Grassland State and Transition Map of Canyonlands National Park Needles District and Indian Creek Grazing Allotment

This raster data depicts the modeled distribution of three grassland states: Biocrust, Grass-bare, and Annualized-bare. We developed models of bare ground, total vegetation, exotic grasses and biological soil crust using spectral data from three year composites of growing season (March-October) Landsat data in Google Earth Engine and field data that were collected over the same period at monitoring sites. The resulting regression models were used to characterize the spatial distribution of putative grassland ecological states across our 251,430 ha study area in and around Canyonlands National Park, UT. This model illustrates how a remote sensing approach to land-cover change can be implemented to guide dryland ecosystem management actions such as monitoring, livestock management, and restoration.