Land Cover Map of Haines Alaska Area 2002 - Ducks Unlimited and BLM

GIS Team National Park Service, Alaska Regional Office

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) - Alaska and Ducks Unlimited, Inc. (DU) have been cooperatively mapping wetlands and associated uplands in Alaska using remote sensing and GIS technologies since 1988. The Haines project was the first project in the panhandle of Alaska. Portions of two Landsat TM satellite scenes (Path 59, Rows 18-19 acquired 1 Aug 1999) were used to classify the project area into 26 earth cover categories. The path 59 rows 18 an 19 images were mosaiced to produce a continuous earth cover map for the entire project area. An unsupervised clustering technique was used to determine the location of field sites and a custom field data collection form and digital database were used to record field information. Helicopters were utilized to gain access to field sites throughout the project area. Global positioning system (GPS) technology was used both to navigate to pre-selected sites and to record the locations of new sites selected in the field. The project area is approximately 9 million acres. A total of 178 field sites were visited during a 6 day field season. Approximately 30% (44) of these field sites were set aside for accuracy assessment. A modified supervised/unsupervised classification technique was performed to classify the satellite imagery. The classification scheme for the earth cover inventory was based on Viereck et al. (1992) and revised through a series of meetings coordinated by the BLM - Alaska and DU. The overall accuracy of the mapping categories was 86%.