ASSESSMENT OF WILDLAND FUEL HAZARDS 
IN BIG BASIN REDWOODS STATE PARK, CALIFORNIA 
by 
A. Benson 
Remote Sensing Research Program 
University of California 
Berkeley, California 94720 
and 
J. Greenlee 
J. Langenheim 
Division of Natural Science 
University of California 
Santa Cruz, California 95604 
ABSTRACT 
Maps representing the distribution and quantities of vege 
tation, fuels, and potential fire behavior were developed 
for the Big Basin Redwoods State Park, California. These 
maps were based on a stratification extracted from a digital 
data bank and on an extensive sample of ground conditions. 
The sample data were used to quantify the stratification, 
thereby producing simple choropleth maps of these parameters. 
INTRODUCTION 
During the past two years, personnel from the Berkeley and 
Santa Cruz campuses of the University of California have 
been developing wildland fuel type maps for the Big Basin 
Redwoods State Park, Santa Cruz County, California*. This 
feasibility test, in which remote sensing and ancillary data 
were integrated with quantitative ground data, developed an 
inventory system that was flexible enough to be applied to 
other mapping projects in other state parks. The test was 
divided into three stages: (1) selection of a digital 
stratification from the data bank and allocation of 400 
ground samples based on that stratification, (2) collection 
of detailed ground data in order to combine the original 
strata as needed and to quantify the vegetation within the 
Park, and finally, (3) production of map products to re 
flect the fuel parameters of interest along with their 
associated statistics. The following sections discuss the 
first and third stages of this test in detail; additional 
information regarding the second stage can be found in 
Greenlee and Langenheim, 1982. 
“Sponsored by California Department of Parks and Recreation 
Contract No. 60-20-019