The Federal Land Manager Environmental Database hosts environmental data and tools to analyze air quality on federally protected lands. It is hosted and maintained by Colorado State University.

The Critical Loads Mapper tool (CL Mapper) includes information on the effects of atmospheric nitrogen and sulfur deposition. The data is free and available for download, and is supported by the Environmental Protection Agency, US Forest Service, and the National Park Service.

The USGS Protected Areas Database (PAD-US) is an inventory of U.S. terrestrial and marine protected areas. The most recent update (PAD-US 2.1) is now available for download. PAD-US can be used to support conservation, land management, planning, recreation, and other uses.

The Colorado Ownership, Management and Protection mapping delivers the state’s premier map of protected lands. COMaP features over 28,000 entries of protected lands parcels from over 300 different data sources, each of which contains a suite of attributes such as owner, manager, easement holder, public access, and more.

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service National Water and Climate Center supports the Snow Survey and Water Supply Forecasting Program and Soil Climate Analysis Network (SCAN) Pilot Program for the US. A new tool, the Colorado Basin-Wide Interactive SNOTEL graphs, provides figures that display period of record snow water equivalent (SWE) and precipitation, as well as future projections for SWE and precipitation at basin and sub-basin scales. See this link for other snow-related survey products.

The Climate Toolbox includes tools to visualize historical and projected climate and hydrology across the conterminous US. The toolbox is useful for addressing questions related to agriculture, climate, fire conditions, and water. Users can query and download tabular, graphical, and spatial data for use in planning and analysis. The Climate Toolbox was developed and is managed by the Applied Climate Science Lab at the University of California-Merced and University of Washington Hydro group at the University of Washington.

The WestWide Drought Tracker (WWDT) includes drought monitoring and climate products derived from the PRISM Climate Mapping Program. Products include drought indices (e.g., PDSI, SPEI) and climate data (e.g., temperature and precipitation, anomalies, and percentiles). Historical time-series data is available for download at multiple scales (e.g., points, counties, watersheds).

Climate Engine uses Google’s Earth Engine to process remote sensing and climate data. Users can map values and anomalies on-demand and download data in GeoTIFF format, and extract time-series and statistical summaries in .csv or .xlsx format. The Climate Engine also supports early warning system products to detect climate impacts related to drought, wildfire, ecological stress, and agricultural production. The web app is hosted and supported by the Desert Research Institute and the University of Idaho.

LanDAT assesses whether vegetation changes on the landscape are moving towards desired conditions. Additionally, it aides in quantifying and integrating landscape resilience information. It was developed and is maintained by the US Forest Service and University of North Carolina-Ashville National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center.

The Forest and Inventory Analysis (FIA) Program boasts a spatially balanced “all lands” sampling grid, extensive plot data, consistent remeasurement, and dedicated funding from Congress. FIA reports on status and trends in forest area and location; species, size, and health of trees; tree growth, mortality, and removals by harvest, wood production and utilization rates; and forest land ownership. EVALIDATOR and other agency tools provide a platform for public users to interact with and download FIA data. rFIA is a non-agency, open-source R function developed to make FIA data more publicly accessible.

The Individual Tree Species Parameter Maps (ITSP) include estimates of basal areas and stand density index for individual tree species. The ITSP supports the National Insect and Disease Risk Map (NIDRM). Basal area and stand density products are derived from 30-meter Landsat data, climate, terrain, and soil predictor layers (e.g., soil drainage and soil productivity indices), and the US Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis plot data.

The Rangeland Analysis Platform (RAP) is a free, publicly available tool that assesses the rangeland resource condition across the United States. Trends in rangeland resources can be summarized at pasture, landscape, or regional scales. The RAP allows for real-time visualization and monitoring over time of the percent vegetation cover of annual grasses and forbs, perennial grasses and forbs, shrubs, trees, and bare ground. RAP was developed to support management decisions using the best available science and information. RAP is supported by the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service, DOI Bureau of Land Management, and the University of Montana.

Detection surveys provide information about forests affected by pest and pathogen disturbances. The Forest Health Assessment and Applied Sciences Team (FHAAST) supports US Forest Service regions and cooperators each field season collecting detection surveys. Geospatial data is collected and stored in the National Insect and Disease Survey (IDS) database. These are used to produce the Forest Insect and Disease Conditions in the United States reports, and the National Forest Health Conditions and Highlights Interactive Story Maps. Data is available to download by region and for individual years or throughout the period of record.

The 2012 National Insect and Disease Risk Map (NIDRM) is a nationwide assessment that evaluates tree mortality risk from insects and disease for the years 2013-2027. NIDRM is based on 186 individual models that are integrated within a common Geographic Information System. NIDRM is a strategic planning tool. The data can be summarized at 6th level Hydrological Unit Code (HUC) sub-watersheds and allows the user to generate both composite hazard assessments and assessments by specific insects and diseases.

LANDFIRE includes a set of nationally consistent, “all-lands” geospatial products and databases that summarize disturbance, vegetation, fuel, fire regime, topographic, and seasonal data at 30-meter resolution to support landscape assessment, analysis, and management. LANDFIRE is managed by the wildland fire management programs of the US Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) is an interagency program which maps burn severity and extent of large fires across all lands of the US and Puerto Rico from 1984 to present. This includes all fires 1000 acres or greater in the western US and 500 acres or greater in the eastern US.

The Wildfire Suppression Difficulty Index (SDI) quantifies the difficulty in controlling fire and can be used to facilitate strategic and tactical fire management decisions. This tool was developed and is managed by the US Forest Service Wildfire Risk Management Science Team.

The Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) program provides publicly available data products for fires from 2000-present across “all-lands.” BAER products include pre- and post-fire imagery and a differenced normalized burn ratio layer. All products are available and intended for use in a Geographic Information System. The dataset is hosted and maintained by the US Forest Service Geospatial Technology and Applications Center (GTAC).

The Rapid Assessment of Vegetation Condition after Wildfire (RAVG) program assesses vegetation condition following large wildfires on US Forest Service-managed lands. Users can download data for individual fires or multiple fire events, as well data compiled for all fire perimeters and forest and fire characteristics across the United States annually. It is managed by the US Forest Service Geospatial Technology and Applications Center (GTAC).

Access the maps and spatial data here

Communities are confronted with and must prepare for, and respond to, disturbances (e.g., wildfire or flood). Some people and communities are disproportionately more vulnerable to these disturbances. The Geospatial Research, Analysis, and Services Program (GRASP) manages the Center for Disease Control Social Vulnerability Index, which uses US Census Data to determine the social vulnerability of communities at the census tract level based on 15 social factors and 4 themes: socioeconomic status; household composition; race, ethnicity, and language; and housing/transportation.

Wildfire Risk to Communities includes a set of interactive maps, charts, and resources to understand, explore, and reduce community wildfire risk. Data is available for download at the community, county, and state levels. Data available include risk to homes; burn probability or wildfire likelihood; exposure types; wildfire consequence; conditional flame length; flame length exceedance probabilities; and wildfire hazard potential. Wildfire Risk to Communities was developed by the US Forest Service in partnership with Pyrologix and Headwaters Economics.

The Populations at Risk tool developed by Headwaters Economics generates socioeconomic reports that document at-risk populations. At-risk populations are defined by a number of factors in the tool, including for example, poverty, housing affordability, and race and ethnicity. Reports can be generated at multiple scales (e.g., census tracts, counties, states, rural areas).

The Colorado Forest Atlas includes three public applications (forest action plan 2020; wildfire risk viewer; and risk reduction planner), which can be used as decision support tools for developing new projects, forest planning, assessing forest conditions and wildfire risk to communities, among others. Data is not available for direct download, but county-level map books can be downloaded.

The Silvis Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has developed and houses Wildland-Urban Interface maps that illustrate where WUI was located in 1990, 2000, and 2010. Data are appropriate for mapping and analysis from the local to national scale, and can be downloaded by state or for the conterminous US.

The Microsoft Building Footprints includes over 125 million computer-generated building footprints across the US. The data is free and available for download.

The National Forest Socioeconomic Indicators tool was developed by Headwaters Economics to provide relevant socio-economic data for US Forest Service planning purposes. The tool includes data on trends in population, employment, and personal income; unemployment rate; families in poverty; federal land payments; race and ethnicity, among others. Data is available for download as a PDF at the county and national forest level. The tool can be useful to monitor US Forest Service contributions to, and impacts on, adjacent and forest-dependent communities.

The USGS National Water Dashboard includes real-time water data collected at USGS observation stations along with weather-related data. The National Water Dashboard is a interactive map viewer which provides current and historical data from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS). Information on lakes, wells, water quality, precipitation, temperature, relative humidity, among others, are included.

Colorado’s Wetland Information Center, is a resource developed by the Colorado Natural Heritage Program through funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Colorado Parks and Wildlife that provides a source for comprehensive wetland information and mapping.

Norwest houses stream temperature data and climate scenarios for streams and rivers in the western US. Stream temperature data summaries and modeled stream temperature scenario maps are available for download (e.g., GIS shapefile; PDF maps). Raw data files and R scripts are provided to support analysis. NorWest is managed by the US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station.

The Watershed Classification Interactive Map Viewer provides access to Watershed Condition Framework data, which identifies priority watersheds (e.g., at risk or impaired watersheds). Data is summarized at the Hydrological Unit Code 12 (HUC12) level for watersheds containing at least 5% National Forest System Lands. The interactive map viewer is managed by the USDA Forest Service.

The Rocky Mountain Avian Data Center is the portal for avian information collected by the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies and collaborators. Much of the data can be queried and explored, including data on focal and sensitive species, as well as trend data for bird populations at multiple scales.

Colorado’s Conservation Data Explorer a one stop shop for synthesizing conservation data from the Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP), Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), Bird Conservancy of the Rockies  (BCR), US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), NatureServe, and many other sources. CODEX provides conservation information on biological diversity, protected lands, hydrology and other natural resources for planning purposes and also allows users to screen a project area for potential impacts to threatened, endangered, and special concern species and their habitats.

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) All Species Activity Mapping Data layer package was created by the CPW GIS Unit. It provides the public with free access to CPW GIS data on wildlife distributions. It is useful for environmental assessment and resource planning.