Hi everyone,
My counterpart for the state of Montana shared the following message with me announcing a sub-meter canopy height model (CHM) that was developed at U of Montana but covers all of CONUS.
NOTE: This is not a USGS product and I am just a messenger. Please address all use inquiries to Scott Morford at the email and phone number in the quoted section below.
It’s freely available under an MIT license for any use case:
The model was built by training on NAIP imagery with lidar CHM targets, and the current release is derived primarily from 2022 and 2023 NAIP imagery.
Here’s how to access it:
• Explore the data: https://naip-chm.projects.earthengine.app/view/naip-chm-a-conus-structure-model
• Earth Engine Asset: https://code.earthengine.google.com/679d951b4f49166a8e266920be53a97a
• Direct Download: https://rangeland.ntsg.umt.edu/data/naip-chm/
Want to generate CHMs for other NAIP years? Our GitHub repo includes a Google Colab notebook that makes this straightforward — no local compute or GPUs required:
https://github.com/smorf-ntsg/naip-chm?tab=readme-ov-file#usage
The model is currently undergoing peer review, and our preprint is available here:
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2025.12.12.694075v1
I’d love to hear how this might be useful for your work. Feel free to reach out anytime: scott.morford@umontana.edu.
Best,
Scott
—
Scott Morford, Ph.D.
Working Lands for Wildlife Science Team
Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group
University of Montana
406.461.4910