Field data for the Vegetation Mapping Inventory Project of Voyageurs National Park

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. The preliminary classification was field tested during the summer and fall of 1996. A combined team of aerial photo interpreters and ecologists collected observation point data on the vegetation communities they encountered while in the field. The data helped clarify the nature of the classification units and their diagnostic aerial photo signatures. Additional aerial photo "ground truth" fieldwork was performed throughout the 1996 field season by the photo interpretation team to learn, test, and verify photo signatures. Efforts were concentrated in the northern one-third of the project area for which a set of photographs had already been acquired. Ecologists intermittently assisted to assure correct field calls and to verify additional vegetation types as they were encountered. By the end of the 1996 field season, mapping protocols were sufficiently stabilized to permit the aerial photo interpretation team to begin delineating polygons for the northern one-third of the project area. During the 1997 field season, "ground truth" field activities continued, focusing on the southern two-thirds of the project area with an emphasis on photo signatures not commonly observed the previous year. Throughout this field process, map unit classes were developed, and a fuller understanding of their linkage to vegetation types was strengthened. Vegetation plot data were entered into the Minnesota Natural Heritage Program's plot database. Species were assigned standardized codes and names based on the PLANTS database (USDA, NRCS 1999). These data were transferred to the PLOTS database developed by the Nature Conservancy (TNC 1997) for final inclusion in this report.