The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) manages more than 193 million acres of public lands across the country that form the National Forest System. On these lands, the USFS balances multiple objectives including maintaining the ecological integrity of ecosystems - that is, their ability to persist over time and recover from disturbances - and managing for the impacts from wildfires, both on national forests and in surrounding communities. To help inform the agency’s stewardship of the diverse national forests in the lower 48 United States, this web map presents the results of two modeling efforts aimed at identifying: (1) currently unprotected areas of high ecological value within each national forest, and (2) places where proactive restoration of healthy forest conditions is likely to be effective in both reducing the severity of future fires and in safeguarding vulnerable communities and important ecological values.
Users can view the results from each analysis by selecting the appropriate tab (Ecological Value or Wildfire) on the control panel to the left.
Additional information on each analysis is available via the info button (i) on the associated tab.
This web map was developed by The Pew Charitable Trusts and Conservation Science Partners.
