Monthly Fuel and Rangeland Production Forecasts

Actionable geospatial intelligence for Rangeland Managers, Fire Specialists, Producers, and you.

News & Updates

Operational Once More

The VIIRS data pipe has been fixed. As a result, the future fuelcasting efforts will be using both VIIRS (for the near real time data) and MODIS (Aqua) for historical data. A new fuelcast will be available soon and we are paying special attention to monsoon situation in the SW US.

Stay tuned for exciting model advancements and new app features.

Migrating Operations

Fuelcast.net is partly sponsored by the USFS who provides access to resources like Google Earth Engine and Google Cloud Platform. Unfortunately, this relationship has not provided researchers and collaborators with the access needed to leverage the high volume computing resources provided by Google Cloud Platform.

Throughout 2022 we have struggled with data issues with MODIS, VIIRS, and access issues with USFS-controlled cloud resources.

We have been constantly trying to adapt to new conditions presented to us, and we've been unable to provide the Fuelcast product as regularly as we had expected. Please keep in touch and know we are working relentlessly to bring Fuelcast back online.

The Fuelcast Team.

Upstream Data Pipeline Issues

Hello From the Fuelcast world.

You probably noticed a delay in production. One of the main data sources is the MODIS or VIIRS remotely sensed data. Both data sources have been problematic lately and run into significant issues of their own. We are working on a solution and next year this will be a non-starter as we are rapidly moving to a 30m solution involving the Landsat data stream.

If you have questions, please contact Matt Reeves at Matthew.reeves@usda.gov.

Our Products

Fuelcast

Rangeland

Projected Deviation of Rangeland Vegetation Growth

A comparison of our projected vegetation production to historical trends.

Fuelcast App
FBFM40

Projected Scott and Burgan Fire Behavior Fuel Models (FBFM40)

An updated FBFM40 layer using our in-season production estimates to give a real-time estimate of rangeland fuel.

Fuelcast App
Total Pounds Per Acre

Projected Total
Pounds per Acre

Projected maximum total pounds per acre of rangeland vegetation production.

Fuelcast App
Total Herbaceous Content

Projected Total
Herbaceous Content

Projected total (annual and perennial) herbaceous pounds per acre of rangeland vegetation production.

Fuelcast App
Annual Herbaceous Content

Projected Annual Herbaceous Content

Projected annual herbaceous pounds per acre of rangeland vegetation production.

Fuelcast App

RPMS

Standing Dead Trees

Maximum Pounds per Acre

Annual observed peak rangeland vegetation pounds per acre.

RPMS
Standing Dead Trees

Estimated FBFM40

Annual estimated FBFM40, combining Landfire's reference layers with our rangeland observations.

RPMS
Standing Dead Trees

Standing Dead Vegetation

Annual pounds per acre of extant dead rangeland vegetation.

RPMS

Do you have a project in mind?

Get in touch!

Matt C. Reeves

Phone: (406) 546-5875

Website

Matt is a Research Ecologist with the Human Dimensions Program at Rocky Mountain Research Station specializing in the use of remote sensing and GIS to facilitate evaluation of contemporary issues facing US rangelands. Matt is keenly interested in facilitating management and administration of our Nation's rangelands and is pursuing numerous efforts to partner with the National Forest System to improve the quality and usefulness of Forest Plan Revisions.

Robb Lankston

Phone: (406) 414-6461

Website

Robb focuses on projects that leverage technology in innovative ways to answer natural resource management questions. Robb has more than 10 years of experience working with the Forest Service as an employee, a contractor, and a cooperator.