National Park Service and USGS Biological Resources Division Vegetation Mapping Program

1. National Park Service and USGS Biological Resources Division Vegetation Mapping Program More than just a map I am here to talk about the National Park Vegetation Mapping ProgramI am here to talk about the National Park Vegetation Mapping Program

2. NPS/USGS Vegetation Mapping Program Background Approach Products Present status Available data/Web site

3. What is it? High priority requirement of the NPS I&M Program National (Service Wide) Program Begins long term vegetation monitoring program Has many short term immediate applications Why am I talking about a Park Service Program at a Forest Service Meeting? Because of the items listed here. Like the Park Service, you have national responsibilities, you manage a wide range of ecosystems, you have specific management responsibilities that require information to implement. This is a program in its 5th year that has leasons that may be benefical to you. The lessons learned from this program could assist you in your vegetation classification and mapping efforts. I will come back to that later. The Inventory Monitoring Program of the NPS is responsiblefor creating many base layers of information for parks including DOQQ�s, species lists, base cartographic data, and includes vegetation. Short Term Applications Resource Mangement - what is out there and what do we need to do with it to meet our goals? Research - what bird species are associated with what vegetaion types? - what is the distribution of a particular vegetation type across a Park? Planning and Compliance - Are there invasive species, what do we need to do about them? Interpretation - which is a big issue with the Park Service and may not be so important to you now, but may become more important in the future. Operations - How do we accomplish our management goals in specific vegetation types?Why am I talking about a Park Service Program at a Forest Service Meeting? Because of the items listed here. Like the Park Service, you have national responsibilities, you manage a wide range of ecosystems, you have specific management responsibilities that require information to implement. This is a program in its 5th year that has leasons that may be benefical to you. The lessons learned from this program could assist you in your vegetation classification and mapping efforts. I will come back to that later. The Inventory Monitoring Program of the NPS is responsiblefor creating many base layers of information for parks including DOQQ�s, species lists, base cartographic data, and includes vegetation. Short Term Applications Resource Mangement - what is out there and what do we need to do with it to meet our goals? Research - what bird species are associated with what vegetaion types? - what is the distribution of a particular vegetation type across a Park? Planning and Compliance - Are there invasive species, what do we need to do about them? Interpretation - which is a big issue with the Park Service and may not be so important to you now, but may become more important in the future. Operations - How do we accomplish our management goals in specific vegetation types?

4. NPS I&M Program Base cartographic Soils Geology Vegetation Bibliographies Species lists Air quality Water quality

5. NPS National Program Differs from other NPS vegetation mapping projects ~270 park units (full park coverage) 4423 7.5 minute USGS quadrangles National scope Participation of multiple agencies Consistency in detail and accuracy between parks Produces digital products available on WWW Coordination at multiple levels Large program which will eventually map all park units with a natural resource component With multiple agency participation The strength of the program is its standards, protocals and consistency. Differs from other NPS vegetation mapping projects: Number of park units to be mapped - 235, millions of acres National scope Results will be used at National, Regional and Local levels. Participation of Multiple Agencies Consistency in detail and accuracy between parks Completeness (full park coverage) GIS ready (digital products) Coordination at multiple levelsLarge program which will eventually map all park units with a natural resource component With multiple agency participation The strength of the program is its standards, protocals and consistency. Differs from other NPS vegetation mapping projects: Number of park units to be mapped - 235, millions of acres National scope Results will be used at National, Regional and Local levels. Participation of Multiple Agencies Consistency in detail and accuracy between parks Completeness (full park coverage) GIS ready (digital products) Coordination at multiple levels

6. Requirements Meet NPS overall management policies, standards and guidelines Conform to Federal Geographic Data Committee standards metadata, transfer, classification etc. Has a nationally consistent, hierarchical, classification scheme Meet National Map Accuracy Standards Thematic accuracy >80% per class Scale of 1:24,000 Minimum mapping unit of 0.5 hectare The program has to meet Park Service requirements and FGDC requirements National Map Accuracy standards Project specific requirements are: 80% accurate for each class MMU of 0.5 ha Meet NPS overall management policies, standards and guidelines Conform to Federal Geographic Data Committee standards Metadata, Transfer, Classification etc. Uniformity in classification methodology Meet National Map Accuracy Standards Thematic Accuracy >80% per class Minimum Mapping Unit of 0.5 hectareThe program has to meet Park Service requirements and FGDC requirements National Map Accuracy standards Project specific requirements are: 80% accurate for each class MMU of 0.5 ha Meet NPS overall management policies, standards and guidelines Conform to Federal Geographic Data Committee standards Metadata, Transfer, Classification etc. Uniformity in classification methodology Meet National Map Accuracy Standards Thematic Accuracy >80% per class Minimum Mapping Unit of 0.5 hectare

7. Major steps for each Park Scoping meeting Data review Data acquisition Field sampling Classification characterization Photo interpretation, mapping and automation Accuracy assessment Final product review These are the basic steps that are required for each park unit Data review - there are usually a lot of data avalaible for each unit, and it takes time and coordination to bring them together The field sampling should ideally take place when the photo interpreters are doing their field work, so there can be coordination between what the ecologists classifiy and what the intepreters identify The accuracy assessment should ideally be done when the mapping is complete so we can design a stratified random sample, but for efficiency�s sake, we often do accuracy assessment at the same time as the original field samplingThese are the basic steps that are required for each park unit Data review - there are usually a lot of data avalaible for each unit, and it takes time and coordination to bring them together The field sampling should ideally take place when the photo interpreters are doing their field work, so there can be coordination between what the ecologists classifiy and what the intepreters identify The accuracy assessment should ideally be done when the mapping is complete so we can design a stratified random sample, but for efficiency�s sake, we often do accuracy assessment at the same time as the original field sampling

8. Products from the program Aerial photography (hardcopy, some new DOQQs) Field data (hardcopy and database) Classification report (description and key) Photo interp report (description and key) Accuracy report Vegetation map data (digital coverage)

9. FGDC National Vegetation Classification System A. PHYSIOGNOMY Division/Order - Tree dominant (dominant life form) Class - Woodland (spacing & height of dominant form) Subclass - Evergreen woodland (morphological & phenological similarity) Group - Temperate evergreen needle-leaved (climate, latitude, growth form, leaf form) Formation - Evergreen needle-leaved woodland with rounded crowns (mappable units) B. FLORISTICS Alliance (Cover Type) - Douglas Fir woodland (dominant species) Association (Community) - Douglas Fir / Snowberry woodland (subdominant or associated species) The system is hierarchical which allows it to be used for many different levels of analysis and study - from National to regional to each Park to each site. It is also standard - so we do not have to reinvent the wheel for each park, although a lot of development work has to be done for each park.The system is hierarchical which allows it to be used for many different levels of analysis and study - from National to regional to each Park to each site. It is also standard - so we do not have to reinvent the wheel for each park, although a lot of development work has to be done for each park.

10. Mapping beyond the NVCS Species Structure Height classes Layers (tree, shrub, herbaceous) Density classes Pattern

11. Present Status Approximately 79 projects in process 30 Parks started (1994-2000) 29 Park projects started in 2001 30 Parks completed more completed soon

12. Status 2001

13. Present Status cont

14. Present Status cont

15. Relationship with FIREPRO Fire Fuels Mapping Similar but not the same (ht to live crown, dead and down) Fire Effects Monitoring Similar but not the same (sampling techniques)

16. New Models Multiple park unit projects Initiate and manage locally �Regional/Network� field teams Field based proposals �New/other� technologies

17. More Information Visit the Veg Mapping Homepage http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg

18. Thanks Mike Story NPS I&M (303)969-2746 mike_story@nps.gov