Overview
LANDFIRE (LF), Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools, is a shared program between the wildland fire management programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior, providing landscape scale geo-spatial products to support cross-boundary planning, management, and operations.
LF began due to an increased concern about the number, severity, and size of wildland fires and the need for consistent national biological/ecological inventory data. LF identifies areas across the nation potentially susceptible to wildland fire to support community and firefighter protection. LF has evolved and expanded to include other applications such as habitat research and disturbance maps.
LF data characterize the current and historical states of vegetation, fuels, fire regimes, and disturbances. LF produces a comprehensive, consistent, scientifically credible suite of more than 25 geospatial layers, a reference database, and a set of quantitative vegetation models at a national extent. LF data supports landscape assessments, analysis, and natural resource management. LF supplements and assists modeling of fire behavior and effects.
LF Technical Documentation
LF Dictionary
LF Definitions Quality and Standards Report
LF FactSheet
"How to Use LANDFIRE" Factsheet
How can you use LANDFIRE
LF data characterize the current and historical states of vegetation, fuels, fire regimes, and disturbances. LF produces a comprehensive, consistent, scientifically credible suite of more than 25 geospatial layers, a reference database, and a set of quantitative vegetation models at a national extent. LF data supports landscape assessments, analysis, and natural resource management. LF supplements and assists modeling of fire behavior and effects.
LF Technical Documentation
LF Dictionary
LF Definitions Quality and Standards Report
LF FactSheet
"How to Use LANDFIRE" Factsheet
How can you use LANDFIRE
LF is a multi-organizational program whose work is completed with the cooperation of several groups working together.
◆ U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) Office of Wildland Fire
◆ U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service (USFS) Fire and Aviation Management
◆ U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
◆ The Nature Conservancy (TNC) North America Science Team
◆ USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS)
◆ USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA)
LF Business and Technical Leads
| James Menakis, USFS Business Lead | Henry Bastian, DOI Business Lead |
| Inga La Puma, USFS LF Program Lead | Tobin Smail, USFS Technical Lead |
| Jim Smith, TNC LF Project Lead | Jon Dewitz, USGS Project Manager |
| Marcine Hyser, TSSC Task Manager | Daryn Dockter, TSSC Technical Lead |
LF Team
LF is a multi-organizational program whose work is completed with the cooperation of several groups working together.
◆ U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) Office of Wildland Fire
◆ U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service (USFS) Fire and Aviation Management
◆ U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
◆ The Nature Conservancy (TNC) North America Science Team
◆ USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS)
◆ USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA)
LF Business and Technical Leads
| James Menakis, USFS Business Lead | Henry Bastian, DOI Business Lead |
| Inga La Puma, USFS LF Program Lead | Tobin Smail, USFS Technical Lead |
| Jim Smith, TNC LF Project Lead | Jon Dewitz, USGS Project Manager |
| Marcine Hyser, TSSC Task Manager | Daryn Dockter, TSSC Technical Lead |
LF Team
LF is a multi-organizational program whose work is completed with the cooperation of several groups working together. The strength of the program is built upon the partnerships over the course of the last decade.
LF is a multi-organizational program whose work is completed with the cooperation of several groups working together. The strength of the program is built upon the partnerships over the course of the last decade.
Individual Awards:
Jim Smith
- 2011 International Spatial Accuracy Research Association named their early career scientist award after Jim Smith, the "James L. Smith Medal"
- John I. Davidson Award from the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
- Virginia Tech Certificate of Teaching Excellence, ESRI Special Achievement in GIS
- 2009 John Wesley Powell Award from the U.S. Geological Survey
- 2023 Compass Award for Managerial Excellence
Team Awards:
- 2017 Department of the Interior Environmental Achievement Awards - "Environmental Dream Team" award.
Individual Awards:
Jim Smith
- 2011 International Spatial Accuracy Research Association named their early career scientist award after Jim Smith, the "James L. Smith Medal"
- John I. Davidson Award from the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
- Virginia Tech Certificate of Teaching Excellence, ESRI Special Achievement in GIS
- 2009 John Wesley Powell Award from the U.S. Geological Survey
- 2023 Compass Award for Managerial Excellence
Team Awards:
- 2017 Department of the Interior Environmental Achievement Awards - "Environmental Dream Team" award.
LANDFIRE Background
The LANDFIRE (LF) Program began because of increased concern about the number, severity, and size of wildland fires and the need for consistent national biological/ecological inventory data. Over the past decade, LF data have become a critical piece to wildland fire and fuels treatment research, modeling, and planning tools as well as operational support for wildland fire management. LF data are crucial to fire modeling to support both operational decision making and fuels planning.
LF as a program produces national scale, spatial products that represents the best available contiguous data for the United States. LF data characterize the current states of vegetation, fuels, fire regimes, and disturbances. Additional products include reference data, land management activities databases, and ecological models.
While many of the products are inputs to downstream LF products that are critical to wildland fire management (e.g. fuels, fire regimes), many of the upstream products (e.g. vegetation, cover, height) are also valued as standalone products for natural resource managers and researchers. LF is an important suite of data beyond wildland fire management.
Our Vision
LF is a cornerstone of a fully integrated national data information framework developing and improving vegetation and fuels data products based on the best available authoritative data and science in an all lands landscape conservation approach based on inter-agency/inter-organizational collaboration and cooperation. LF is acknowledged for management excellence and effective mission delivery.
Our Mission
LF's mission is to provide agency leaders and managers with a common "all-lands" data set of vegetation and wildland fire/fuels information for strategic fire and resource management planning and analysis.
How it began
In 2000, the President directed the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to recommend how best to respond to severe wildland fires, reduce the impacts of fire on rural communities, and ensure sufficient firefighting capacity in the future. As a result, Congress directed development of the National Fire Plan, which precipitated LF, along with the creation of a National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (Cohesive Strategy) addressing responses to wildfire, restoring and maintaining resilient landscapes, creating fire-adapted communities all based on a scientific foundation. LF is a shared program between the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior's wildland fire management bureaus under the direction of the Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC). LF produces a comprehensive, consistent, scientifically based suite of spatial layers and databases for the entire United States and territories.
In 2001, the General Accounting Office (GAO) reported,
"Federal land management agencies do not have adequate data for making informed decisions and measuring the agencies' progress in reducing fuels."
In 2002, GAO reported,
"Data are not available to better prioritize communities and projects for funding" and "On the basis of our review, LANDFIRE is the only proposed research project so far that appears capable of producing consistent national inventory data for improving the prioritization of fuel projects and communities." (GAO-02-259)
LF started with a prototype in 2002 and was officially chartered in 2004 by WFLC. LF marked its 10th year in 2014 and its 15th year in 2019. View the LF informational video.
LANDFIRE delivering data for over 20 years
In 2004, the Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC) signed the charter that launched LF - an innovative effort considered critical to natural resource and fire management programs. The USDA Forest Service and the Department of the Interior fund LF. Principle production partners are the U.S. Geological Survey, Forest Service, and The Nature Conservancy; other partners include the Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. New partners and collaboration contribute to the program's success, and partnerships are continually being formed.
Since its inception, LF's application has extended beyond its original intent of natural resources and fire management support. LF applications now include those involving climate change research, carbon sequestration planning, habitat analysis and protection, state forest assessments and more.
How it began
In 2000, the President directed the Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior to recommend how best to respond to severe wildland fires, reduce the impacts of fire on rural communities, and ensure sufficient firefighting capacity in the future. As a result, Congress directed development of the National Fire Plan, which precipitated LF, along with the creation of a National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy (Cohesive Strategy) addressing responses to wildfire, restoring and maintaining resilient landscapes, creating fire-adapted communities all based on a scientific foundation. LF is a shared program between the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior's wildland fire management bureaus under the direction of the Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC). LF produces a comprehensive, consistent, scientifically based suite of spatial layers and databases for the entire United States and territories.
In 2001, the General Accounting Office (GAO) reported,
"Federal land management agencies do not have adequate data for making informed decisions and measuring the agencies' progress in reducing fuels."
In 2002, GAO reported,
"Data are not available to better prioritize communities and projects for funding" and "On the basis of our review, LANDFIRE is the only proposed research project so far that appears capable of producing consistent national inventory data for improving the prioritization of fuel projects and communities." (GAO-02-259)
LF started with a prototype in 2002 and was officially chartered in 2004 by WFLC. LF marked its 10th year in 2014 and its 15th year in 2019. View the LF informational video.
LANDFIRE delivering data for over 20 years
In 2004, the Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC) signed the charter that launched LF - an innovative effort considered critical to natural resource and fire management programs. The USDA Forest Service and the Department of the Interior fund LF. Principle production partners are the U.S. Geological Survey, Forest Service, and The Nature Conservancy; other partners include the Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. New partners and collaboration contribute to the program's success, and partnerships are continually being formed.
Since its inception, LF's application has extended beyond its original intent of natural resources and fire management support. LF applications now include those involving climate change research, carbon sequestration planning, habitat analysis and protection, state forest assessments and more.