Development of a Vegetation Classification System for the Northern Region Doug Berglund

1. Development of a Vegetation Classification System for the Northern Region Doug Berglund Renee Lundberg Renate Bush

2. Vegetation Analysis Support Needs: Broad & Mid-level • Northern Region Overview • Integrated Restoration and Protection Strategy • Forest plan revision and amendments • Ecosystem Assessment at the Watershed Scale • Post-fire assessments • Forest-wide cumulative effects analysis Ultimately all of this is to support project planning and informed decision making

3. Litigation Fees Paid ’03 and ‘04

4. Analysis Components : Building Blocks

5. Vegetation classification, mapping, and inventory Integration of these related processes to communicate information. • Vegetation classification What is it? • Vegetation mapping Where is it? • Vegetation inventory How much is there?

6. Vegetation classification, mapping, and inventory Classification Supply Labels Supply Labels Tabular Inventory Compilation Map Feature Design Estimate abundance Technology & resource limited Supply plot data Spatial Inventory Compilation Inventory Mapping Spatially associate plots Generalize map units

7. Guiding Principles

8. Guiding Principles FGDC National Vegetation Classification: • applicable over extensive areas • repeatable • consistent [between map and inventory] • mutual exclusive and exhaustive categories • hierarchical , aggregatable • based on dominant or uppermost stratum • mappable

9. Guiding Principles Existing Vegetation Classification and Mapping Technical Guide • Canopy Cover • Dominance Type • Size • Vertical Structure

10. Guiding Principles Practical - useful to those “practitioners”. Simple, easy to understand – line officers Can make calls in the field with minimal data Applicable to current data collection attributes

11. R1-Veg Council • Veg Council Classification • Builds on lessons learned from previous mapping efforts • R1 Silviculturists, Fire Ecologists, Wildlife Biologists and RMRS Scientists • Field workshop: Bitterroot, Lolo, IPNF

12. R1-Veg Council

13. R1-Veg Council

14. Field Data from FVS .kcp

15. R1-Veg Council Classification • Veg Council Classification • Evaluated different classifiers, • expecting to choose 1: Describe, FVS, others • Consensus of expert opinion • None of the classifiers had the “right” answers • Developed new algorithms

16. Tree Dominance Types

17. Elemental Dominance # each species individually is > 20% of attribute A. Single most abundant species > 60% of attribute * ……… List single species A. Single most abundant species < 60% of attribute…..……. Go to B B. 2 most abundant species > 80% of attribute #………………List 2 species B. 2 most abundant species < 80% of attribute #……....……. Go to C C. 3 most abundant species > 80% of attribute #……………….List 3 species C. 3 most abundant species < 80% of attribute #……..……….Go to D D. Shade intolerant species attribute > shade tolerant species attribute….......IMIX D. Shade intolerant species attribute < shade tolerant species attribute…......TMIX *attribute = BA, if basal area > 20 ft2; otherwise TPA, if trees per acre > 100; if BA <20 and TPA < 100 TPA, classify as “none”.

18. 847 elemental dominance types: requires aggregation into dominance “groups” for broad- and mid-level analysis Elemental Dominance

19. Sizeclass

20. Sizeclass

21. Sizeclass

22. NTG Classes seedling 0.1 – 4.9 5.0 – 9.9 10.0 – 14.9 15.0 – 19.9 20.0 – 24.9 25.0 + Traditional Classes seedling 0.1 – 0.9 1.0 – 4.9 5.0 – 8.9 9.0 – 13.9 14.0 – 20.9 21.0 + Sizeclass BA-weighted Average DBH classed as follows: Often requires collapsing into fewer classes for broad- and mid-level analysis

23. Canopy Cover

24. Canopy Cover Definitions: • Canopy cover is the proportion of the forest floor covered by the vertical projection of the tree crowns. • Canopy closure is the proportion of the sky hemisphere obscured by vegetation when viewed from a single point.

25. Canopy Cover

26. Canopy Cover • Use: Increasingly used attribute • Wildlife models • Fire behavior models • Mapping: Substitute attribute for basal area in Dominance and Size classification. • FVS-model: • Need to collect more field data – EM Variant • Need to validate models

27. Canopy Cover Canopy cover classed as follows: Often requires collapsing into fewer classes for broad- and mid-level analysis

28. Vertical Structure

29. Vertical Structure Based on proportion of total basal area in the following sizeclasses. There are 5 possible vertical structure classes: • 1 = single story, • 2 = two-story, • 3 = three-story, • C = continuous, • none = insufficient ba/tpa found on the plot/stand. Initially, every plot/stand is classified as having 1 layer of vertical structure.

30. Vertical Structure

31. Vertical Structure

32. Vertical Structure

33. Vertical Structure

34. Vertical Structure

35. Stand Classifier Tool • Runs on any FVS tree list data • Consistent way to compare over time

36. Stand Classifier Tool • Input FVS treelist

37. Stand Classifier Tool

38. Stand Classifier Tool: Multiple Setting Output

39. Stand Classifier Tool: Multiple Cycle Output

40. For more information Region One, Forest and Rangeland Management Staff, Inventory website: http://fsweb.r1.fs.fed.us/forest/inv/classify/index.htm