Field data for the Vegetation Mapping Inventory Project of Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument

This reference is an assemblage of field data collected as part the baseline vegetation inventory for the park unit. Typical files here are vegetation plot data, accuracy assessment data, field photos, PDF showing locations of vegetation plots and accuracy assessment data, and other data for this type. We developed the vegetation map for Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument using a combination of automated digital image classification and direct analog image interpretation of aerial photography and satellite imagery. Initially, we processed the aerial photography and satellite imagery and entered the data, along with ancillary spatial layers, into a GIS. A working legend of ecologically-based vegetation map units was developed using the vegetation classification described in Chapter 2 as the foundation. The intent was to develop map units that targeted the plant-association level wherever possible, within the constraints of image quality, information content, and resolution. Using the provisional legend and ground-control points provided by the field-plot data (the same data used to develop the vegetation classification), we conducted a series of automated image segmentations and supervised image classifications. This process was followed by fine-scale map refinement using direct image interpretation and manual editing. The outcome was a vegetation map composed of a suite of map units defined by plant associations and represented by sets of mapped polygons with similar spectral and physical characteristics. Vegetation sampling was designed to capture as wide a variety of vegetation types as possible within the seasonal time frame available for field work (typically during the rainy season, between July 15 to October 15, when botanical expression is at its best).