Most recent fast forest disturbances Version 4.0 [Minnesota]
Minnesota Geospatial Commons
Full Details
- Title
- Most recent fast forest disturbances Version 4.0 [Minnesota]
- Description
- VERSION 4.0. This layer shows the most recent fast forest disturbance for a given forest patch or stand as delineated from Landsat time series methodologies, covering the time period of 1974-2020 (the first change year labeled as 1975 representing the change between 1974 and 1975). The change patches are further classified by the agent of change through random forest classification modeling. The year of onset for the disturbance event is provided. Only changes occurring over three or less years and at least ~1 hectare in size (eleven Landsat pixels) were retained in the final change map. Agents of change were classified into 6 classes: land conversion (development, mining, forest to agriculture); forest fire; flooding (changes in moisture, not neccesarily resulting in canopy mortality); timber harvest; wind and weather related changes; and an "other" category for more rare natural events., The purpose of this map is to provide spatial information about the timing and change agent of the most recent forest disturbance events across Minnesota from 1974-2020 as a tool for managers and researchers to utilize for a variety of applications. Spatially explicit information about stand level attributes across all land ownerships can be a valuable resource for forest assessments, management planning, policy decisions, and future forest projections. Patterns of forest structure and mosaics of stand ages across landscapes are largely driven by disturbance regimes. Disturbance events, whether abrupt or slower declines, impact stand boundaries, age, related structure, and potential recovery trajectories. The agent of change (e.g. harvest, fire, insects) may also have varying influences on ecosystem services such as erosion control, water quality, support of biodiversity, and climate change mitigation., The map reflects the most recent forest change event occurring between 1974 and 2020.
- Creator
- Jody Vogeler, University of Minnesota; David Wilson, MNDNR GMP; Lucas Spaete, MNDNR RA
- Publisher
- Minnesota Geospatial Commons
- Rights
- None.
- Access Rights
- Public
- Format
- Files
- Language
- English
- Date Added
- April 26, 2021
- Provenance Statement
- The metadata for this resource was last retrieved from the Minnesota Geospatial Commons on 2025-08-26.
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