How does LANDFIRE map existing vegetation?
LANDFIRE’s general approach to mapping existing vegetation entails several major processes: 1) Assignment of the LANDFIRE existing vegetation type map units to plots in the LANDFIRE reference database For each LANDFIRE mapping zone, NatureServe develops a draft rule set for classifying field reference plots to LANDFIRE existing vegetation type (EVT). The development of these “sequence tables ” is initiated at regional EVT workshops organized by NatureServe, and these tables are delivered as an ordered set of floristic queries that are implemented in the LANDFIRE reference database (LFRDB) to assign EVT map units to each plot. Draft sequence tables are reviewed by vegetation ecologists at the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula, Montana and by remote sensing scientists at the USGS Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. An external review of the sequence tables is solicited, provided that the LANDFIRE schedule allows. The map uni
