To start, select an area in the landscape that is representative of the site that you are interested in categorizing.  To best match the conditions of your field site, consider using more than one site from the photo series.  In many cases, you will need to use multiple sites within a single photo series, and possibly sites in more than one series or volume to estimate various fuel characteristics.

For example, if you are working in the Southwest (example displayed below), and your site is dominated by Pinyon-Juniper, there are 14 photo series sites to select as possible matches.  You may also find it helpful to refer to the Western Juniper series in the interior Pacific Northwest. 

• To estimate the aboveground biomass of Pinyon-Juniper, you may find a suitable match or extrapolate between two sites that span your observations. 

• To estimate shrub biomass, however, the closest match to your site may be found in the Southwestern Sagebrush series.