Vegetation Classification and Mapping of Wilson's Creek National Battlefield

Diamond, David; Elliott, Lee; Debacker, Michael; James, Kevin; Pursell, Dyanna; Struckhoff, Alicia

Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield (WICR) is situated about five miles southwest of Springfield, Missouri, and preserves the site of the Civil War engagement called the Battle of Wilsons’s Creek. The landscape is part of the James River Oak Savanna/Woodland land type association within the Springfield Plain Subsection of the Ozark Highlands ecoregion (Nigh and Schroeder 2002). Much of the area was used as cropland in the past, and the remainder was used for grazing or forest products or both, so current vegetation represents plant communities in different stages of recovery from disturbance. A vegetation classification and mapping project was initiated in 2010 and completed in 2012. Protocols and products were produced following National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Program guidelines. Classification was based on 50 quantitative field plots, which were placed across WICR in a stratified random manner based on qualitative field observation points, consideration of biophysical setting, and viewing of air photos. Mapping was based on a combination of image object generation and heads-up digitization of air photos on-screen. Accuracy assessment points obtained during 2012 verified that the map is 81.3% accurate across all classes. Most of WICR, including 1,836 acres (743 hectares), or 93%, is semi-natural, whereas 7% is developed or in croplands designed to enhance interpretation of the battlefield during the engagement. Grasslands, including periodically mowed or burned open areas, cover roughly half of WICR. Successional woodlands and forests cover the other half. Small glades, though they cover <1% of the area, represent significant natural communities, and support populations of the rare Missouri bladderpod (Lesquerella filiformis; Annis et al. 2011). Open areas at WICR are variable across years due to periodic mowing or burning. After mowing or prescribed fire, areas show a grassland aspect for one season, and thereafter appear increasingly shrub-dominated as perennial shrubs overtop grasses. Open areas also vary across short spatial scales, which reflects past restoration activities and natural variation after recovery from rowcrop agriculture and grazing.

Vegetation Classification and Mapping of Wilson's Creek National Battlefield

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