Maintaining the Landscape Assessment Tool to Create Departure Mapping Used in Forest Planning and Management
Project ID: 25-CS-11062754-356
Federal Agency: U.S. Forest Service National Forest System
Partner Institution: University of Washington
Fiscal Year: 2025
Initial Funding: $29,758.75
Total Funding: $29,758.75
Principal Investigator: Harvey, Brian
Agreement Technical Representative: DeMeo, Tom
Abstract:
The increase in area and severity of wildfires in the Pacific Northwest in recent years has garnered intense interest by both the applied science and land management communities at local, state, and Federal levels. Landscape assessment of ecological disturbances such as fire has long been a work focus of both the U.S. Forest Service and UW. The U.S. Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest Region has used spatial assessment of ecological departure as a foundation for planning and active management in Oregon, Washington, and the northern-California-portion of the Northwest Forest Plan area. This has become an essential map layer for planning of timber and fuels projects across the Region. Likewise, UW is supporting landscape ecology needs for State lands and initiatives such as the 20-Year Forest Health Restoration Strategy. Both organizations, therefore, have an ideal opportunity to collaborate, using their respective strengths to foster better-informed land management across the Northwest. In collaboration with the University of Washington, the Forest Service Ecology and Biometrics programs produce an annual update of the ecological departure map. The Landscape Assessment Tool is used to create the map, which aids with clarifying and planning for treatments needed for each watershed in the Region. Continued collaboration is needed to incorporate the latest methods and data sets to keep the layer current and accurate. This will further the goals of UW in supporting State lands management and initiatives in Washington, and the goals of the U.S. Forest Service to build on the current applied science foundation to better inform planning and application of vegetation treatments.