Data Summarization

Tabular data will be generated from statistical summaries of the fire severity class layers. Reporting units will vary in extent depending on the needs of WFLC and other multiagency user groups but, at a minimum, summary data will be produced for each State as well as at a national extent. Three sets of tabular data are currently specified in the MTBS product suite and are listed in the Products section of this study. Total acres burned by severity class are the most directly extractable information summary from the spatial data.

Summarizing acres burned by severity class and vegetation cover types requires consistent geospatial vegetation data of similar resolution to provide the most meaningful stratifications. Existing vegetation types currently being mapped by the LANDFIRE program (http://www.landfire.gov/index.php) will offer the most spatially extensive and nationally consistent data by which severity classes can be summarized. Since Landsat imagery is the spatial basis for both MTBS and LANDFIRE data, uncertainties that may result from summarizing severity classes within vegetation cover types mapped at a significantly different spatial scale should be minimized. In conjunction with the information needs of WFLC, the accuracy of LANDFIRE data will need to be evaluated to determine the most appropriate thematic scale for reporting.

Summarizing acres burned by severity class in relation to fuel treatment activities will be dependent on the availability of spatial data depicting the location and extent of individual treatments. Currently, the National Fire Plan Operations Reporting System (NFPORS) database is the primary standardized Federal database containing such data in digital format. As described on the Website (http://www.nfpors.gov/), “NFPORS is an interagency system designed to assist field personnel in managing and reporting accomplishments for work conducted under the National Fire Plan”. It is expected that non-Federal fuel treatment data will not be available, and spatial data on Federal lands will be sporadic. Tabular data generated under these criteria will only have applicability to specific administrative and geographic extents.

It is recognized that these tabular data may have limited utility at finer spatial scales and for addressing research and management information needs not considered within the scope of this project. A composite database containing additional ecological and administrative spatial units, including 4^th field hydrologic units (Seaber and others 1987) and Federal ownership, will be available to enable user-specified summarization of MTBS data at larger scales. The production and distribution of both continuous and thematic spatial data sets described in Fire Severity and Perimeter Mapping are considered the primary geospatial data legacy available to scientific and operational interests outside this project.