Vegetation inventory project: Great Basin National Park.
Mojave Desert Network I & M Program. 2012. Vegetation inventory project: Great Basin National Park.. Natural Resource Report. NPS/MOJN/NRR—2012/568. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
The primary objective of the National Vegetation Inventory Program (NVIP) is to produce high-quality plant community classifications, standardized maps and associated data sets of the vegetation currently occurring within the parks. This information fills data gaps and complements a wide variety of resource assessments, park management, and conservation needs. This report summarizes the work for completion of the Vegetation Inventory for Great Basin NP. Great Basin National Park (GRBA) covers approximately 31,258 hectares (77,180 acres) in east central Nevada along the Utah border. The park was established to preserve a representative segment of the Great Basin region and to promote an understanding of the natural and cultural heritage of this physiographic region. A five-year, four phase program was initiated to complete the task of classifying and mapping the vegetation at GRBA. Phase one was conducted by a combination of botanists and ecologists from NPS, MOJN I&M, GRBA, and NatureServe who collected 340 classification plots, observation points, and rapid assessment points across much of the park. In phase two, all of the field data was analyzed by NatureServe to classify 105 associations and 31 GRBA-specific vegetation types using the revised U.S. National Vegetation Classification (rUSNVC). Phase three, directed by Cogan Technology, Inc (CTI) produced a digital vegetation map that was validated using 70 independent data points. In the final phase, contracted scientists from Logan Simpson, Inc collected 872 stratified random accuracy assessment (AA) points to check and finalize the map. GRBA’s spatial database and map layer was produced from high-resolution 2007 Digital Map, Inc. imagery provided to CTI by the NPS. By comparing the signatures on the imagery to field and ground data, 64 map units (48 vegetated, four barren geology and snow, and 12 land-use / land-cover) were developed and the vegetation map units were directly cross-walked or matched to their corresponding rUSNVC plant associations. The interpreted and remotely sensed data were converted to Geographic Information System (GIS) spatial geodatabases and maps were printed, field tested, reviewed, and revised. The final map layer was accessed for thematic accuracy by creating contingency tables and the final overall accuracy of the map layer was determined to be 84% with a Kappa value of 82%. Products developed for GRBA are described and presented in this report.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Mojave Desert Network I & M Program
- Date of Issue
- 2012-09
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- GRBA , MOJN , NRSS , 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