Using Advanced Three-Dimensional Visualization Techniques to Assess Historical Forested Landscapes

Author: Merrill Kaufmann
Organization: USFS

240 West Prospect Road
Fort Collins, CO 80526
USA

Phone: 970-498-1256
mkauf@lamar.colostate.edu

A historical forest landscape in the South Platte basin of the Colorado front range is being used to study landscape development and change over time in relation to natural disturbances and tree recruitment patterns. This ponderosa pine/Douglas fir landscape has a mixed severity fire regime, which results in a landscape mosaic that is much more heterogeneous than the continuous dense forest structure common in forests presently found in the front range. Research focuses on spatial and temporal patterns of fire and tree recruitment and provides an exceptional database reflecting time-based changes in polygon structure.

Using an advanced three-dimensional visualization program development by Pacific Meridian Resources, Virtual Forest, combined with conventional Esri software ArcInfo and ArcView GIS, visualizations are being developed to convey to other scientists, natural resource managers, and the public how these historical landscape changes occurred over space and time. In particular, Virtual Forest is being used to represent how current forests differ from historical forests, and how current forests might be altered to capture the main features of the historical landscape. Visualizations illustrating specific features of the historical landscape, such as openings and areas of low forest density mixed with more dense forest, will be especially valuable in conveying a very different understanding than most people presently have of the natural landscape structure Three-dimensional visualizations are being using primarily to illustrate the change in landscape appearance for existing conditions, historical conditions, and restoration scenarios.

This paper will present findings from this project illustrating the integration of several different technologies including ArcInfo and ArcView GIS for data compilation and database development, FarSite for fire simulation, the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS) for determining historical conditions, FRAGSTATS for evaluating landscape structure, and Virtual Forest for representing three-dimensional visualizations. A review of data issues for building visualizations will also be provided. Examples will be presented.