Identification Information

Title Wildfire Risk Main Model

Date 2010-09-30

Date Type Publication

Cited Responsible Party

Organization Name The Nature Conservancy in New Mexico

Role identify

Presentation Form raster digital data

Abstract The model combines three modeled fire behavior parameters (rate of spread, flame length, crown fire potential) and one modeled ecological health measure (fire regime condition class) with wildland urban interface areas and ignition probability. Fire behavior parameters were modeled using FlamMap; fire regime condition class was modeled using the FRCC tool; wildland urban interface areas were delineated using spatial data from the county level community wildfire protection plans within the state; and ignition probabilities were derived using fire history locations from 1987-2008. For a detailed description of each parameter, refer to the data atlas found at http://allaboutwatersheds.org/groups/SAS/public/data-atlases.

Purpose This data layer identifies areas with a relatively high risk of destructive wildfire. The intent of this layer is to identify areas where forest management is most likely to reduce the risk of wildfire damage (or reduce the impact of wildfire on natural resources, and human infrastructure and development).

Data Set Credit The Nature Conservancy in New Mexico

Status Complete

Point of Contact

Individual Name

Organization Name EMNRD, Forestry Division

Position Name GIS Specialist

Role Point of contact

Voice 505-476-3346

Facsimile

Address

Delivery Point 1220 St. Francis Drive
City Santa Fe
Administrative Area NM
Postal Code 87505
Country

Electronic Mail Address trent.botkin@state.nm.us

Maintenance and Update Frequency As needed

Descriptive Keywords NM Statewide Natural Resources Assessment, Wildfire Risk

Access Constraints None

Use Constraints All data is provided "as is." Energy Minerals and Natural Resources Department, Forestry Division makes no representation or warranty as to the completeness, accuracy or utility of any specific data. It is strongly recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of the metadata file associated with this data

Language English

Topic Category environment

Extent

Geographic Bounding Box

West Bound -109.324845
East Bound -102.936542
North Bound 37.065742
South Bound 31.320252

Temporal Extent

DateTime 2009

Data Quality Information

Attribute Accuracy Report

Report The accuracy has not been statistically determined

Quantitative Attribute Accuracy Assessment

Attribute Accuracy Value
Attribute Accuracy Explanation

Logical Consistency Report All data layers were reviewed qulaitiatively on screen by the technical team. Technical team members included: Bill Armstrong - USFS, Santa Fe National Forest Bill Van Bruggen - USFS, Region 3 Bruce Bauer - Santa Clara Pueblo Craig Allen - USGS, Jemez Biological Station Doug Boykin - EMNRD - NM State Forestry Fred von Bonin - BIA Hal Luedtke - BIA Harold Riggs - USFS Jennifer Myslivy - BLM John Tunberg - NRCS Joy Esparsen - NM Association of Counties Kent Reid - NM Highlands University Linda Gaume Jaramillo - NM Municipal League Mary Stuever - EMNRD - NM State Forestry Melissa Savage - Four Corners Institute Steve Cary - EMNRD, NM State Parks Terrell Treat - EMNRD - - NM State Forestry

Completeness Report This layer has been developed for the State Strategy and Response plan to help prioritize areas which will minimize potential and reduce impact of wildfire. Fire behavior inputs were modeled using FlamMap, an interagency fire behavior mapping and analysis program that computes potential fire behavior characteristics. The tool uses eight spatial input data layers to represent biophysical conditions and weather parameters to simulate wind and fuel moisture conditions. The spatial input layers were created by Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools Project (LANDFIRE) and include elevation, slope, aspect, canopy closure, fuel model 40 (using 40 fuel models described by Scott and Burgan, 2005), canopy base height, and canopy bulk density. The fire behavior outputs were qualitatively evaluated for accuracy on screen by the technical team.. Crown fire potential matched what experts expected; flamelengths in general matched expectations except in the Saramento Mountains area where it was noted that they were lower; rate of spread in general was hogher than expected across the entire state. FRCC was modeled using an ArcGIS tool developed by the National Interagency Fuels, Fire, and Vegetation Technology Transfer (NIFFT) project. The tool uses two GIS data layers created by LANDFIRE including biophysical setting and succession class to evaluate current condition. The tool then compares current condition to a database of historic conditions to derive relative departure of vegetation and structure. All data layers were downloaded from landfire.gov in 2009. FRCC was considered to be an ineffective measure of ecological health. As such the values were weighted lower in the model. FRCC 2 given value of 1, FRCC 3 given value of 2; everything else a value of 0 USFS, State Forestry, BLM, and DOI fire occurrence point locations from 1987 to 2008 were combined and converted into a fire occurrence probability or density grid using the point statistic spatial analyst tool in ArcGIS. The fire occurrence point data was supplied by NM State Forestry, BLM, BIA, and USFS. Data considered good approximation of probability of ignitions. The USFS, Silvis Lab developed a statewide WUI layer (see metadata for more information). New Mexico State Forestry provided Community Wildfire Protection Plans, developed by individual counties and communities. These plans identified WUI areas. CWPPs for 26 of 33 counties have been completed and are available. The Silvis WUI and CWPP WUI layers were combined, except where county CWPPs had identified the entire county as a WUI. These large CWPP identified WUI areas were removed because the technical team did not want to bias the statewide prioritization towards counties that had taken a more general approach to identifying WUI and away from counties that had identified smaller WUI areas. For this reason, the technical team recommended removal of large blocks of CWPP identified WUI areas in Torrance and Socorro County as well. However, it is important to note that the CWPP identified WUI areas that were removed should be still be considered priorities for planning, particularly at county level.

Lineage

Source Information

Source Citation

Source Scale Denominator 9999

Type of Source Media Unknown

Source Time Period of Content

DateTime Unknown
Source Currentness Reference publication date

Source Citation Abbreviation Unknown

Source Contribution Unknown

Process Step

Process Description Process steps for each input and the overall model are more fully described in the data atlas.http://allaboutwatersheds.org/groups/SAS/public/data-atlases
Process Date Unknown
Process Time
Process Contact

Process Step

Process Description Metadata imported.
Process Date 2010-03-30
Process Time 14:07:24
Process Contact

Process Step

Process Description Dataset copied.
Process Date 2010-04-02
Process Time 08:57:28
Process Contact

Wildfire Risk Main Model

Metadata from the RGIS Metadata Repository

Identification Information

Distribution Information

Spatial Reference Information

Data Quality Information

Metadata Reference Information