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Examples of Requests
American Marten (Pine Marten)
Examples of Our Work
American Marten
Researchers interested in learning more about
American Marten habitat in Maine needed information about canopy
closure and tree density to use in conjunction with their imagery.
They sent the imagery and we performed an overlay with the FIA plots.
After some discussion, we decided that knowing
average total height of the dominant, codominant and open grown
trees, land use, percent crown closure, and the physiographic class
were most appropriate for the researchers to use in locating marten
habitat. Data were summarized by condition, so there were multiple
result records per plot. Below is an
example of the overlay of FIA plot locations on the researcher's
image. The FIA plots are the red dots (these are not true locations).
The image is of Kennebec County, Maine. The researchers had sent
an image that they had classified. We performed an intersection
that attached FIA plot information to each pixel. To protect the
plot locations, we ensured that there were no unique pixels associated
with the plots.
Then the FIA data was summarized for the
researchers. In the table below Cell ID is the image pixel information
discussed above. The rest of the data shown are either data items
collected by field crews or calculated from collected data items.
| County |
Plot# |
Point |
Cell ID |
Land Use |
Phys Class |
Crown Closure |
BA Sum |
Avg. Height |
| 1 |
3 |
1 |
1234 |
20 |
22 |
1 |
41 |
41.62 |
| 1 |
3 |
2 |
1245 |
20 |
22 |
1 |
41 |
41.62 |
| 1 |
8 |
1 |
1567 |
20 |
21 |
3 |
134 |
68.33 |
| 1 |
18 |
1 |
19878 |
20 |
12 |
2 |
49 |
44.28 |
| 1 |
18 |
2 |
1893 |
20 |
12 |
1 |
49 |
44.28 |
| 1 |
19 |
1 |
9822 |
20 |
22 |
3 |
55 |
47.5 |
More information about the Data collected
by FIA crews is available at http://www.fs.fed.us/ne/fia/datacollection/
Using the data given to them and their imagery, the researchers
were able to identify areas where they could expect to find American
Marten habitat.
Other examples
include overlaying FIA plots with coverages to complete an accuracy
assessment by comparing polygon attributes to FIA plot attributes.
This is easily done while preserving data security. Although
the FIA SDS is located at the Northeastern Research Station, it
was designed to handle national data requests as well as regional
ones.
Some National Projects in the Works:
We are cooperating with the EROS Data Center by providing data
to assist with the National Land Cover Data mapping project (an
output of the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium or
MRLC). This project will produce an updated version of the National
Land Cover map.
This picture shows a portion of the 1992 Florida National Land Cover
Map.
Another National Project currently active is a request from researchers
at Virginia Tech for an overlay of FIA plots with soil GIS layers.
They are interested in the relationship between soil carbon levels
and forest type.
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