Vegetation mapping of Lake Mead National Recreation Area

Salas, David; Stevens, Joe; Evens, Julie; Cogan, Dan; Ratchford, Jaime; Hastings, Daniel

Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LAKE) encompasses 1,740 square miles in south eastern Nevada and south western Arizona, and lies within the Mojave Desert. Two other national parks share borders with LAKE. These are Grand Canyon National Park and Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument to the east. The Park is divided into almost equal portions between the states of Arizona and Nevada. This mapping effort is part of the National Park Services’ national inventory and monitoring program and will provide core or ‘baseline’ information that park managers need to effectively manage and protect park resources. This vegetation inventory was conducted in accordance with specified protocols and quality assurance standards. Data obtained through this inventory are compatible across multiple Park units, allowing for synthesis and analysis at broader levels. The vegetation inventory and mapping described in this report is one of 12 baseline inventories of natural resources to be completed for all 270 national parks within the National Park Service’s Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program. The National Park Service (NPS) and partners cooperate to produce detailed vegetation classifications and digital databases, including vegetation maps, as part of this nationwide I&M Program. In 2009, the Mojave Desert Inventory & Monitoring Network (MOJN I&M) began its process to develop a vegetation classification and vegetation key for three parks, Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LAKE), Death Valley National Park (DEVA), and Mojave National Preserve (MOJA). Once the classification and vegetation keys were complete, the mapping efforts were started first with LAKE, followed by MOJA and DEVA. Vegetation inventory and mapping is a process to document the composition, distribution and abundance of vegetation types across the landscape and involves the skills and interactions of several parties; including the NPS, a vegetation classification team, and a mapping team. This required a multi-year approach and consisted of several broadly linked phases: (1) vegetation classification using the National Vegetation Classification (NVC), (2) digital vegetation map production, and (3) map accuracy assessment.

Vegetation mapping of Lake Mead National Recreation Area

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