Vegetation Information for the Scotts Bluff National Monument Vegetation Inventory Project.
Aerial Information Systems and The Nature Conservancy. 1998. Vegetation Information for the Scotts Bluff National Monument Vegetation Inventory Project.. Scotts Bluff National Monument Gering, NE
Final reports from the SCBL vegetation inventory project. This report presents the results of the vegetation classification portion of the NPS/BRD Vegetation Mapping Program at Scotts Bluff National Monument. The methods for sampling the vegetation are briefly discussed, particularly in relation to the standard described in NPS/BRD Vegetation Mapping Program: Field Methods for Vegetation Mapping. Also included in this document are the vegetation classification for Scotts Bluff, the field key to the vegetation types, and descriptions of each vegetation type. The supplements to this report include the field data sheets for the classification plots and the accuracy assessment plots and corresponding electronic data files (in dBase 5.The National Park Service (NPS) in conjunction with the USGS Biological Resources Division Center for Biological Informatics has created a program to "develop a uniform hierarchical vegetation methodology" at a national level, and to create a geographic information system (GIS) database for the parks under its management. The purpose of the data is to document the state of vegetation within the NPS service area during the 1990's thereby providing a baseline study for further analysis at the Regional or Servicewide level. Aerial Information Systems (AIS) was subcontracted by Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), the prime contractor, to perform the photointerpretation for the program. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) was subcontracted by ESRI to conduct the field sampling effort and to support the development of the National Standard Classification.Several parks, representing different regions, environmental conditions, and vegetation types, were chosen to be part of the prototype phase of the program. The initial goal of the prototype phase is to "develop, test, refine, and finalize the standards and protocols" to be used during the production phase of the project. This includes the development of a standardized vegetation classification system for each park and the establishment of photointerpretation, field, and accuracy assessment procedures.Scotts Bluff National Monument was designated as one of the prototype parks. The monument is located in the high Great Plains. It contains prairie, bluff, and riverine environments, with vegetation types that include upland woodland, prairie grassland, and riverine woodland and grassland. AIS was responsible for the photointerpretation of the vegetation units and rectification of those units to a base. TNC directed the field sampling effort and the classification assignments. Working with the field biologists from TNC, AIS photointerpreted the vegetation units from stereo paired, natural color photography.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Aerial Information Systems; The Nature Conservancy
- Date of Issue
- 1998-10
- Units
- SCBL , VMI
- Keywords
- Accuracy Assessment, Aerial Photography, alliances, Associations, community association, Digital Orthophoto, Digital Spatial Database, DOQ, DOQQ, Field Data, flight line, GIS, GPS, habitat mapping, Inventory Projects, Landcover, Landscape, National Park, National Park Service Inventory, National Vegetation Classification Standard, National Vegetation Classification System, NVCS, Orthophoto, Plots, U.S. National Vegetation Classification, USNVC, USNVCS, Vegetation Inventory, Vegetation Inventory Report, Vegetation Map Report, Vegetation Mapping, Vegetation Plots