Synopsis Many factors influence change on the landscape. Throughout history however, wildfire has been --and will always be-- a primary source of broad landscape changes. With the catastrophic wildfire events of 2000, scientists at Idaho State University are poised to embark upon a unique once-in-a-lifetime research opportunity. Several of the scientists involved in this proposal have accumulated up to 12 years of baseline and monitoring data for several of the areas that burned under natural conditions in summer 2000.

This two-year project characterized the pre-livestock vegetation that existed in the upper Snake River Plain and Eastern Idaho. Then it used existing land cover change analysis data (produced by the PI), multispectral and hyperspectral imagery, existing historic fire data (produced by the PI), and various other GIS data to determine current wildfire fuel load, assess riparian habitat, and various post-fire effects on the landscape. From these data, we developed a wildfire risk model and landslide potential model.

The resulting GIS data and models relate the effects of wildfire to rangeland ecosystems and livestock grazing and begin to assess the sustainability of our natural resources and livestock grazing within a fire-influenced ecosystem. These data --and the knowledge gained through our research-- is available at this website for decision-makers, land managers, and land stewards in the region. These projects also supported graduate student education and faculty research projects that produced peer-reviewed professional publications. Further, this project addressed the enterprise mission of NASA's Office of Earth Science by developing and distributing GIS and remote sensing applications that "focus on understanding the priority issues that face public and private sector decision-makers."