Planscape
Planscape is a free, open-source mapping and decision support tool that helps identify and prioritize treatment areas aimed at improving forest health, reducing wildfire risk, and achieving better landscape outcomes. This new spatial tool is powered by USDA Forest Service science and technology and is the result of strong collaboration by industry, federal, state, local and non-governmental organizations. Users can compare different treatment scenarios and see the potential impacts of these activities on the landscapes they work in.
Land managers and planners are often asked to develop projects that meet multiple objectives, such as reducing wildfire risk while generating timber volume or maximizing ecological benefits. Planscape is a free, open-source web-based application that was developed to help planning teams identify projects and prioritize treatments across large landscapes. Users can explore current landscapes conditions, compare the outcomes of various forest treatment types, locations, and configurations, and evaluate how different priorities affect optimal treatment locations and outcomes. This information helps managers make science-based, informed decisions and design projects that best achieve their objectives for the landscape. Planscape can also help refine cross-boundary collaborative goals and explore project constraints, such as land ownership, cost, access, critical habitat, and existing development.
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Planscape is driven by underlying science and technology from Forest Service Research and Development, including the ForSys planning platform, which can optimize and rank treatment areas and helps users understand tradeoffs among different land management scenarios, the Forest Vegetation Simulator, which models forest response to treatments over time, and the PROMOTe model, which provides guidance on the vulnerability of current forests to future climate. While much of the data and science behind Planscape is publicly available, the Planscape application pulls it all together in a simple and intuitive user interface.
To date, Planscape has been used on over 300 projects in California landscapes and efforts are underway to expand the tool nationwide. Datasets are now available across the United States, and nationwide scenario planning functions will be available soon. Analysis areas can range from small, 100-acre projects to hundreds of thousands of acres, using the latest available datasets at a 30-meter resolution. The application pulls data layers from several dataset collections, including LANDFIRE, Wildfire Risk to Communities, TreeMap, and California’s statewide landscape metrics that are vetted by a team of federal, state, and academic scientists.
For more information, and to access the Planscape platform, visit www.planscape.org.
Go to Planscape Planscape Fact Sheet
Screenshot from the Planscape application showing results from a forest treatment scenario analysis. Project areas are ranked by the primary treatment objectives, in this case probability of high severity fire, and can be further assessed based on secondary objectives such as structure exposure, and more. Estimated project cost is also provided.
Launched in 2022 as a partnership between Google.org and the California Natural Resources Agency, the Planscape partnership has expanded to include the Forest Service, the USDA Climate Hub, the University of California, Spatial Informatics Group, and the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Taskforce.
The Forest Service is playing a key role in the development and adoption of Planscape – both as contributors of the underlying science and as key users. Forest Service Research and Development provides most of the science that underpins Planscape and plays a leading role in its governance. Land managers from the Forest Service also represent a large group of active users, particularly in California, where they are highly integrated into the tool’s development and providing critical feedback.
Forest Service scientists have guided the development of Planscape since its inception, providing the primary scientific foundations for Planscape during its initial design stages with Google.org. Working closely with the Planscape team, Forest Service scientists helped integrate the ForSys Planning Platform into the Planscape tool, leveraging decades of research into how data and models can help support land management decisions. Currently, Forest Service scientists based in California and Montana are working to integrate future climate stability and fire risk modeling directly into Planscape. This will help managers consider where actions have the largest impact today, where areas may already be well adapted for the future, and where treatments are most likely to be successful in meeting multiple objectives in the short- and long-term.
The Science Behind Planscape
Forest Treatment Analysis
Planscape’s forest treatment analysis is powered by the Forest Vegetation Simulator, a growth and yield model developed by the Forest Service. Spatial vegetation dynamics are modeled using the TreeMap dataset, also developed by the Forest Service, and leveraged within the Forest Vegetation Simulator framework to simulate the effects of various fuel treatments.
Pretreatment Forest and Non-Forest Fuels
Planscape uses data from the interagency LANDFIRE program to provide information on pre-treatment forest and non-forest surface fuels. Impacts of treatments on non-forest surface fuels are modeled using the disturbance logic encoded in the LANDFIRE Total Fuel Change Tool.
Treatment Scenarios and Tradeoffs
The ForSys planning platform, developed by the Forest Service, is integrated into Planscape to optimize and rank treatment areas and helps users understand tradeoffs among different land management scenarios.
Climate Resilience Science
Forest Service climate change and ecosystem resilience science will be integrated into Planscape through the PROMOTe module, which allows users to evaluate costs and benefits associated with climate-informed management options.
Landscape Metrics
California’s statewide landscape metrics are available in Planscape. They can be used to detail forest conditions across large geographic areas, making it possible for users to quickly and easily access and interpret information most relevant to their objectives.
Wildfire Simulation and Risk
The Forest Service is providing the foundational fire behavior and wildfire risk science that is being built into Planscape. In the future, Planscape will incorporate wildfire simulation modeling developed by Forest Service researchers to understand how specific management actions, or natural disturbances like wildfires and windstorms, might change the behavior of future fire events. Further leveraging Forest Service research technologies that measure wildfire risk and exposure, Planscape will ultimately allow users to evaluate management strategies to understand their potential effect on wildfire risk and exposure to valued assets such as homes and powerlines, and natural resources such as critical wildlife habitat or high value watersheds. It will also provide a platform for automation and expansion of outcome-based change metrics that have been successfully piloted by the Forest Service in 2024 and 2025.
Publications, Tools, and Web Resources Related to Planscape
The Planscape Fact Sheet provides an overview of the tool, partnership, and underlying science. The Planscape website includes comprehensive information and resources to help users familiarize themselves with Planscape. Review the User Guide, Frequently Asked Questions, or explore the application itself.
Creating Resilient Landscapes Under a Changing Climate
Fast-tracking Information to Implementation for high-risk landscapes
Evaluating climate change impacts on ecosystem resources through the lens of climate analogs
Evaluating Forest Management Scenarios with ForSys
The ForSys Scenario Planning Model
The ForSys Planning System at a Glance
Prioritizing restoration and risk reduction landscape projects with the ForSys planning system