LANDFIRE (LF) Partner collaborations help LF reach important goals. They extend the breadth of product development and applications and are pivotal to the evolution of the LF product suite. Below are examples of these collaborations.
Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA)
LF and FIA have been partners since LF was chartered in 2004. They formalized the relationship with a data sharing agreement in 2005. Much of the success of the LF program is due in part to FIA data.
National Gap Analysis Program (GAP)
In 2014, LF entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with GAP to produce national-scale land cover, vegetation, fuel, and fire products. As a result of the MOU, LF and GAP coordinated their work in a Joint Activities Report to improve scientific consistency and production efficiency. The programs worked together on LF Remap Strategy prototypes and are teamed up on LF Remap production work.
GAP and LF's partnership was highlighted in a North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) bulletin. Landcover data is more detailed and thematically richer as a result of this partnership.
Natural Resources Conservation Service – National Resources Inventory (NRCS – NRI)
In 2009, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) NRCS and LF collaborated on a Pilot Project to assess the usefulness of NRCS NRI Program rangeland plot data. In 2015 LF and NRCS established a formal working relationship with a MOU data sharing agreement. LF is excited to have the NRI data available for the LF Remap effort.
LF and NRCS established a formal working relationship with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in 2015, from which additional plot data became available as part of the NRI.
National Land Cover Database (NLCD)
LF and NLCD have been partners since LF was chartered in 2004. LF is a member of the Multi-Resolution Land Consortium (MRLC) and contributed to the purchase of Landsat data for the consortium in the early years. LF also used the same mapping zone approach that NLCD used (LANDFIRE National to LF 2014).
In 2014, the three programs - NLCD, GAP, and LANDFIRE worked on a collaboration strategy. The strategy was not finalized but outcomes of this effort resulted in the GAP/LF MOU and a 2015 paper where NLCD, GAP, and LF collaborated to compare the NLCD 2011 and LF 2010 products. The purpose of the 2015 Vegetation Classification Crosswalk paper was to help users understand similarities and differences between the products and guide users in selecting the appropriate data based on their needs.
Forest Service (FS) Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS)
LF products are designed to facilitate national- and regional-level strategic planning and support fire and fuel management activities. These same characteristics provide the research community with an ideal data set for a number of research applications within the USFS RMRS.
Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
In 2015, BLM and LF entered into a data sharing agreement. This agreement provides use of the BLM Assessment Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) data that will help LF improve data quality in rangeland types.