3-Dimensional Point Clouds, Field Data, and Treelists from Three Montane Landscapes in New Mexico

These data include a collection of 3-dimensional (3D) point clouds from three New Mexico landscapes and associated field-collected validation data accompanying each scan. The data were collected in fall of 2022-2023 across three montane New Mexico landscapes - similar in climate but differing in disturbance histories. Landscapes include a intensely and repeatedly burned shrubfield, a less severely burned and open ponderosa pine woodland, and a dense, fire excluded mixed conifer forest (Ponderosa pine dominated with components of Doug-fir, White Fir, Southwestern White Pine, and Aspen). Field collected data represent fuel characteristics we were intending to model using the point clouds, and differ from each landscape. Methods included two 20-meter point line intercepts of suspended aerial and surface fuels, continuous counts of 1-1000 hour fuels, ocular estimates of vegetation cover, and tree characteristics (when present). The data are in two forms - tabular and spatial. Tabular data (field collections of fuel characteristics) can be linked to individual scans via file names using the scanID column. Spatial data lack a coordinate reference system - meaning - you cannot link a given point within the point cloud to a real-world spatial location. Scans can be linked to the unique XY coordinates of the center point (taken using a 3m accuracy Garmin GPS) from the tabular data, but all spatial reference units are relative to the positioning of the scanner. In other words, the coordinate reference system is undefined and relies on scanner origin.