The Rangeland Production Monitoring Service: Annual production of rangeland vegetation 1984 to present

This data publication contains a TIFF dataset describing annual productivity in the non-forest domain of the coterminous United States. Production data were generated using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from the Thematic Mapper Suite from 1984 to 2018 at 250 square meter resolution. This includes the Thematic Mapper (TM; Landsat 5), Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+; Landsat 7) and Operational Land Imager (OLI; Landsat 8). The NDVI is converted to production estimates using two regression formulas depending on the level of the NDVI; there is one equation for lower values (and thus lower production values) and one for higher values. This TIFF dataset yields estimates of annual production of rangeland vegetation in pounds per acre and should be useful for understanding trends and variability in forage resources anywhere rangelands are common. There are 35 bands (individual images) in an image stack. The first image in the stack represents annual production (pounds per acre) for the year 1984. Likewise, the 35th image in the stack (the last) represents annual production in 2018.
Grazing allotments are monitored to ensure that best management practices are applied, standards and guidelines are met, and landscapes are meeting or moving towards desired conditions. Monitoring can also help rangeland managers respond to natural phenomena such as wildfire, drought, and climate change. Both qualitative and quantitative information can assist in the planning and prioritization of management actions. Monitoring provides feedback essential to making informed management decisions and evaluating their results. The Forest Service is required by law to develop and adhere to an analysis schedule for all its grazing allotments. Allotment Management Plans must be made National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) compliant via those analyses. Although the Forest Service is required to maintain a schedule, the agency reserves the right to adjust the timing and priority of analyses based on environmental and administrative considerations. A main component in this process is to analyze production trends, and identify areas that might require further assessment to ensure that best management practices are applied. A paucity of data describing annual production exist for public lands and on most privately-owned lands as well. The need for consistent data describing annual production is not balanced with the actual supply of data which are so critical for documenting ecosystem performance and for adjusting stocking rates to be balanced with forage supply. Thus, there is a need for these data to be collected in a timely and consistent manner. In response to this need, we have developed the Rangeland Production Monitoring Service (RPMS) (see Cross-References section). These data are freely offered so that managers and producers can track vegetation performance and response to management anywhere in the coterminous United States where rangelands dominate the landscape. These data are especially useful for describing trend (are we moving up, down, or sideways), quantifying variability across space a time, and for evaluating response to wildfire and drought (i.e. how long is it taking for land to recover?).
These data were published on 03/26/2020. On 03/22/2024, minor metadata updates were made.