Yosemite National Park [and Devils Postpile National Monument] vegetation classification and mapping project report
Keeler-Wolf T, Moore PE, Reyes ET, Menke JM, Johnson DN, Karavidas DL. 2012. Yosemite National Park [and Devils Postpile National Monument] vegetation classification and mapping project report. Natural Resource Technical Report. NPS/YOSE/NRTR—2012/598. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
The area mapped for this project encompasses Yosemite National Park and a surrounding buffer area for a total of approximately 561,731 ha (nearly 1.4 million acres). This area includes an extremely diverse array of habitats including grasslands, chaparral, broad-leaved evergreen and deciduous oak woodlands, coniferous forests and woodlands, montane wetland scrubs and meadows, extensive alpine areas, and Great Basin woodlands and sagebrush–bitterbrush scrubs. We mapped the vegetation of Devils Postpile National Monument, within the coniferous forest zone at the headwaters of the San Joaquin, as part of this project. The Yosemite mapping project was initiated in 1996 as a cooperative endeavor between NatureServe, Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), Aerial Information Systems, Inc. (AIS), the National Park Service (NPS), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Aerial photography was acquired in 1997, and field sampling occurred in 1998 and 1999 to support development of a vegetation classification for the park and vicinity. The photointerpretation phase for the Yosemite project was completed between 2000 and 2002, and the accuracy assessment (AA) data collection phase took place from 2002 to 2003. Accuracy assessment data were analyzed and the map finalized in 2006 with reporting completed in 2007. The final vegetation classification for Yosemite National Park and vicinity consists of 114 alliances and 209 associations. At the association level, there are 106 forests and woodlands, 43 shrublands, seven dwarf-shrublands, and 53 herbaceous vegetation types. We defined 105 new associations using data collected and analyzed during the course of this project. There were approximately 87 associations previously defined by other authors that occur in Yosemite or the environs according to field plot data.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Keeler-Wolf, Todd; Moore, Peggy; Reyes, Edward; Menke, John; Johnson, Deborah; Karavidas, Denise
- Date of Issue
- 2012-06
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- NRSS , SIEN , VMI , YOSE
- Keywords
- Aerial Photography, Devils Postpile National Monument, mapping accuracy, mapping classes, photointerpretation, Plant Inventory, vegetation alliances, vegetation associations, Vegetation Classification, Vegetation Map, Yosemite National Park