                For the analytical product use –
 
The National Land Cover Database 2011 (NLCD2011) percent tree canopy cover (TCC 2011) dataset was produced through
a cooperative project conducted by the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium (www.mrlc.gov).
TCC 2011 is the NLCD tree canopy cover dataset for CONUS at medium spatial resolution (30 m). It was produced
by the USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC). The TCC 2011 dataset has two layers:  percent
tree canopy cover and standard error. For layer one, the percent tree canopy cover layer, the pixel values range from
0 to 100 percent and represent the percent of the ground covered by a vertical projection of tree canopies.
For layer two, the standard error layer, the pixel values range from 0 to 45 percent. The standard error represents the
model uncertainty associated with the corresponding pixel in the tree canopy cover layer. The percent tree
canopy cover layer was produced using a Random Forests (trademarked by Leo Breiman and Adele Cutler) regression
algorithm and the standard error layer was calculated from the variance of the canopy cover estimates from the
random forest regression trees. Additional information about this product is found in the metadata file provided
as part of the download package.
 
                For the cartographic product use –
 
The National Land Cover Database 2011 (NLCD2011) percent tree canopy cover (TCC 2011) dataset was produced through
a cooperative project conducted by the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium (www.mrlc.gov).
TCC 2011 is the NLCD tree canopy cover dataset for CONUS at medium spatial resolution (30 m). It was produced
by the USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC). The TCC 2011 cartographic product consists
of a single layer, percent tree canopy cover and is intended for use as display imagery for backdrop purposes.
The pixel values range from 0 to 100 percent and represent the percent of the ground covered by a vertical
projection of tree canopies. The percent tree canopy cover layer was produced using a Random Forests
(trademarked by Leo Breiman and Adele Cutler) regression algorithm. The cartographic product is a filtered
version of the regression algorithm output. It is meant to more closely resemble the NLCD 2001 version of canopy.
However, the NLCD 2001 canopy and the 2011 forest service canopy are not directly comparable and should be treated 
as separate products.  Additional information about this product is found in the metadata file provided as part of the 
download package.