Biophysical Settings

The Biophysical Settings (BPS) layer represents the vegetation that may have been dominant on the landscape prior to Euro-American settlement and is based on both the current biophysical environment and an approximation of the historical disturbance regime.

Map units are based on NatureServe's Ecological Systems classification and represent the natural plant communities that may have been present during the reference period. Each BPS map unit is matched with a model of vegetation succession, and both serve as key inputs to the LANDSUM landscape succession model. As used in LANDFIRE (LF), map unit names represent the natural plant communities that may have been present during the reference period.

LF uses BPS to depict reference conditions of vegetation across landscapes. The actual time period for this data set is a composite of both the historical context provided by the fire regime and vegetation dynamics models and the more recent field and geospatial data used to create it.

Attribute Data Dictionary zipped file
CSV (Why is the CSV important?)

Metadata:

Data Distribution Site