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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 18(3)

Spatial fuel data products of the LANDFIRE Project

Matthew C. Reeves A D , Kevin C. Ryan B , Matthew G. Rollins C and Thomas G. Thompson B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Forestry Sciences Laboratory, 800 E Beckwith Avenue, Missoula, MT 59801, USA.

B Rocky Mountain Research Station, Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory, 5775 US Highway 10 W, Missoula, MT 59808, USA. Email: kryan@fs.fed.us; tthompson@fs.fed.us

C US Geological Survey, Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS), Sioux Falls, SD 57198, USA. Email: mrollins@usgs.gov

D Corresponding author. Email: mreeves@fs.fed.us

International Journal of Wildland Fire 18(3) 250-267 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF08086
Submitted: 29 May 2007  Accepted: 5 January 2009   Published: 28 May 2009

Abstract

The Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools (LANDFIRE) Project is mapping wildland fuels, vegetation, and fire regime characteristics across the United States. The LANDFIRE project is unique because of its national scope, creating an integrated product suite at 30-m spatial resolution and complete spatial coverage of all lands within the 50 states. Here we describe development of the LANDFIRE wildland fuels data layers for the conterminous 48 states: surface fire behavior fuel models, canopy bulk density, canopy base height, canopy cover, and canopy height. Surface fire behavior fuel models are mapped by developing crosswalks to vegetation structure and composition created by LANDFIRE. Canopy fuels are mapped using regression trees relating field-referenced estimates of canopy base height and canopy bulk density to satellite imagery, biophysical gradients and vegetation structure and composition data. Here we focus on the methods and data used to create the fuel data products, discuss problems encountered with the data, provide an accuracy assessment, demonstrate recent use of the data during the 2007 fire season, and discuss ideas for updating, maintaining and improving LANDFIRE fuel data products.

Additional keywords: decision support, fire behavior, national coverage, remote sensing, seamless GIS products, wildand fuel.


Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the other members of the LANDFIRE staff, past and present, who provided data, insight, inspiration, and hard work. Specifically we would like to thank Tobin Smail and Jim Napoli of the LANDFIRE Project for their continued effort to improve the LANDFIRE fuel data products. In addition, we thank all the subject matter experts who have worked with us to develop better surface fire behavior fuel model products. Joe Scott, with Systems for Environmental Management, provided insight and ideas for improving CBH and CBD estimates. John Szymoniak, retired USDA, provided the facts needed to discuss the use of the Wildland Fire Decision Support System for the 2007 fire season. We thank Chuck McHugh of the USDA Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory, for reviewing the paper and for providing helpful suggestions throughout the fuel mapping endeavor. We thank David Turner of the USDA Rocky Mountain Research Station for reviewing the statistical components of the present work. And last, we thank the anonymous reviewers of this paper for their hard work and valuable commentary.


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