Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection (RCMAP) Fractional Component Time-Series Across Western North America from 1985-2024

The RCMAP (Rangeland Condition Monitoring Assessment and Projection) dataset quantifies the percent cover of rangeland components across western North America using Landsat imagery from 1985-2024. The RCMAP product suite consists of ten fractional components: annual herbaceous, bare ground, herbaceous, litter, non-sagebrush shrub, perennial herbaceous, sagebrush, shrub, tree, and shrub height; in addition to the temporal trends of each component. Several enhancements were made to the RCMAP process relative to prior generations. 1) The training database was expanded by incorporating new observations from the BLM Analysis Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) dataset, the LANDFIRE public reference database, and additional Landsat scale observations collected by RCMAP. 2) New high-resolution training sites were added in the Northern Rockies, Pacific Northwest, and Northern Great Plains. 3) High-resolution sites were subjected to a new screening approach which removes areas of topographic shadows and other likely noise from the training pool. 4)The change detection methodology was removed to create more temporally dynamic predictions. 5) Additional independent variables were added to the Landsat scale models including time-since most recent fire and 3 by 3 focal variance of all predictor variables. 6) The project’s study area was expanded to include the grasslands biome as defined by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Central Grassland Roadmap, which expanded the study area by 1,830,783 km2. RCMAP data can be used to answer critical questions regarding the influence of climate change and the suitability of management practices. Component products can be downloaded at https://www.mrlc.gov/data and are available in an interactive viewer: MRLC Rangeland Viewer. Additionally, data are available on Google Earth Engine, and as WMS/WCS services Data Services Page | Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium.