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Ecological Potential Fractional Component Cover Based on Long-Term Satellite Observations Across the Western United States

Metadata Updated: January 21, 2026

Rangelands have immense inherent spatial and temporal variability, yet assessments of land condition and trends are often assessed relative to the condition of a limited number of representative points. Ecological Potential (EP) data are spatially comprehensive, quantitative, and needed as a baseline for comparison of current rangeland vegetation conditions, trends, and management targets. We define EP as the potential fractional cover of vegetation components bare ground, herbaceous, litter, shrub, and sagebrush represented in the least disturbed and most productive portion of the western U.S. This dataset enables: 1) setting realistic expectations for restoration and management targets at 30-meter resolution, 2) better understanding of the extent of vegetation departure from potential and 3) improved spatial understanding of vegetation composition and productivity variation. We produce EP maps across rangelands in the Western U.S. by training regression tree models in ecologically intact sites. The independent variables in these models include digital soils, topography data, six bimonthly composites of the 90th percentile of NDVI, and the associated spectral bands from the 1985-2018 Landsat archive. The study area encompasses all or part of 17 states and a vast range of biophysical conditions, vegetation conditions, and disturbance history. The region is 3,006,071 km2, of which 2,060,962 km2 was rangeland.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date January 11, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 21, 2026

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date January 11, 2026
Metadata Updated Date January 21, 2026
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_605b77d0d34e189488343acd
Data Last Modified 2021-04-27T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Datagov Dedupe Retained 20260120233220
Harvest Object Id 1c7faf64-f7fa-401b-a335-47dcc5849000
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -130.2380, 26.2039, -130.2380, 52.7905, -99.6688, 52.7905, -99.6688, 26.2039, -130.2380, 26.2039}
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash 3aa35f722c8cdc6207aba284780a5557d26402e5f9e2502849a3bef399b2618a
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -130.2380, 26.2039, -130.2380, 52.7905, -99.6688, 52.7905, -99.6688, 26.2039, -130.2380, 26.2039}

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