Landcover Maps

View details about landcover across the continental U.S. or even just in your neighborhood! Kurt Riitters, landscape ecologist with EFETAC’s Forest Health Monitoring team, has processed data from the 2001 National Landcover Database to create interactive Google Earth maps showing forest spatial patterns, forest density, and mixtures of land use. The maps are visualization tools that can be used to analyze and assess land use change and forest fragmentation.


Forest Threat Summary Viewer 

The Forest Threat Summary Viewer provides images, distribution maps, web links, extension and state contact information, and brief and detailed descriptions about specific forest threats in the eastern United States. The viewer is a user-friendly, Web-based tool searchable by forest threat (e.g., hemlock woolly adelgid) or by State. Threats are categorized by today’s familiar forest concerns, including invasive plants, insects and diseases, loss of open space, climate change, and wildland fire. This initial version of the multi-phased tool will be continually updated with environmental threats as well as additional search features.


Southern Pine Beetle Hazard Maps 

As part of the Forest Service's SPB Prevention and Restoration Program administered by Forest Health Protection, SPB hazard maps were developed by the Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team (FHTET) to identify areas with potential for experiencing significant SPB activity. The regional SPB hazard map, which is a compilation of eight models run across 15 broad ecological zones, includes the Southern Region (Region 8) of the Forest Service, five mid-Atlantic states, and the District of Columbia.

Coming soon! The following tools are being developed in order to deliver the latest information concerning forest threats and to aid in decision making. To learn more, contact Karin Lichtenstein at the University of North Carolina Asheville's National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center (NEMAC) at klichten@unca.edu or (828) 250-3892.

Online GIS Viewers

View online forest threat GIS data from multiple USFS and collaborator sources.

Comparative Risk Assessment Framework and Tools (CRAFT V2)

CRAFT is a process for improving the quality of land management decisions through use of probability and web-based technology. The CRAFT framework integrates diverse objectives, science, perspectives, and assumptions. CRAFT technology facilitates this process using online databases, interactive map-viewers, software, and online tutorials.

See CRAFT V1, as developed by the Pacific Southwest Research Station.