Mapping vegetation and fuels for fire management on the Gila National Forest Complex, New Mexico

Fuels and vegetation spatial data layers required by the spatially explicit fire growth model FARSITE were developed for all lands in and around the Gila National Forest in New Mexico. Satellite imagery, terrain modeling, and biophysical simulation were used to create the three vegetation spatial data layers of biophysical settings, cover type, and structural stage. Fire behavior fuel models and vegetation characteristics needed by FARSITE were assigned to combinations of categories on maps developed from sampled field data and also from estimates by local fire managers, ecologists, and resource specialists. FARSITE fuels maps will be used to simulate growth of fires on the Gila National Forest aiding managers in the planning and allocation of resources for managing fire. An extensive accuracy assessment of all maps indicated surface and crown fuels layers are about 30 to 40 percent accurate. This methodology was designed to be repli-cated for other areas of the western United States. The use of trade or firm names in this publication is for reader information and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture or any product or service Acknowledgments This project was a cooperative effort between the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station Fire Sciences Laboratory, the Gila National Forest, and the Fire Management and Engineering staffs of Region 3. We thank all who helped with the successful completion of this project including We would especially like to acknowledge the superior efforts of Owen Williams and Lawrence Garcia of the Gila National Forest for their help in field sampling and logistics. Abstract The Authors Robert E. Keane is a research ecologist with the USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Re-has developed various ecological computer models for the Fire Effects Project to study both ecosystem management and research. His most recent research includes the mapping of fuels for fire growth and fire effects; synthesis of a First Order Fire Effects Model; construction of mechanis-tic ecosystem process models that integrate fire behavior and effects into succession simulation; restoration of whitebark pine in the Northern Rocky Mountains; and spatial simulation of succes-sional communities on the landscape using GIS and satellite imagery. He received his B.S. degree in forest engineering from the University of Maine, Orono; his M.S. degree in forest ecology from the University of Montana, Missoula; and his Ph.D. degree in forest ecology from the is currently working on GIS related projects for ecosystem management using remote …

[1]  R Daubenmire,et al.  Vegetation: identification of typal communities. , 1966, Science.

[2]  R. Whittaker,et al.  GRADIENT ANALYSIS OF VEGETATION* , 1967, Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.

[3]  飯塚 寛,et al.  Aspect transformation in site productivity research , 1967 .

[4]  R. Greenberg.  Biometry , 1969, The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine.

[5]  W. G. Morris.  Photo inventory of fine logging slash. , 1970 .

[6]  S. Muraro.  Slash fuel inventories from 70-mm low-level photography , 1970 .

[7]  M. A. Fosberg,et al.  Drying Rates of Heartwood Below Fiber Saturation , 1970 .

[8]  D. Pollard.  Above-ground dry matter production in three stands of Trembling Aspen , 1972 .

[9]  D. H. Knight,et al.  Aims and Methods of Vegetation Ecology , 1974 .

[10]  F. Albini.  Estimating Wildfire Behavior and Effects , 1976 .

[11]  C. E. Van Wagner,et al.  Conditions for the start and spread of crown fire , 1977 .

[12]  A. Falconer,et al.  Remote sensing and ecosystem management , 1977 .

[13]  P. H. Kourtz,et al.  An application of LANDSAT digital technology to forest fire fuel type mapping , 1977 .

[14]  Bernard L. Kovalchik,et al.  Forest habitat types of Montana. , 1977 .

[15]  James K. Brown.  Weight and density of crowns of Rocky Mountain conifers , 1978 .

[16]  F. H. Eyre,et al.  Forest cover types of the United States and Canada , 1980 .

[17]  W. C. Fischer,et al.  Predicting postfire plant succession for fire management planning. , 1980 .

[18]  M. Crawford,et al.  Theory and methods , 1980 .

[19]  Logging residue survey and the line transect method: a comparison of field and photo methods. , 1981 .

[20]  John K. Brown,et al.  Downed dead woody fuel and biomass in the Northern Rocky Mountains , 1981 .

[21]  E. A. Catchpole,et al.  Modelling the spread of grass fires , 1982, The Journal of the Australian Mathematical Society. Series B. Applied Mathematics.

[22]  H. Anderson.  Aids to Determining Fuel Models for Estimating Fire Behavior , 1982 .

[23]  R. Burgan,et al.  BEHAVE : Fire Behavior Prediction and Fuel Modeling System -- FUEL Subsystem , 1984 .

[24]  G. Hornberger,et al.  A Statistical Exploration of the Relationships of Soil Moisture Characteristics to the Physical Properties of Soils , 1984 .

[25]  Richard H. Waring,et al.  Forest Ecosystems: Analysis at Multiple Scales , 1985 .

[26]  Wayne A. Miller,et al.  Comparison of fire fuel maps produced using MSS and AVHRR data , 1985 .

[27]  M. J. Cosentino,et al.  Describing the Brushfire Hazard in Southern California , 1985 .

[28]  James K. Brown,et al.  Surface Fuel Loadings and Prediced Fire Behavior for Vegetation Types in the Northern Rocky Mountains , 1986 .

[29]  P. Andrews.  BEHAVE : Fire Behavior Prediction and Fuel Modeling System - BURN Subsystem, Part 1 , 1986 .

[30]  F. P. Kapinos,et al.  Hydrologic unit maps , 1987 .

[31]  William C. Fischer,et al.  Fire ecology of western Montana forest habitat types , 1987 .

[32]  W. Krabill,et al.  Using airborne lasers to estimate forest canopy and stand characteristics. , 1988 .

[33]  J. Bufton.  Laser altimetry measurements from aircraft and spacecraft , 1989, Proc. IEEE.

[34]  R. Szaro.  Riparian forest and scrubland community types of Arizona and New Mexico , 1989 .

[35]  Patricia L. Andrews,et al.  BEHAVE: fire behavior prediction and fuel modeling system - BURN subsystem, Part 2 , 1989 .

[36]  G. Richards.  An elliptical growth model of forest fire fronts and its numerical solution , 1990 .

[37]  Russell G. Congalton,et al.  A review of assessing the accuracy of classifications of remotely sensed data , 1991 .

[38]  J. Howard,et al.  Remote Sensing of Forest Resources: Theory and application , 1991 .

[39]  W. Hargrove,et al.  Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing , 2022 .

[40]  James K. Brown,et al.  Forest Health in the Blue Mountains: A Management Strategy for Fire-Adapted Ecosystems , 1993 .

[41]  C. E. Van Wagner,et al.  Prediction of crown fire behavior in two stands of jack pine , 1993 .

[42]  Deriving dynamic information on fire fuel distributions in southern Californian chaparral from remotely sensed data , 1993 .

[43]  F. Kienast,et al.  A simulated map of the potential natural forest vegetation of Switzerland , 1993 .

[44]  M. Boyce,et al.  Estimation of green herbaceous phytomass from Landsat MSS data in Yellowstone National Park. , 1993 .

[45]  Richard L. Everett,et al.  Historical and Anticipated Changes in Forest Ecosystems of the Inland West of the United States , 1994 .

[46]  Andrew C. Millington,et al.  Estimating Woody Biomass in Sub-Saharan Africa , 1994 .

[47]  C. Woodcock,et al.  Theory and methods for accuracy assessment of thematic maps using fuzzy sets , 1994 .

[48]  Robert W. Mutch,et al.  Fighting fire with prescribed fire: a return to ecosystem health , 1994 .

[49]  Margaret M. Moore,et al.  Postsettlement Changes in Natural Fire Regimes and Forest Structure , 1994 .

[50]  J. Michaelsen,et al.  Estimating grassland biomass and leaf area index using ground and satellite data , 1994 .

[51]  B. A. Wilson,et al.  Landsat MSS Classification of Fire Fuel Types in Wood Buffalo National Park, Northern Canada , 1994 .

[52]  T. N. Shiflet.  Rangeland cover types of the United States. , 1994 .

[53]  P. Bourgeron,et al.  Documentation of the modeling of potential vegetation at three spatial scales using biophysical settings in the Columbia River Basin assessment area , 1995 .

[54]  K. Kalabokidis,et al.  Isarithmic analysis of forest fire fuelbed arrays , 1995 .

[55]  J. E. Pinder,et al.  Forest mapping at Lassen volcanic national park, California, using Landsat TM data and a geographical information system , 1995 .

[56]  David L. Verbyla,et al.  Satellite Remote Sensing of Natural Resources , 1995 .

[57]  Alan S. Weakley,et al.  International classification of ecological communities: terrestrial vegetation of the United States , 1995 .

[58]  T. Swetnam,et al.  A dendroecological assessment of whitebark pine in the Sawtooth Salmon River region, Idaho , 1996 .

[59]  R. H. Hamre,et al.  Spatial Accuracy Assessment in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences , 1996 .

[60]  Steven W. Running,et al.  A biophysical soil–site model for estimating potential productivity of forested landscapes , 1996 .

[61]  A. Jain,et al.  FOREST FIRE RISK MODELLING USING REMOTE SENSING AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATIONSYSTEM , 1996 .

[62]  C. D. Bevins,et al.  Simulating coarse-scale vegetation dynamics using the Columbia River Basin succession model-crbsum. Forest Service general technical report , 1996 .

[63]  Richard W. Haynes,et al.  Integrated scientific assessment for ecosystem management in the interior Columbia Basin and portions of the Klamath and Great Basins. , 1996 .

[64]  Guofan Shao,et al.  Forest cover types derived from Landsat Thematic Mapper imagery for Changbai Mountain area of China , 1996 .

[65]  R. Keane,et al.  Fire-BGC: A mechanistic ecological process model for simulating fire succession on coniferous forest landscapes of the northern Rocky Mountains. Forest Service research paper , 2017 .

[66]  B. Tkacz,et al.  Historical perspectives on forest insects and pathogens in the Southwest: implications for restoration of Ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forests , 1996 .

[67]  Peter E. Thornton,et al.  Generating surfaces of daily meteorological variables over large regions of complex terrain , 1997 .

[68]  David R. Miller.  Forest stand dynamics , 1997 .

[69]  E. Næsset.  Estimating timber volume of forest stands using airborne laser scanner data , 1997 .

[70]  Fire histories of upper elevation forests in the Gila Wilderness, New Mexico via fire scar and stand age structure analyses , 1997 .

[71]  Robert E. Keane,et al.  Development of input data layers for the FARSITE fire growth model for the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Complex, USA , 1998 .

[72]  M. Finney.  FARSITE : Fire Area Simulator : model development and evaluation , 1998 .

[73]  Susan L. Ustin,et al.  Mapping the Distribution of Wildfire Fuels Using AVIRIS in the Santa Monica Mountains , 1998 .

[74]  Russell G. Congalton,et al.  Assessing the accuracy of remotely sensed data : principles and practices , 1998 .

[75]  Peter E. Thornton,et al.  Regional ecosystem simulation: Combining surface- and satellite-based observations to study linkages between terrestrial energy and mass budgets , 1998 .

[76]  Edward B. Rastetter,et al.  Forest Ecosystems, Analysis at Multiple Scales, 2nd Edition , 1999 .

[77]  H. Lachowski,et al.  FUEL LOADING AND RISK ASSESSMENT LASSEN NATIONAL FOREST , 2022 .