Vegetation Information for the MIIN Vegetation Inventory Project

Cogan, Daniel; Von Loh, Jim

Minidoka National Historic Site (MIIN) administrative boundaries encompass approximately 78 acres of the Snake River Plain in south-central Idaho. It is managed by staff from Hagerman Fossil Beds National Monument (HAFO) located to the west near Hagerman, Idaho in the Snake River canyon. Of the nine parks that comprise the Upper Columbia Basin Network (UCBN) MIIN is the only one that is not eleigible for funding a vegetation classification and mapping project under the NVMP because it was recently designated as a National Historic Site (2001). The NVMP selected 270 park units for classification and mapping in the early 1990s and are presently funding that selection list, exclusive of MIIN. This vegetation mapping database is being donated to the NPS-UCBN by CTI at no cost, recognizing the value of this database for natural resources management within this newly emerging site. MIIN is located approximately 40 miles east of Hagerman, near the city of Burley in Jerome County. This terrain supports approximately 250 species of vascular plants and includes examples of native plant communities indigenous to this area and semi-natural plant communities that have become established since settlement by ranchers and farmers and later use as an internment camp. The site presently consists of a small acreage within the formerly 33,000-acre Minidoka Internment Camp which housed an estimated 13,000 Nikkei during World War II. To better understand the distribution of the plant assemblages located on HAFO (some of which also occur at MIIN), the NPS-UCBN started a vegetation classification and mapping project at HAFO in 2006. A three-year program was initiated to complete the task of classifying and mapping the vegetation at HAFO; the results of the HAFO project are being used to develop this volunteer project for MIIN. Phase One which was directed by HAFO and network staff in conjunction with NatureServe developed a vegetation classification using the National Vegetation Classification System (NVCS). Phase Two, directed by Northwest Management, Inc.’s (NMI) GIS Laboratory and Cogan Technology, Incorporated (CTI) produced a digital vegetation map for HAFO. To classify the HAFO vegetation, 85 representative plots located throughout the monument were sampled during the summer of 2006. Analysis of the plot data by the Idaho Conservation Data Center (ICDC) in the winter of 2006-2007 produced 34 distinct plant associations. In addition, CTI described two additional alliances and one distinctive stand of vegetation (i.e. Park Special) that primarily occurred outside of the monument boundary in the HAFO environs. Vegetation descriptions and a field key for all plant assemblages for HAFO (NPS 2009) are used for reference in this report and included in Appendix C. To produce the digital map, 1:12,000-scale true color digital ortho-imagery acquired in 2004 and 2006 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture - Farm Service Agency Aerial Photography Field Office and the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) were acquired and interpreted. For the final map, 20 map units (11 vegetated and nine land use) were developed from the HAFO database and a field reconnaissance survey, then directly cross-walked or matched to their corresponding plant associations and land use classes. All of the interpreted and remotely sensed data were converted to Geographic Information System (GIS) databases using ArcGIS software. Final maps were printed for use by the UCBN, HAFO, and MIIN managers. There was no accuracy assessment of this donated project, as discussed herein.

Vegetation Information for the MIIN Vegetation Inventory Project

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