Ecological Potential Fractional Component Cover Based on Long-Term Satellite Observations Across the Western United States

Rangelands have immense inherent spatial and temporal variability, yet assessments of land condition and trends are often assessed relative to the condition of a limited number of representative points. Ecological Potential (EP) data are spatially comprehensive, quantitative, and needed as a baseline for comparison of current rangeland vegetation conditions, trends, and management targets. We define EP as the potential fractional cover of vegetation components bare ground, herbaceous, litter, shrub, and sagebrush represented in the least disturbed and most productive portion of the western U.S. This dataset enables: 1) setting realistic expectations for restoration and management targets at 30-meter resolution,...

Tags: Annual Herbaceous, Arizona, Bare Ground, California, Colorado, All tags... Desert, Ecological Potential, Great Basin, Herbaceous, Idaho, Land Use Change, Landsat, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North America, Oregon, Plateau, Remote Sensing, Remote sensing, Sagebrush, Shrub, Sonoran, U.S., US, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), United States, United States, Utah, Washington, Western States, Wyoming, biota, ecological competition, ecological processes, environment, fractional cover, imageryBaseMapsEarthCover, land cover, long-term ecological monitoring, rangeland, rangelands site potential, shrubland, Fewer tags

Soil geomorphic unit and ecological site group maps for the rangelands of the Upper Colorado River Basin region

This data release includes maps characterizing soil geomorphic units (SGUs), climate zones, and ecological site groups that classify landscapes by ecological potential and behavior for use in land management in the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB) region. Soil geomorphic units were created by analysis and grouping of ecological sites (ESs), a more detailed local system of ecological units managed by the National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS). Vegetation reference community production data of ESs were analyzed to determine discrete rules based on field soils data linked to the soil survey geographic (SSURGO) database of the USA to determine SGUs. Then both reference production data and state and transition model...

Tags: 30m resolution, Arizaona, Botany, Climatology, Colorado, All tags... Colorado Plateau, Ecology, Geography, Geomorphology, Information Sciences, Land Use Change, National Cooperative Soil Survey, New Mexico, Soil Sciences, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Upper Colorado River Basin, Utah, Wyoming, atmospheric and climatic processes, cartography, climate zones, digital soil mapping, ecological potential, ecological potential and behavior, ecological processes, ecological site groups, ecological sites, geomorphology, land management, predictive mapping model, rangeland management, soil geomorphic units, soil resources, soil sciences, soil survey geographic (SSURGO) database, state and transition model, terrestrial ecosystems, Fewer tags

Soil family particle size class map for Colorado River Basin above Lake Mead

These data were compiled to support analysis of remote sensing data using the Disturbance Automated Reference Toolset (Nauman et al., 2017). The objective of our study was to assess results of pinyon and juniper land treatments. These data represent major soil types as defined primarily by soil texture and depth, but also geology, parent material, and geomorphology for relevant features that distinguish major ecological land units. These data were created from field soil descriptions collected in the upper Colorado River watershed mostly since 2000, but include some older data catalogued in USDS Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) databases. These soils data used in model training were collected by NRCS...

Tags: Arizona, Colorado, Colorado Plateau, Colorado River, Colorado River Basin, All tags... Ecology, Geography, Information Sciences, Lake Mead, Lake Powell, Nevada, New Mexico, Soil Sciences, US Soil Taxonomy, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Utah, digital elevation models, digital soil mapping, ecological communities, ecological land units, ecological potential, ecological processes, ecological sites, ecosystems, field soil descriptions, geology, geomorphology, geoscientificInformation, geospatial datasets, imageryBaseMapsEarthCover, land use, model training, parent material, raster grid, raster soil map, remote sensing, soil depth, soil ecology, soil family particle size class, soil mapping, soil properties, soil sciences, soil texture, soil type classes, soil types, soil variability, soils, soils data, taxonomic family particle size class, taxonomy, Fewer tags