Land Cover 2001

The National Land Cover Database 2001 Land Cover Version 2.0 layer produced through a cooperative project conducted by the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium. The MRLC Consortium is a partnership of federal agencies (www.mrlc.gov), consisting of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the National Park Service (NPS), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). One of the primary goals of the project is to generate a current, consistent, seamless, and accurate National Land cover Database (NLCD) circa 2001 for the United States at medium spatial resolution. This landcover map and all documents pertaining to it are considered "provisional" until a formal accuracy assessment can be conducted. For a detailed definition and discussion on MRLC and the NLCD 2001 products, refer to Homer et al. (2004) and http://www.mrlc.gov/mrlc2k.asp.

The NLCD 2001 is created by partitioning the U.S. into mapping zones. A total of 66 mapping zones were delineated within the conterminous U.S. based on ecoregion and geographical characteristics, edge matching features and the size requirement of Landsat mosaics. This update represents a seamless assembly of updated NLCD 2001 Land Cover (Version 2.0) for all 66 MRLC mapping zones. An update to the original version was initiated when generation of NLCD 2006 data products identified some update issues in the NLCD 2001 land cover and percent developed imperviousness data products. These issues were evaluated and corrected, necessitating a reissue of NLCD 2001 data products (NLCD 2001 Version 2.0) as part of the NLCD 2006 release. Questions about the NLCD the NLCD 2001 Land Cover Version 2.0 can be directed to the NLCD 2001 land cover mapping team at the USGS/EROS, Sioux Falls, SD (605) 594-6151 or mrlc@usgs.gov.