Vegetation Inventory

“No part of the world can be truly understood without a knowledge of its garment of vegetation, for this determines not only the nature of the animal inhabitants but also the occupations of the majority of human beings.”
     - Ellsworth Huntington

Currently the PACN is relying on vegetation maps created by several different agencies. Some of these maps are outdated, cover only limited sections of the parks, or have lower resolution than required by the latest USGS-NPS vegetation mapping program standards. New vegetation maps for the PACN will comply with these standards. Maps will be based upon aerial photography no more than five years old and suitable for input into an automated geographic information system. Vegetation maps will have a minimum unit of 1 acre or less and a 1:24,000 map base. Vegetation classifications will be at least to the plant association level of detail, with an 80% minimum level of accuracy.

Status
Vegetation field work and classification has been completed at the three west Hawaii parks, Puukohola Heiau National Historic Site, Kaloko-Honokohau National Historical Park, and Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historical Park, and mapping is now underway. Field crews have been trained and vegetation plot collection is nearly complete at War in the Pacific National Historical Park and American Memorial Park in Guam and Saipan, respectively. A revised version of the vegetation mapping workplan is nearly complete. Vegetation plot field work will be underway at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park during the summer of 2009 as will map accuracy assessment at the west Hawaii parks.

• Older vegetation maps for HAVO and HALE are available upon request from the I&M GIS Specialist and more information can be found at GIS & Maps
• Vegetation Classification Support for War in the Pacific National Historical Park (WAPA) on Guam, and American Memorial Park (AMME) on the Northern Mariana Islands
• Vegetation Classification Support for the National Park of American Samoa (NPSA) in American Samoa

• 2008 PACN Vegetation Classification and Mapping Project Kick-off Meeting
• NPS Vegetation Mapping Program
• USGS Vegetation Mapping Program
• USDA Forest Service- Landcover Monitoring
• NOAA Coastal Change Analysis Program
  Hawaii GAP Project

Acknowledgements
Making these data available for every park with significant natural resources is a cooperative effort of the NPS staff at individual parks, the I&M program, the US Geological Survey and in some cases other partners such as state agencies.