Field data for the Vegetation Mapping Inventory Project of Buffalo National River

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. Photointerpreters, ecologists, and botanists collaborated to identify and describe vegetation types within the National Vegetation Classification Standard (NVCS) and to determine how best to map them by using aerial photographs. The team collected 250 vegetation sampling plots within the BUFF. Furthermore, data from 891 accuracy assessment (AA) sites were collected (of which 889 were used to test accuracy of the vegetation map layer). These data sets led to the identification of 56 vegetation types at the associations in the NVCS at BUFF. Two additional vegetation types are recognized at the group level in the NVCS. A total of 29 map classes were developed to map the vegetation and general land cover of BUFF, including the following: 26 map classes representing natural/semi-natural vegetation types in the NVCS, one map class representing cultural vegetation (e.g., developed lands) in the NVCS, and two map classes representing non-vegetation features (e.g., open-water bodies). Features were interpreted from viewing color-infrared aerial imagery dated October 2006 (during fall leaf change) via digital-onscreen three-dimensional stereoscopic workflow systems in geographic information systems (GIS). The interpreted data were digitally and spatially referenced, making the spatial database layers usable in GIS. Environmental models were used to further separate vegetation types where visual interpretation was limited or not possible.

Field data for the Vegetation Mapping Inventory Project of Buffalo National River

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