National Ecosystem Mapping

Ecosystem management is a strategy for managing natural resources to promote sustainable use in equitable ways. Ecosystem management is increasingly employed by resource managers across the U.S. and requires an integrated understanding of land, water, and living resources. A prerequisite to ecosystem management is an understanding of the types, locations, and conditions of ecosystems. Ecosystems are a practical landscape unit that can promote an understanding of the ecosystem services upon which our society depends.

The U.S. lacks a standardized coast-to-coast ecosystem map at an appropriate scale for local on-the-ground management of ecosystems. The classification and delineation of ecosystems is fundamental to managing ecosystems. To address this need the USGS ecosystem mapping program is synthesizing abiotic and biotic data layers, landforms, surficial geology, bioclimatic zones and vegetation to delineate ecosystem units at 30-meter resolution. In addition to the final map product and a better understanding of ecosystem structure, the program will also make available, for the first time, the individual abiotic map products, e.g. Digital Landform, Surficial Geology, and Bioclimatic Zone Products for the Conterminous U.S.