National Land Cover Database (NLCD) Tree Canopy Cover Mapping

As a member of the interagency Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) consortium, the USDA Forest Service (FS) is responsible for producing TCC maps with consistent spatial resolution (30 meters), with methods that are consistently applied across the United States. The forest structure maps are generated using over 60,000 training plots with a probabilistic sample design to train statistical machine learning models (random forests) to classify continuous tree canopy cover (0-100%). Summary and background are available through peer reviewed papers and reports.