USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center scientists Heather Tollerud, Terry Sohl, Jennifer Rover and Jon Dewitz use the LCMAP Timeseries Analysis and Plotting Tool (TAPTool) during a November 2018 workshop on Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection in Sioux Falls, SD.
Jon Dewitz
Jon Dewitz is a Physical Scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center and is the USGS Program Coordinator and Integration lead for the Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools (LANDFIRE) project.
Jon has worked at EROS since 2000, with his first 8 years as a contractor. Jon spent the majority of his career creating Land Cover products. He led the modernization of the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) through virtualization, scripting, and machine learning for the 2001 to 2021 production runs including prototyping and designing the NLCD processing systems for those years. Jon played a large part in all NLCD accuracy assessment strategies and data collection, as well as leading Impervious surface and Forest Canopy product creation. Jon has also conducted field work across Alaska and the conterminous United States and has trained and led field work teams for both.
Professional Experience
Nov. 2024 – Present: USGS Program Coordinator and Integration lead for the LANDFIRE project.
Jan. 2024 - Nov. 2024: Acting LANDFIRE Project Manager
2019 – 2024: NLCD Operations Manager
2020 – 2023: Acting NLCD Project Manager
2012 – 2019: NLCD Production Manager
2008 – 2012: NLCD Technical Lead and Quality Supervisor
2003 – 2008: NLCD Quality Supervisor, Contractor to USGS EROS
2002 – 2003: NLCD Technical Specialist, Contractor to USGS EROS
2002: National Park Service Burn Mapping Technical Specialist, Contractor to USGS EROS
2000 – 2002: IT Specialist, Contractor to USGS EROS
Education and Certifications
South Dakota State University, Master of Science in Geography
Augustana College, Bachelor of Science in Management Information Systems
South Dakota State University, Major in Computer Science
North Dakota State University, Major in Biology and Physics
University of Minnesota, Major in Biology and Physics
Affiliations and Memberships*
National GeoSpatial Database Asset (NGDA) Land Cover Theme Coordinator, Dec 2023 to Current
Multi Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium Member (MRLC), 2008 to current
Science and Applications Branch (SAB) representative for IT resources, 2013 to 2020
Affiliate Faculty, University of Alaska Fairbanks Jan 2017 to Jan 2020
EROS Representative to USGS Science for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) data 2019
Science and Products
An interagency perspective on improving consistency and transparency of land use and land cover mapping
Thematic accuracy assessment of the NLCD 2019 land cover for the conterminous United States
Where forest may not return in the western United States
National Land Cover Database 2019: A comprehensive strategy for creating the 1986-2019 forest disturbance product
National Land Cover Database 2019: A new strategy for creating clean leaf-on and leaf-off Landsat composite images
Conterminous United States land cover change patterns 2001–2016 from the 2016 National Land Cover Database
Performances of WorldView-3, Sentinel-2, and Landsat-8 data in mapping impervious surface
Analysis of different sensor performances in impervious surface mapping
A new generation of the United States National Land Cover Database: Requirements, research priorities, design, and implementation strategies
Thematic accuracy assessment of the 2011 National Land Cover Database (NLCD)
A comparison of NLCD 2011 and LANDFIRE EVT 2010: Regional and national summaries.
Completion of the 2011 National Land Cover Database for the conterminous United States – Representing a decade of land cover change information
Reference and Validation
Annual National Land Cover Database
Multi-resolution Land Cover Characterization Consortium
National Land Cover Database
LANDFIRE-Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools
National Land Cover Database Visualization and Information Tool
National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2006 Land Cover Conterminous United States (ver. 2.0, July 2024)
National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2001 Land Cover Conterminous United States (ver. 2.0, July 2024)
National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2011 Land Cover Conterminous United States (ver. 2.0, May 2024)
National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2021 Products
National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2019 Products (ver. 3.0, February 2024)
National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2016 Products (ver. 3.0, November 2023)
NLCD 2016
USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center scientists Heather Tollerud, Terry Sohl, Jennifer Rover and Jon Dewitz use the LCMAP Timeseries Analysis and Plotting Tool (TAPTool) during a November 2018 workshop on Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection in Sioux Falls, SD.
Science and Products
An interagency perspective on improving consistency and transparency of land use and land cover mapping
Thematic accuracy assessment of the NLCD 2019 land cover for the conterminous United States
Where forest may not return in the western United States
National Land Cover Database 2019: A comprehensive strategy for creating the 1986-2019 forest disturbance product
National Land Cover Database 2019: A new strategy for creating clean leaf-on and leaf-off Landsat composite images
Conterminous United States land cover change patterns 2001–2016 from the 2016 National Land Cover Database
Performances of WorldView-3, Sentinel-2, and Landsat-8 data in mapping impervious surface
Analysis of different sensor performances in impervious surface mapping
A new generation of the United States National Land Cover Database: Requirements, research priorities, design, and implementation strategies
Thematic accuracy assessment of the 2011 National Land Cover Database (NLCD)
A comparison of NLCD 2011 and LANDFIRE EVT 2010: Regional and national summaries.
Completion of the 2011 National Land Cover Database for the conterminous United States – Representing a decade of land cover change information
Reference and Validation
Annual National Land Cover Database
Multi-resolution Land Cover Characterization Consortium
National Land Cover Database
LANDFIRE-Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools
National Land Cover Database Visualization and Information Tool
National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2006 Land Cover Conterminous United States (ver. 2.0, July 2024)
National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2001 Land Cover Conterminous United States (ver. 2.0, July 2024)
National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2011 Land Cover Conterminous United States (ver. 2.0, May 2024)
National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2021 Products
National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2019 Products (ver. 3.0, February 2024)
National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2016 Products (ver. 3.0, November 2023)
NLCD 2016
USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center scientists Heather Tollerud, Terry Sohl, Jennifer Rover and Jon Dewitz use the LCMAP Timeseries Analysis and Plotting Tool (TAPTool) during a November 2018 workshop on Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection in Sioux Falls, SD.
USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center scientists Heather Tollerud, Terry Sohl, Jennifer Rover and Jon Dewitz use the LCMAP Timeseries Analysis and Plotting Tool (TAPTool) during a November 2018 workshop on Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection in Sioux Falls, SD.
*Disclaimer: Listing outside positions with professional scientific organizations on this Staff Profile are for informational purposes only and do not constitute an endorsement of those professional scientific organizations or their activities by the USGS, Department of the Interior, or U.S. Government