Developing FCCS Fuelbeds for Mexico

Project Description

Develop FCCS fuelbeds for Mexico.

Purpose and Scope

• A tool for fire management planning and implementing new fire policies.
• A comprehensive fuel and fire characteristics database and GIS layer, specific to Mexico's ecosystems, to improve the current fire risk system.
• To improved accounting of carbon fluxes from forest practices and forest fires
• For ecological assessment of Mexico's natural protected areas.
• To assist local fire managers in designing fire management plans.

Methods

• Vegetation data for initial development of FCCS fuelbeds across Mexico will come from LANDSAT data, forest inventory data, and ground data collection.
• Over 100 fuelbeds will be built from using the natural fuels photo series (Mexico, Borderlands, California, Brazil, and others) by the University of Guadalajara in cooperation with others.
• Fifteen new photo sites are being developed for tropical forests
• Additional data will be culled from a variety of studies of fuels conducted in or near Mexico.

Implementation

A companion project, Development of Decision Products for Spatial Quantification of Carbon Emissions from Wildfire for North America, will take these fuelbeds and map them across Mexico.