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Unavailable Data

These data discussed here are for the western Mogollon Plateau area only. Please contact us to receive a copy of the available data products on CD or DVD for the White Mountains region in eastern Arizona (GIS Data List) or the North-central New Mexico area (GIS Data List). Additional descriptions and maps of the available GIS data for these study areas can be found in their respective Data Atlas. These are downloadable from our documents web page under the "Major Reports" section.

Presettlement Vegetation and Fire Regime
Management History
Riparian Areas
Biodiversity Hotspots
Archeological Sites and Traditional Cultural Areas
Community Fire Protection Plans
Recreation
Escape Routes
Endemics and other RO3 Wildlife Layers

Presettlement Vegetation and Fire Regime

Several participants indicated interest in identifying presettlement vegetation and fire regimes. There have been attempts to map these characteristics across some very small portions of the assessment area (e.g., by Margaret Moore and the Ecological Restoration Institute), but there is no widely available data. It is possible to use mollisol soil information from the Terrestrial Ecosystem Survey Dataset as a surrogate for some of this information. Mollisol soils generally develop in areas with savannah or grassland, rather than forest conditions.

Management History

We contacted the different National Forests within the assessment area in an attempt to find information on past management, particularly fuels reduction treatments and prescribed fire. We found that the data were incomplete and mostly unavailable in digital formats. Many of the forests are currently working on updating these data and linking them with the stand data, but these efforts are just beginning on most of the forests.

Riparian Areas

We also contacted the different National Forests within the assessment area in an attempt to find information on riparian areas. The amount and completeness of the data varied tremendously. For example, the Coconino National Forest has a fairly comprehensive layer based on perennial and ephemeral streams while the other forests have little or no data. We also looked into using the Arizona Land Department, Arizona Land Resource Information System (ALRIS) riparian data for the state. This layer identified only relatively large riparian areas (such as along major rivers) and was not useful within the assessment area. Surrogates for riparian areas can be provided by using a buffer around perennial streams from the National Hydrography Dataset or by identifying areas of aspen/deciduous vegetation in canyons from our dominant overstory vegetation layer. However, these surrogates will not identify all riparian areas within the assessment area.

Biodiversity Hotspots

There was interest from several participants in obtaining information about biodiversity hotspots within the assessment area. At this time, there has been no attempt to do fine-scale mapping of biodiversity hotspots in this region. The TNC Ecoregional Biodiversity Areas (see page 29) may be used as a coarse attempt to identify areas important for biodiversity within the assessment area.

Archeological Sites and Traditional Cultural Areas

As with the riparian areas and management history datasets we found that these data were either not available or incomplete on Forest Service lands within the assessment area. In addition, data are not available for any non Forest Service lands.

Community Fire Protection Plans

We are working with the Ponderosa Fire Advisory Council and Greater Flagstaff Forest Partnership to develop a plan for the Flagstaff area communities.  The draft plan is available for download. We attempted to obtain information on other community fire protection plans in the assessment area. However, those plans are not yet fully developed and are unavailable at this time.

Recreation

Several workshop participants noted the incomplete nature of the recreation point data files used in the WMPALA workshop. We contacted GIS staff at the Forest Service Region 3 office in Albuquerque, and the Coconino Supervisor's office in Flagstaff. Comprehensive spatial information describing recreation sites across the study area was not readily accessible. We were able to acquire a spatially explicit Excel file from the Forest Service that describes National Visitor Use Monitoring program sites (n=198) across the study area, but this layer is not comprehensive. Please contact us if you have knowledge of comprehensive recreation data layers for the WMPALA study area.

Escape routes

We have inquired into the existence of maps showing widlfire escape routes within the WMPALA study area, contacting the Arizona Division of Emergency Management and local emergency management officials. We have yet to locate maps showing these escape routes, although we are still pursuing this information. Please contact us if you have or have access to this information

Endemics and other RO3 Wildlife Layers

Participants at the Feb04 WMPALA Workshop recommended acquiring wildlife data from the regional Forest Service office in Albuquerque, and Coconino County. Useable data layers were not readily available from the Forest Service. Old growth: We are currently inquiring into the quality of existing data describing distribution of old growth ponderosa pine forest systems within the study area. Please contact us if you would like to suggest data layers that accurately describe old growth distribution across the Mogollon Rim.

Page last updated January 10, 2007