LANDFIRE ESP AK (Environmental Site Potential) v1.2.0

LANDFIRE (LF), Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools, is a shared program between the wildland fire management programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service, U.S. Department of the Interior's Geological Survey, and The Nature Conservancy.

LANDFIRE (LF) layers are created using predictive landscape models based on extensive field-referenced data, satellite imagery and biophysical gradient layers using classification and regression trees.

LANDFIRE's (LF) Environmental Site Potential (ESP) represents the vegetation that could be supported at a given site based on the biophysical environment. Map units are based on NatureServe's Ecological Systems classification and represent the natural plant communities that may have been present during the reference period. ESP map units represent the natural plant communities that would become established at late or climax stages of successional development in the absence of disturbance. They reflect the current climate and physical environment, as well as the competitive potential of native plant species. The ESP concept is similar to that used in classifications of potential vegetation, including habitat types and plant associations. In early versions of LF, ESP was used to inform the existing vegetation and fuel mapping processes.

The LANDIFRE Vegetation datasets include:

• Biophysical Settings (BPS)
• Environmental Site Potential (ESP)
• Existing Vegetation Canopy Cover (EVC)
• Existing Vegetation Height (EVH).
• Existing Vegetation Type (EVT) These layers are created using predictive landscape models based on extensive field-referenced data, satellite imagery and biophysical gradient layers using classification and regression trees.