While watershed planners must focus on water availability, temperature, geomorpoholgy, energy and nutrient sources, the terrestrial vegetation components of watersheds are also important. However, complete and comprehensive datasets describing vegetation are often lacking. The national LANDFIRE program can help address this problem with a suite of data and tools, all available at one location, including detailed metadata.
The LANDFIRE suite of spatial products includes more than 20 nationally consistent raster layers related to vegetation type, height, and canopy cover as well as historic vegetation conditions and departure from these conditions. Additionally, there are over 1,300 stand-alone ecological models and descriptions of pre-settlement conditions. LANDFIRE includes a number of tools that enhance data access and usability.