Data Notifications: Alaska Existing Vegetation Cover and Existing Vegetation Height classes and codes different from those used by LANDFIRE in CONUS

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Alaska Existing Vegetation Cover (EVC) and Existing Vegetation Height (EVH) classes and codes different from those used by LANDFIRE in CONUS.

Background:

Much of the field-referenced data used by LANDFIRE for Alaska vegetation mapping were collected using discrete vegetation map units that describe vegetation composition, cover, and height. This precluded mapping cover and height with the same vegetation structure classes used in the conterminous United States (CONUS), which were based on continuous field referenced data values. It was determined that values in the conterminous United States and those in Alaska may have the same code values but resolve to different existing vegetation cover and height classes.

Advice:

The LANDFIRE team assessed the difference in existing vegetation cover and height code values between conterminous United States and those in Alaska. To avoid confusion that may be caused by having the same code resolve to different values, the project team decided to have unique code values for the conterminous United States and a second unique set of values for Alaska. Thus codes could not be confused if data users were aware of the change. Codes in the conterminous United States will have values from zero through 149. Code values for Alaska will have values from 150 through 200.

Please note: The codes used for Alaska vegetation height and cover are different than those used for CONUS. This can lead to consistency issues if end-users are manipulating and analyzing LANDFIRE data products with applications that were developed for the lower 48 states. LANDFIRE applications will be modified to work with these new codes. Care must be taken to ensure that manipulation and analysis has accounted for these new codes.

The EVC and EVH classes used by LANDFIRE for Alaska were assigned new codes in order to differentiate them from those used for CONUS. A side-by-side list of the codes and classes used for CONUS and Alaska are included below (see Table 1 [EVC] and Table 2 [EVH]). These tables can also be used as data crosswalks for users that need to compare Alaska code values with conterminous United States code values.

Table 1. LANDFIRE CONUS and AK Existing Vegetation Cover codes and classes.

	CONUS EVC		AK EVC
100	Sparse Vegetation (no cover estimated)	150	Sparse Vegetation (no cover estimated)
101	>=10% and <20% forest cover	151	>=10% and < 25% forest cover
102	>=20% and <30% forest cover	152	>=25% and < 60% forest cover
103	>=30% and <40% forest cover	153	>=60% and <= 100% forest cover
104	>=40% and <50% forest cover	154
105	>=50% and <60% forest cover	155
106	>=60% and <70% forest cover	156
107	>=70% and <80% forest cover	157
108	>=80% and <90% forest cover	158
109	>=90% and <=100% forest cover	159
110		160
111	>=10% and <20% shrub cover	161	>=10% and < 25% shrub cover
112	>=20% and <30% shrub cover	162	>=25% and < 60% shrub cover
113	>=30% and <40% shrub cover	163	>=60% and <= 100% shrub cover
114	>=40% and <50% shrub cover	164
115	>=50% and <60% shrub cover	165
116	>=60% and <70% shrub cover	166
117	>=70% and <80% shrub cover	167
118	>=80% and <90% shrub cover	168
119	>=90% and <=100% shrub cover	169
120		170
121	>=10% and <20% herbaceous cover	171	>=10% and < 60% herbaceous cover
122	>=20% and <30% herbaceous cover	172	>=60% and <= 100% herbaceous cover
123	>=30% and <40% herbaceous cover
124	>=40% and <50% herbaceous cover
125	>=50% and <60% herbaceous cover
126	>=60% and <70% herbaceous cover
127	>=70% and <80% herbaceous cover
128	>=80% and <90% herbaceous cover
129	>=90% and <=100% herbaceous cover

Table 2. LANDFIRE CONUS and AK Existing Vegetation Height codes and classes.

	CONUS EVH		AK EVH
100	Sparse Vegetation ( no height estimated)	150	Sparse Vegetation ( no height estimated)
101	>0m and <= 0.5m herbaceous height	151	>0m and <= 0.5m herbaceous height
102	>0.5m and <= 1.0m herbaceous height	152	>0.5m herbaceous height
103	>1.0m herbaceous height	153	>0m and <= 0.5m shrub height
104	>0m and <= 0.5m shrub height	154	>0.5m and <= 1.5m shrub height
105	>0.5m and <= 1.0m shrub height	155	>1.5m shrub height
106	>1.0m and <=3.0m shrub height	156	>0m and <=10m forest height
107	>3.0m shrub height	157	>0m forest height
108	>0m and <=5m forest height
109	>5m and <=10m forest height
110	>10m and <=25m forest height
111	>25m and <=50m forest height
112	>50m forest height

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