Inventories

Vegetation Mapping

The Vegetation Mapping Inventory is an effort by the National Park Service (NPS) to classify, describe, and map detailed vegetation communities in more than 270 national park units across the United States. The primary objective of the Vegetation Mapping Inventory is to produce high-quality, standardized maps and associated data sets of vegetation and other land-cover occurring within parks. This information fills and complements a wide variety of resource assessment, park management, and conservation needs.

Vegetation species and communities are unique from park to park. The inventory of these resources helps park managers conserve plant biodiversity, manage challenges such as exotic species, insect outbreaks, and diseases, and understand resources and processes such and wildlife habitat relationships and wildland fires.

The Klamath Network proposes to complete vegetation mapping projects at all parks by 2013. This goal will be achieved through the cooperation of park staff, contractors, university researchers, Inventory & Monitoring (I&M) Program staff, the Fire Program, the regional GIS program, the National Vegetation Mapping Program, and cooperating agencies and organizations.

Timeline:

	Fall / Winter 2009	Spring / Summer 2010	Fall / Winter 2010	Spring / Summer 2011	Fall / Winter 2011	Spring / Summer 2012	Fall / Winter 2012	Spring / Summer 2013	Fall / Winter2013
WHIS	Completed 2005
LAVO	Classify	Fieldwork		Fieldwork	Final Classification	Accuracy Assessment	Deliverables Completed
REDW	Classify	Fieldwork		Fieldwork	Final Classification	Accuracy Assessment	Deliverables Completed
ORCA	Classify	Fieldwork		Fieldwork	Final Classification	Accuracy Assessment	Deliverables Completed
LABE	Planning and Scoping	Fieldwork		Fieldwork	Final Classification	Accuracy Assessment	Deliverables Completed
CRLA			Planning and Scoping	Fieldwork	Classify	Fieldwork	Final Classification	Accuracy Assessment	Deliverables Completed

Activities to date:

• The Klamath Network submitted a proposal for developing a vegetation mapping project at LABE, ORCA, and CRLA in 2008. A project manager from Southern Oregon University will design and play a central role in the mapping.

• Partial funding to support the vegetation mapping effort at CRLA, LABE, and ORCA was made available stating in 2008. Fieldwork began at ORCA starting in 2009.

• Starting in 2008 vegetation mapping at REDW is being conducted by the REDW staff with assistance from the Klamath Network and the National I&M Program.

• The NPS National Vegetation Mapping Program has funded a vegetation mapping project at LAVO, started in 2006, to compare a hybrid approach using different spatial and imagery techniques. Geographic Resource Solutions and the USGS are conducting the project at LAVO with assistance from NPS staff.

• A vegetation map for WHIS was completed by Humboldt State University in 2005.