Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Skip to content

Landscape Intactness Index for the Western United States

Metadata Updated: November 12, 2025

Landscape intactness has been defined as a quantifiable estimate of naturalness measured on a gradient of anthropogenic influence and based on available spatial data. We developed a multiscale index of landscape intactness for use as a broad-scale indicator of resource condition for the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) Landscape Approach, which requires multiple scales of information to quantify the cumulative effects of land use. The multiscale index of landscape intactness represents a gradient of anthropogenic influence as represented by development levels at two analysis scales. To calculate landscape intactness we combined the terrestrial development index (TDI) summarized at two scales (using a 2.5- and a 20-km radius circular moving window). To evaluate landscape intactness levels on public lands, we focused on TDI scores less than or equal to 3 percent, which represents relatively low levels of development on multiple-use lands managed by the BLM and other land management agencies. The highest landscape intactness level corresponds to development index scores equal to 0 to 1 percent at both scales. Very-high landscape intactness corresponds to development index scores equal to 0 to 1 percent at one scale and 1 to 2 percent at the other scale. High landscape intactness corresponds to development index score equal to 1 to 2 percent at both scales. Moderate landscape intactness corresponds to development index score equal to 2 to 3 percent at one scale and less than 3 percent at the other scale. The lowest landscape intactness corresponds to development index scores greater than 3 percent at either scale. The multiscale index of landscape intactness is designed to be flexible, transparent, defensible, and applicable across multiple spatial scales, ecological boundaries, and jurisdictions. The standardized index is intended to serve as one of the proposed core metrics to quantify landscape integrity for the BLM Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring program. The multiscale index is designed to be used in conjunction with additional regional- or local-level information not available at national levels, such as invasive species occurrence, necessary to evaluate ecological integrity.

Access & Use Information

Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. License: No license information was provided. If this work was prepared by an officer or employee of the United States government as part of that person's official duties it is considered a U.S. Government Work.

Downloads & Resources

Dates

Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 12, 2025

Metadata Source

Harvested from DOI USGS DCAT-US

Additional Metadata

Resource Type Dataset
Metadata Created Date September 13, 2025
Metadata Updated Date November 12, 2025
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer
Identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/usgs-57f2c18be4b0bc0bec007f1b
Data Last Modified 2020-08-20T00:00:00Z
Category geospatial
Public Access Level public
Bureau Code 010:12
Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
Metadata Catalog ID https://ddi.doi.gov/usgs-data.json
Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
Harvest Object Id 93867fd0-43ca-41ef-bda0-3a6681c5e01e
Harvest Source Id 2b80d118-ab3a-48ba-bd93-996bbacefac2
Harvest Source Title DOI USGS DCAT-US
Metadata Type geospatial
Old Spatial -127.890370545, 23.244339325, -92.665816492, 51.567866068
Source Datajson Identifier True
Source Hash b608057347701cf012e4a10f5e737a4b16532528c6554aa24a3b9b48d38a4eff
Source Schema Version 1.1
Spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": -127.890370545, 23.244339325, -127.890370545, 51.567866068, -92.665816492, 51.567866068, -92.665816492, 23.244339325, -127.890370545, 23.244339325}

Didn't find what you're looking for? Suggest a dataset here.