COOPERATIVE ECOSYSTEM STUDIES UNIT, CHESAPEAKE WATERSHED CESU

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The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Center for Earth Observation and Science (EROS) in Sioux Falls, SD conducts terrestrial research and monitoring via an array projects in conjunction with its Federal, State, and local partners. Key among these activities is the LANDFIRE project, jointly funded by DOI and the US Forest Service. LANDFIRE is a 5-yr multi-partner project to produce nationally consistent and comprehensive maps and data describing vegetation, wildland fuel, and fire regimes across the US at landscape and ecosystem scales. In anticipation of the conclusion of the initial LANDFIRE mapping charter at the end of FY09, EROS and other partners are initiating research activities in FY08 designed to support the long-term operation and maintenance (O&M) of LANDFIRE. The mission of LANDFIRE O&M is to protect and extend the significant initial program investment and the equally significant benefits that have already been realized in the application of LANDFIRE data, by developing and implementing methods to update and maintain the suite of LANDFIRE data. An O&M R&D effort from FY08-FY11 will provide the foundation for longer-term LANDFIRE biennial updates and decadal remapping in FY12 and beyond. A critical element in maintaining the accuracy and utility of LANDFIRE data during long-term O&M will be the timely, accurate, efficient, and nationally consistent detection and characterization of change (both natural and anthropogenic), initially in forested but ultimately in all ecosystems. Building on its role in vegetation mapping for LANDFIRE, USGS-EROS is leading remote-sensing based research activities to develop such O&M capabilities. USGS-EROS and its partners will undertake a Southeast (SE) US “Refresh” prototype in FY08 for the initial LANDFIRE O&M research effort. The SE Prototype will focus on forest changes in a study area nominally consisting of the (1) Outer Coastal Plain and (2) Southeastern Mixed Forest ecosystem provinces described in: Bailey, R. G. 1995. Description of the ecoregions of the United States. 2nd ed. rev. and expanded Misc. Pub. No. 1391 (rev.). USDA Forest Service, Washington, DC, with separate map at 1:7,500,000. Building upon the SE Prototype and other research and methodological development, a periodic scientifically robust, periodic national update and remapping program (all ecosystems and LANDFIRE deliverables) will be undertaken after FY11. To adequately address both the variety of disturbance regimes and vegetation dynamics on which LANDFIRE information is based, this research activity will in part entail (a) development of a vegetation change tracking algorithm for application to multitemporal LANDSAT data, with attendant acquisition, processing, analysis, and management activities; (b) development of a transition database for predicting vegetation dynamics based on detected change; and (c) integration efforts with other ongoing projects (such as the USGS’ Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity Project—MTBS) in developing a robust O&M capability. USGS-EROS is offering a cooperative agreement opportunity in these LANDFIRE O&M research efforts. The research included in this agreement is designed to answer questions and develop methodologies critical to the success of LANDFIRE O&M. Research objectives contained within the current cooperative program include: Objective 1 – Development and implementation of a remote-sensing-based vegetation change tracking algorithm for forested and ultimately all ecosystems, consistent with and supportive of LANDFIRE requirements and information products Objective 2 – Development of resultant forest change maps for the LANDFIRE SE US Prototype Objective 3 – Companion algorithms for development of LANDFIRE vegetation transition database

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