LANDFIRE: What's new?

Three words: LANDFIRE 2008 “Refresh.”

That is, many of LANDFIRE’s 20-plus spatial data layers have been improved or updated to be current as of 2008.

These maps show the vegetation  disturbance information used to update LANDFIRE maps to circa 2008. Many of these disturbance events were submitted by the LANDFIRE user community to help keep LANDFIRE data current. 

To create the LF 2008 “Refresh” products, LANDFIRE made a number of improvements to its products, many based on user feedback. Changes include:

• Improved forest height and cover mapping,

• Remapping of Biophysical Settings in some areas using more detailed soils information, 

• Reclassification of fire behavior fuel model layers in protected landscapes to reflect situations where some agricultural and urban lands are managed as natural lands or are in a burnable type,

• Updated urban and agricultural mapping using details from the National Land Cover Dataset, National Agriculture Statistics Service and other data sets. 

• Vegetation Condition Class information mapped for Alaska and Hawaii,

• Application of succession information to “grow” or transition vegetation from circa 2001 vegetation to circa 2008, and

•  Incorporation of 1999 – 2008 disturbance and treatment information.

As always, these data are available for free on the Data Distribution Site and through the  LANDFIRE Data Access Tool.

LANDFIRE is now working on its 2010 updated maps which are scheduled to be released in 2013. Similar to its 2008 "Refresh" counterpart, the LF 2010 products will incorporate succession and  disturbance information as well as user feedback. LANDFIRE needs you. LANDFIRE's maps are driven by plot data and disturbance/treatment information (typically GIS polygon data), much of which is provided by users. 

Improved input data = improved mapping.  Learn how to contribute.

Stay tuned for the latest from LANDFIRE with updates on Twitter and the LANDFIRE Bulletin.

KORI BLANKENSHIP
fire ecologist
------------------------------------------------
The Nature Conservancy
Bend, Oregon
kblankenship@tnc.org
206.276.3432

New Ponderosa Fuels Treatment Guide

Planning and implementing fuels treatments in ponderosa pine forests, from start to finish, is no easy task. To give managers a hand, we’ve summarized information about historical land use, fire regimes, common fuels treatment objectives, techniques, impacts and mitigation for ponderosa pine across three regions across western North America, in - A Comprehensive Guide to Fuels Treatment Practices for Ponderosa Pine in the Black Hills, Colorado Front Range and Southwest (RMRS-GTR-198).

Black areas represent the areas of focus for this guide.
Gray areas represent the range of ponderosa pine.    

Fire and fuels managers face similar issues across these regions along with significant differences, making one-size-fits-all solutions inappropriate. Varying current and historical land use practices; along with a broad range of historical mean fire intervals, require slightly different approaches to fuels treatments.

Additionally, many of the lessons learned across these regions can’t be gleaned from peer-reviewed literature or textbooks. Questions like – How do you overcome agency or public resistance to prescribed fire? How do you minimize the effects of smoke on communities? – have multi-faceted answers. Answers that can only come from deep experience in fire and fuels management. 

That’s why we interviewed experienced fire and fuels managers across these regions. We know it’s critical to include their stories and knowledge about what it takes to be successful. We’ve combined their experience with the pertinent information found in published literature to bring you comprehensive management principles that typically lead to effective fuels treatments, and included case studies highlighting successful implementation.

To top it off we offer this video companion to the guide.

So avail yourself of this new resource by clicking here. Be sure to share it among your peers, and let us know what your think in the comment section below.

Molly E. Hunter
Assistant Research Professor
School of Forestry
Northern Arizona University
P.O. Box 15018
Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5018
Molly.hunter@nau.edu
928-523-6650