Vegetation mapping and classification of Pipestone National Monument, Minnesota: Project report

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

Pipestone National Monument (PIPE) is situated in southwestern Minnesota, just north of the town of Pipestone. The site was established in 1937 to protect quarries of pipestone (catlinite) used by Native Americans from prehistoric times, and continuing into the present. A vegetation classification and mapping project was initiated in 2011 and completed in 2013. Protocols and products were produced following National Park Service Vegetation Inventory Program guidelines. Classification was based on 35 field plots and 46 georeferenced observation points. Mapping was based on air photo interpretation and heads-up digitizing of polygons. Accuracy assessment points obtained during 2013 verified that the map is 97.9% accurate. Ten vegetation types were classified and mapped. Central Mesic Tallgrass Prairie accounted for 57.3% of the non-developed, vegetated area of the monument (157.1 acres, 63.6 hectares). This type supported a good compliment of native grasses and forbs, but non-natives were also components of the community. The type occupied well-drained uplands to moderately drained, deep-soiled, low flats. Restored Tallgrass Prairie on former croplands was continuous with unbroken sod on the western side of the monument, and made up 24.4% of the area (67.0 acres, 27.1 hectares). A Sioux quartzite outcrop bisects the monument from north to south on the east side, and in some areas forms a bluff. A shallow-soiled Northern Tallgrass Quartzite Outcrop community occupied a narrow zone near the lip of the bluff and extending along the length of the outcrop from north to south (5.4% of the monument). Bur Oak Woodland occurred in a narrow zone below the bluff in areas where it was formed by the quartzite outcrop (1.9% of the monument). False indigo bush shrubland and floodplain forest communities were associated with Pipestone Creek, which meanders roughly east to west across the central part of the monument. Other ruderal grassland and a shrubland types occurred in small patches across the park in response to human disturbance, but together made up less than 5% of the area.

Vegetation mapping and classification of Pipestone National Monument, Minnesota: Project report

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