap.
Screen shot showing the welcome page for the Interagency Fuels Treatment Decision Support System (IFTDSS) web- based application.
IFTDSS hosts a complete set of reference data available for the entire US including LANDFIRE fuels information, SILVIS, Wildland Urban Interface, Agency Ownership, as well as a modern map interface allowing users to create or upload their own data.
LANDFIRE data and fuel models are often combined with local data sources in web portals designed to assist with local fire decision support, hazard modeling and estimating risks.
FIA, through the LANDFIRE collaboration, supports USFS State & Private Forestrywhich provides premier leadership in wildland fire management, operations, research, and advanced aviation technologies.
FIA, through the LANDFIRE collaboration, supportsUSFS Research & Development,an example is this report on Wildland Fire and Fuels Accomplishments and Outcomes,
The cover of the R&D report on Wildland Fire and Fuels Outcomes
USFS R&D organizes its programs of work around research priorities, which reflect areas of current importance, alongside foundational research, which represents long-term research needs. Forest Inventory and trend analysis and Improving wildland fire decision support are both listed as USFS R&D Research Priorities in 2021 !
FIA, through the LANDFIRE collaboration, supports USFS National Forest Systems research and planning on the National Forests and Grasslands of the US.
The combination of LANDFIRE's existing vegetation data and BioPhysical Settings (BpS) models supports many applications on NFS lands including Carbon, Wildlife, Restoration, Scenic Character Conditions, Modeling Management Scenarios, Condition and Risk assessments, and Vegetation Historical Range and Variability.
Click on a button below to explore examples of work on National Forest lands using LANDFIRE vegetation data:
This interactive map contains blue pins located in the geographic center of the National Forest where LANDFIRE data was used to support forest specific applications. These applications highlight diverse examples of where the utility and versatility of the LANDFIRE data (of which FIA is a key contributor) supported National Forests' in their research, applications, and planning needs.
Note: Once you click on a pin, to open the electronic article link in a new tab, right-click the link and click "Open link in a new tab or window".
Many More use LANDFIRE
Interact with the Map below, created and hosted by the Nature Conservancy LANDFIRE Team, to explore the many users and uses of LANDFIRE data.
WHAM! LANDFIRE Web-Hosted Applications Map - EXPLORE by scrolling the map - zoom to Alaska and Hawaii to find more LANDFIRE supported studies !
What's new in LANDFIRE ?
In 2019 LANDFIRE began to release the new 2016 Remap base layers (circa 2016 imagery).
This image shows the LANDFIRE delivery schedule as of May 5th 2021. It is updated regularly. The schedule shows that most of the LANDFIRE 2016 Remap products have been delivered for CONUS, but that the reference Fuel products for CONUS, AK & HI as well as the Alaska Disturbance, Vegetation, Fuel, and Topographic data will not be released until August of 2021.
LANDFIRE product delivery schedule as of May 2021.
Many improvements went into creating LF's second base map product suite, consisting of 28 vegetation and fuels layers.
Improved plot selection - Incorporated the newest contributed data, eliminating outlier plots that may have been impacted by disturbance, and allowing models to be trained using the highest quality inputs.
Improved base imagery – Has fewer seamlines and represents a longer time horizon, so that specific vegetation systems can be identified.
Geographic production unit – Existing Vegetation mapping image classification was based on Omernik III/IV Ecoregions, instead of National Land Cover Database map zones, which better matches the distribution of major vegetation types and in turn produces better output from modeling and resulting in less manual mapping techniques.
This Figure is from a manuscript and details the Remap prototyping schema for using lidar data to help model continuous vegetation structures.
Extensive reserves of lidar data were processed and sampled for use in the canopy cover and height modeling across the CONUS.
Now map Existing Vegetation Type using two approachesto map Ecological Systems and National Vegetation Classification (NVC) (Standard at the Group level hierarchy).
Vegetation Canopy Cover and Canopy Height are now modeled and mapped as continuous variables !
Explore the difference between the two Existing Vegetation Height products in this spyglass map application.
Story Map Swipe and Spyglass
LANDFIRE has updated more than it's vegetation and structure layers
LANDFIRE 2019 Limited, is an update to the Remap that was just completed for CONUS. The 2019 part of the name tells you that they added disturbances and vegetation changes from 2017, 2018 & 2019. "Limited" tells you it isn't a full update.
Want More Information ?
LANDFIRE mails periodic "postcards" with announcements, product releases, helpdesk inquiries and responses, interviews with "super users," recommended publications and more
Want to access LANDFIRE data -downloadable by mosaic, REST and AGOL services or use the LANDFIRE data access tool for ARC ? (...data are also available in AGOL)
This photo shows the view looking upwards into a pine forest canopy.
This photo shows a ridge of green conifers with a distant grey mountain peak in the distant background.
This photo shows grass prairies surrounding the Big Prairie Ranger Station in the Bob Marshall Wilderness area of Montana. There are pack horses visible. The grasslands are speckled with conifers with a backdrop of tree covered mountains dwarf the ranger station.
This photo is of the Rough Fire approaching the Kings River, California. The fire blazes bright with smoke rolling up the hills as the photographer stands further down the Kings River. The River bed is visible in the lower portion of the fire.Photo credit: InciWeb
This photo shows the Department of Interior Dream Team Award, that was awarded to the LANDFIRE program. The award stands in front of a sheet cake stenciled with the logo of "LANDFIRE" and "Congratulations". The cake was delicious !
This photo was taken in the high mountains of Adjara, Georgia. The hills are covered with lush green trees. Their tree tops dusted and just visible through a mysterious fog.
Photo is a closeup of the growth rings on an old thick tree stump.
This photo shows the bottom half of a ridge of green conifers (tips cropped off in photo) on top of a sheer cliff face of exposed rocks lined with strata.
In the heart of the Rocky Mountains, west of the continental divide and just south of the Canadian border, lies the 2.4 million acre Flathead National Forest in Montana. This photo shows a bubbling creek running over large rocks surrounded by bright fall deciduous foliage in oranges reds and yellows and spiky evergreens.
