Navigation

Upcoming Events

There are no events planned.

2015-2016 Webinar Series

BpS Review in the Lake States region: What it is. How it works. Why it matters.

Thursday, April 14, 2016 at 1 PM Eastern / 12 PM Central

Randy Swaty
The Nature Conservancy LANDFIRE Team
rswaty@tnc.org

“All ecosystems are dynamic, changing due to growth, succession and disturbances. Modeling large landscapes in the United States requires the collective knowledge of experienced and knowledgeable vegetation and fire experts. In collaboration with hundreds of colleagues, LANDFIRE produced more than 1,000 state-and-transitions models and descriptions — one for every ecosystem (called Biophysical Settings or BpS) mapped by the Program. The result is a major contribution to basic and applied vegetation ecology across the country.

These models and descriptions play a part in national vegetation mapping and assessment, and on-the-ground management across the country and in the Lake States region. A new phase is underway as LANDFIRE deepens and broadens the science and applicability of those models and descriptions through the “BpS Review” review project. Input from ecologists, land managers, fire practitioners and others who are interested in how vegetation systems function is critical to improve this unique encyclopedia of ecological knowledge. Randy will give a brief primer on Bps, and will show how and why the descriptions and expert review are important for land managers and planners. He will end by showing how you can become involved in the review. Preview the dedicated BpS site: http://landfirereview.org

MP4 video

YouTube Recording

PDF of presentation