About the Land Treatment Digital Library
Features of the LTDL
LTDL Website: LTDL data is available to users via a secure connection on this site. Authorized users can access and query data, view maps, open documents, and download data. All individuals can
register for a secure account here. All BLM employees receive automatic access to the data provided they use their BLM email address during the registration process. All other users require prior BLM approval before access to the data will be granted. Contact the LTDL (LTDL_Project@usgs.gov) for more information.
Data input: The LTDL has a Microsoft Access graphical user interface, linked to a MySQL database that can store a variety of data related to a project and any number of specific treatments within the project.
Links to documents and maps: The LTDL links to all original documentation, maps, and photos created before, during, or after the treatment so users have access to all original source documents.
Creating GIS features: The LTDL is a spatially oriented database where all on the ground treatments have a spatial location. If no digitized map exists, LTDL employees digitize treatment boundaries using paper maps or will place an approximate point if no map exists.
Clipping and autofill of GIS data: GIS treatment perimeters clip data from existing spatial layers (e.g., Landfire Vegetation Type, average precipitation, etc.) and return summary statistics (e.g., sagebrush [75.6%], juniper [24.4%] or 14.5cm average precipitation respectively).
The LTDL was created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to catalog information about land treatments on Federal lands in the western United States for all interested parties. The flexible framework of the library allows for the storage of a wide variety of data in different formats. The LTDL currently stores previously established land treatments or what often are called legacy data. The project was developed and has been refined based on feedback from partner agencies and stakeholders, with opportunity for the library holdings to expand as new information becomes available.
The library contains data in text, tabular, spatial, and image formats. Specific examples include project plans and implementation reports, monitoring data, spatial data files from geographic information systems, digitized paper maps, and digital images of land treatments. The data are entered by USGS employees and are accessible through a searchable web site. The LTDL can be used to respond to information requests, conduct analyses and other forms of information syntheses, produce maps, and generate reports for Department of Interior managers and scientists and other authorized users.
Future goals of the LTDL include:
(1) improving access to the LTDL data via the website,
(2) linking with monitoring data and databases that house new treatments, and
(3) employing quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) activities.
