I. Introduction

Natural Resource and Fire Data

Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS)

The NRCS studied the condition of the range in the Virginia Highlands area. Data used in their analysis and the results of their project were provided in a GIS compatible digital format that included the following data layers:

• Soil Units
• Study Inventory Points
• Riparian Areas
• Range Units
• Range Use
• Water Features
• Wild Horse Management Zones

These data were reviewed for completeness and accuracy. Soil and range units were used in analyzing ecological condition.

United States Geologic Survey (USGS)

The USGS compiles various baseline datasets across the entire country. The 1:24:000 scale digital datasets were used for this project as cartographic and analysis base data. These datasets included:

• Digital Elevation Model
• Digital Raster Graphics
• Public Lands Survey System
• Political Boundaries

University of Nevada, Reno

Fuel Types, Fuel Modeling, and Hazard Mapping were produced from a project funded by the U.S. Forest Service, the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension, and the Nevada Agriculture Experiment Station in cooperation with the Sierra Front Wildfire cooperators.

Fuel models for the project area were derived from a classification of satellite imagery [2]. The green, red, and infrared bands of the satellite image were used to create a color infrared (IR) composite of the project area. The composite classifies vegetation types using automated classification techniques. These results were enhanced with the digital elevation model and other vegetation indices [3].

Fuels data coverage was not available for the entire project area. Fuels data was provided for the western two-thirds of the project area that included the heavy-fueled P-J woodland and most of the shrublands. The area covered coincided with the highest density of residential development. Funding for a complete fuels survey for the eastern edge of the project area was not included in this project. Field reconnaissance of the eastern area revealed that fuels in the unmapped portion of the project area were typically light to nonexistent due to rock outcrops and rocky soils.

The vegetation types within the Highlands Community fall into one of two fuel models, based on the NFFL / Rothermel fire fuels modeling scheme [4]. These models estimate how fire is expected to behave under differing climatic and topographic conditions. The models used for the Virginia Highlands are:

• Fuel Model 2: Grass understory in timber, mostly the pinyon dominated areas
• Fuel Model 5: Moderate to heavy brush, the areas dominated by sagebrush

[2] Indian Remote Sensing satellite data was used with a five-meter spatial resolution (i.e. the cell size of the base mapping unit).

[3] A complete discussion of this process can be found on the Internet at http://www.npr.unr.edu/fire/vegclass.html

[4] Source: "Aids to Determining Fuel Models for Estimating Fire Behavior", Hal Anderson, National Wildfire Coordinating Group, 1982.