The Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) project aims to assess the environmental impacts of large wildland fires and identify trends in burn severity across the United States. Funded by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the project involves mapping and assessing burn severity for all large current and historical fires since 1984. Using Landsat data and the differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) algorithm, the project maps burn severity for fires greater than 202 hectares (500 acres) in the east and 404 hectares (1,000 acres) in the west. The project will generate burn severity data, maps, and reports for use at local, state, and national levels to evaluate trends in burn severity and support land management decisions. The data will also provide a baseline for monitoring the recovery and health of fire-affected landscapes over time. The MTBS project is implemented by the USGS Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC). The primary objective is to provide burn severity information for a national analysis of fire severity trends under the National Fire Plan. The project will serve four primary user groups: national policy makers, field managers, project managers for existing databases, and academic and agency researchers. The data will be available on a website for public use. Burn severity is defined as the degree to which a site has been altered or disrupted by fire, and is measured using the dNBR algorithm. The project will map burn severity for fires occurring in 2004-2010 and historical fires from 1984 through 2003. The data will be used to support a wide range of operational and research-related information needs. The project will also provide a valuable data legacy to support research and operational uses at multiple scales. The first annual report provides insight into the ability to characterize burn severity over broad geographic regions. The data will help provide a spatial and temporal framework to better understand the immediate and longer term interrelationships of wildland change agents and risk factors in post-fire settings.The Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) project aims to assess the environmental impacts of large wildland fires and identify trends in burn severity across the United States. Funded by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the project involves mapping and assessing burn severity for all large current and historical fires since 1984. Using Landsat data and the differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) algorithm, the project maps burn severity for fires greater than 202 hectares (500 acres) in the east and 404 hectares (1,000 acres) in the west. The project will generate burn severity data, maps, and reports for use at local, state, and national levels to evaluate trends in burn severity and support land management decisions. The data will also provide a baseline for monitoring the recovery and health of fire-affected landscapes over time. The MTBS project is implemented by the USGS Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC). The primary objective is to provide burn severity information for a national analysis of fire severity trends under the National Fire Plan. The project will serve four primary user groups: national policy makers, field managers, project managers for existing databases, and academic and agency researchers. The data will be available on a website for public use. Burn severity is defined as the degree to which a site has been altered or disrupted by fire, and is measured using the dNBR algorithm. The project will map burn severity for fires occurring in 2004-2010 and historical fires from 1984 through 2003. The data will be used to support a wide range of operational and research-related information needs. The project will also provide a valuable data legacy to support research and operational uses at multiple scales. The first annual report provides insight into the ability to characterize burn severity over broad geographic regions. The data will help provide a spatial and temporal framework to better understand the immediate and longer term interrelationships of wildland change agents and risk factors in post-fire settings.