Overview Communities is part of the Highly Valued Resource or Asset (HVRA) data used in the National Wildfire Risk Assessment for Forest Service Lands (NaWRA, Dillon 2020). Community density classes can be used as Sub-HVRAs within the Map Values, Exposure Analysis and Quantitative Wildfire Risk Assessment functionality within the Interagency Fuel Treatment Decision Support System (IFTDSS, https://iftdss.firenet.gov). Data Details Communities represents population density classes based on Residentially Developed Populated Areas (RDPA, Haas et al. 2013). RDPA was developed using the LandScan USATM population data (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, 2008) with some additional smoothing to conservatively identify pixels that were most likely to have people and residential structures located within them (Haas et al. 2013).
RDPA was summarized into three population density classes for use in IFTDSS. Classification used similar population density ranges to the Federal Register Wildland Urban Interface categorization:

Low density: >0-28 people per square mile

Medium density: >28-250 people per square mile

High density: > 250 people per square mile

Citations Dillon, Gregory K. 2020. Results and application of the National Wildfire Risk Assessment. In: Hood, Sharon M.; Drury, Stacy; Steelman, Toddi; and Steffens, Ron, eds. Proceedings of the Fire Continuum—Preparing for the future of wildland fire; 2018 May 21-24; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-78. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. Pgs 252-257. Haas, Jessica R.; Calkin, David E.; Thompson, Matthew P. 2013. A national approac h for integrating wildfire simulation modeling into Wildland Urban Interface risk assessments within the United States. Landscape and Urban Planning. 119: 44-53. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (2008). LandScan 2008 High Resolution Population Distribution Model. L. UT-Battelle, editor., Oak Ridge, TN