This project (funded by the Joint Fire Science Program through the Seney Natural History Association) contains prescribed and wildfire point and polygon data covering 1944-2012 that occurred within the boundaries of the Seney National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR) and point data from the dendrochronological work of Drobyshev et al. (2008, Canadian J. Forest Research). The intention of the project was to create a data set to provide a single source for users of GIS to access point and area fire information. Prior to this project a separate polygon data set created by the refuge covering fires from 2003-2009 was available as was the Drobyshev et al. (2008) data in a separate file. All other records of fire events on the refuge were in various forms ranging from table sets in the Fire Management Information System (FMIS) to references in refuge annual narratives. There was a clear need to establish a system showing basic location and historical information in one format. GIS using ESRI shapefiles was chosen since it shows the most promise and flexibility in future planning and modeling use. This data format should allow for less duplication of future efforts and increase the usability of fire data to not only to refuge staff but also partner agencies and researchers.

This is an updated version of the previously posted geospatial dataset of fire occurrence history within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Fire perimeters and point locations were taken directly from GPS field data when available, but this type of data is only available for the recent history during which GPS units were used by park officials. Otherwise, perimeters and points were digitized directly from the best sources available. In some cases these sources were hand-drawn maps, some were drawn on USGS topographic maps, and some were described through fire reporting narratives only. For the years 1942-present, the federal Wildland Fire Management Information (WFMI) list of fire occurrences for Great Smoky Mountains NP was consulted to provide fire locations and information. This list is updated annually by park fire officials and subsequently by the National Wildfire Coordination Group. It includes information related to the location, size, cost, fuels, and other pertinent information related to fires within the park's boundary. Additionally, park archives were consulted for a complete list of fire occurrences prior to 1942. Records for fires during the years of 1953-1959 have been lost or are otherwise not available. Perimeters corresponding to events from those years are generalized from a single list found in the park library. Some GIS data were taken from a 2003 fire mapping project by Lincoln Memorial University, and these fire perimeters were digitized directly from Mark Harmon's 1979 fire inventory. An accuracy assessment was performed on these and found the LMU data to be consistent with Harmon's maps, which were drawn by hand on USGS 7.5' quad maps.

LANDFIRE's (LF) Existing Vegetation Cover (EVC) represents the vertically projected percent cover of the live canopy for a 30m cell. EVC is produced separately for tree, shrub, and herbaceous lifeforms. Training data depicting percentages of canopy cover are obtained from plot-level ground-based visual assessments and lidar observations. These are combined with Landsat imagery (from multiple seasons), topographic, climate, and other geospatial data sets to inform models built independently for each lifeform. Tree, shrub, and herbaceous lifeforms each have a potential range from 10% to 100%. The three independent lifeform datasets are merged into a single product. The EVC product is then reconciled through QA/QC measures to ensure lifeform is synchronized with both Existing Vegetation Height (EVH) and Type (EVT) products. Disturbance events not visible in the source imagery are accounted for by incorporating LF Remap Annual Disturbance products. LF uses EVC as an input for LF Remap Fuel Vegetation Cover (FVC).

LANDFIRE's (LF) Existing Vegetation Cover (EVC) represents the vertically projected percent cover of the live canopy for a 30m cell. EVC is produced separately for tree, shrub, and herbaceous lifeforms. Training data depicting percentages of canopy cover are obtained from plot-level ground-based visual assessments and lidar observations. These are combined with Landsat imagery (from multiple seasons), topographic, climate, and other geospatial data sets to inform models built independently for each lifeform. Tree, shrub, and herbaceous lifeforms each have a potential range from 10% to 100%. The three independent lifeform datasets are merged into a single product. The EVC product is then reconciled through QA/QC measures to ensure lifeform is synchronized with both Existing Vegetation Height (EVH) and Type (EVT) products. Disturbance events not visible in the source imagery are accounted for by incorporating LF Remap Annual Disturbance products. LF uses EVC as an input for LF Remap Fuel Vegetation Cover (FVC).

LANDFIRE's (LF) Existing Vegetation Type (EVT) represents the current distribution of the terrestrial ecological systems classification developed by NatureServe for the western hemisphere. In this context, a terrestrial ecological system is defined as a group of plant community types that tend to co-occur within landscapes with similar ecological processes, substrates, and/or environmental gradients. EVT also includes ruderal or semi-natural vegetation types within the U.S. National Vegetation Classification [(NVC) http://usnvc.org/]. See the EVT product page (https://www.landfire.gov/evt.php) for more information about ecological systems and NVC. EVT is mapped using decision tree models, field data, Landsat imagery, elevation, and biophysical gradient data. Decision tree models are developed separately for tree, shrub, and herbaceous lifeforms which are then used to produce a lifeform specific EVT product. These models are generated for each Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Level III Ecoregion (https://www.epa.gov/eco-research/ecoregions). Riparian, alpine, sparse and other site-specific EVTs are constrained by predetermined masks. Urban and developed areas are derived from the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), whereas agricultural lands originate from the Cropland Data Layer (CDL) and Common Land Unit (CLU) database. Developed ruderal classes are identified by combining wildland-urban-interface (WUI) data with population density information from the US Census Bureau. Annual Disturbance products are included to describe areas that have experienced landscape change within the previous 10-year period. EVT is then reconciled through QA/QC measures to ensure lifeform is synchronized with both Existing Vegetation Cover (EVC) and Height (EVH) products.

LANDFIRE's (LF) Existing Vegetation Type (EVT) represents the current distribution of the terrestrial ecological systems classification developed by NatureServe for the western hemisphere. In this context, a terrestrial ecological system is defined as a group of plant community types that tend to co-occur within landscapes with similar ecological processes, substrates, and/or environmental gradients. EVT also includes ruderal or semi-natural vegetation types within the U.S. National Vegetation Classification [(NVC) http://usnvc.org/]. See the EVT product page (https://www.landfire.gov/evt.php) for more information about ecological systems and NVC. EVT is mapped using decision tree models, field data, Landsat imagery, elevation, and biophysical gradient data. Decision tree models are developed separately for tree, shrub, and herbaceous lifeforms which are then used to produce a lifeform specific EVT product. These models are generated for each Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Level III Ecoregion (https://www.epa.gov/eco-research/ecoregions). Riparian, alpine, sparse and other site-specific EVTs are constrained by predetermined masks. Urban and developed areas are derived from the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), whereas agricultural lands originate from the Cropland Data Layer (CDL) and Common Land Unit (CLU) database. Developed ruderal classes are identified by combining wildland-urban-interface (WUI) data with population density information from the US Census Bureau. Annual Disturbance products are included to describe areas that have experienced landscape change within the previous 10-year period. EVT is then reconciled through QA/QC measures to ensure lifeform is synchronized with both Existing Vegetation Cover (EVC) and Height (EVH) products.

The LANDFIRE Fire Regime Groups (FRG) product characterizes the presumed historical fire regimes within landscapes based on interactions between vegetation dynamics, fire spread, fire effects, and spatial context. FRG definitions have been altered to best approximate the definitions outlined in the Interagency Fire Regime Condition Class Guidebook. To learn more about FRG go to https://landfire.gov/fire-regime/frg. At the release of LF 2016 Remap Fire Regime Groups (FRG_NEW), Percent of Low-severity Fire (PRC_SURFAC), Percent of Mixed-severity Fire (PRC_MIXED), Percent of Replacement-severity Fire (PRC_REPLAC), and Fire Return Interval (FRI_ALLFIR) were included as attributes in the Biophysical Settings (BPS) product. Then in 2024 these products became stand-alone products once again. With the 3 Percent Severity products merged into a single product called Percent Fire Severity (PFS). These products can now be found in both places, as attributes of BPS and as their own individual products.

LANDFIRE’s (LF) 2001 Canopy Cover (CC) product describes the percent cover of tree canopy in a stand. A spatially-explicit map of canopy cover supplies information for fire behavior models such as FARSITE (Finney 1998) to determine surface fuel shading for calculating dead fuel moisture and for calculating wind reductions. In FARSITE, canopy characteristics are used to compute shading, wind reduction factors, spotting distances, crown fuel volume, spread characteristics of crown fires and incorporate the effects of ladder fuels for transitions from a surface to crown fire. CC is derived from the LF Existing Vegetation Cover (EVC) product using the LANDFIRE Total Fuel Change Tool (LFTFC). Forested EVC values are reclassified from the nine EVC codes to represent the midpoint of the classification. CC values are represented in 10 percent increments starting with fifteen and ending at ninety-five. Where EVC is not forested or the tree cover is considered to be part of the surface fuel CC receives a value of 0 percent.

LANDFIRE's (LF) 2016 Remap (Remap) Existing Vegetation Cover (EVC) represents the vertically projected percent cover of the live canopy for a 30m cell. EVC is produced separately for tree, shrub, and herbaceous lifeforms. Training data depicting percentages of canopy cover are obtained from plot-level ground-based visual assessments and lidar observations. These are combined with Landsat imagery (from multiple seasons), topographic, climate, and other geospatial data sets to inform models built independently for each lifeform. Tree, shrub, and herbaceous lifeforms each have a potential range from 10% to 100%. The three independent lifeform datasets are merged into a single product. The EVC product is then reconciled through QA/QC measures to ensure lifeform is synchronized with both Existing Vegetation Height (EVH) and Type (EVT) products. Disturbance events not visible in the source imagery are accounted for by incorporating LF Remap Annual Disturbance products. LF uses EVC as an input for LF Remap Fuel Vegetation Cover (FVC).

LANDFIRE's (LF) 2016 Remap (Remap) Existing Vegetation Type (EVT) represents the current distribution of the terrestrial ecological systems classification developed by NatureServe for the western hemisphere. In the context, a terrestrial ecological system is defined as a group of plant community types that tend to co-occur within landscapes with similar ecological processes, substrates, and/or environmental gradients. EVT also includes ruderal or semi-natural vegetation types within the U.S. National Vegetation Classification [(NVC) http://usnvc.org/]. See the EVT product page (https://www.landfire.gov/evt.php) for more information about ecological systems and NVC. EVT is mapped using decision tree models, field data, Landsat imagery, elevation, and biophysical gradient data. Decision tree models are developed separately for tree, shrub, and herbaceous lifeforms which are then used to produce a lifeform specific EVT product. These models are generated for each Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Level III Ecoregion (https://www.epa.gov/eco-research/ecoregions). Riparian, alpine, sparse and other site-specific EVTs are constrained by predetermined masks. Urban and developed areas are derived from the National Land Cover Database (NLCD), whereas agricultural lands originate from the Cropland Data Layer (CDL) and Common Land Unit (CLU) database. Developed ruderal classes are identified by combining wildland-urban-interface (WUI) data with population density information from the US Census Bureau. Annual Disturbance products are included to describe areas that have experienced landscape change within the previous 10-year period. EVT is then reconciled through QA/QC measures to ensure lifeform is synchronized with both Existing Vegetation Cover (EVC) and Height (EVH) products.