This data set, LBA-ECO LC-24 Forest Cover Map from MODIS, 500-m, South America: 2001, contains forest cover information for 2001 for all of South America. The data were collected by the MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor onboard the Earth Observing System, TERRA (AM-1) satellite platform and released by the MODIS science team as an image showing percent canopy cover. This information was then reclassified so that all pixels with a percent canopy cover greater than 40% (40% after the 1973 UNESCO standard) were classified as forest (a value of 1), and all other pixels were classified as non-forest (a value of 2). Water features were given a value of 3. This data has a pixel resolution of 500 meters and is unprojected with the WGS-1984 datum (Hansen et al. 2006). There is one GeoTIFF data file for this data set.