Vegetation mapping at Fort Caroline National Memorial: Photointerpretation key and final vegetation map

Cotten, David; Healy, Shannon; Adams, Brandon; O'Hare, Nancy; Bernardes, Sergio; Jordan, Thomas; Madden, Marguerite

The University of Georgia Department of Geography’s Center for Geospatial Research (CGR), with the support of the National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Mapping Inventory (VMI) Program, described and mapped vegetation at Fort Caroline National Memorial (FOCA). Mapping was accomplished through collaboration with the NPS Southeast Coast Network (SECN), the North Carolina office of NatureServe (Durham, N.C.), and Amec-Foster-Wheeler Environmental & Infrastructure, Inc. A final vegetation map for Fort Caroline National Memorial was created to represent the vegetation occurring within the park during 2012. This product represents the final of four steps necessary to produce an accurate vegetation map based upon aerial photographs. This includes the determination of the community element global (CEGL) codes (2008) and acquisition of aerial imagery (2012), using the aerial imagery, with five ground truthing points (2014), to create a draft vegetation map, performing an accuracy assessment (2015), and then using all the available information to create a final vegetation map (2018). Using dominant vegetation classes and secondary vegetation classes, detailed vegetation maps were created for Fort Caroline National Memorial. Polygons and attributes within the 500-meter (1,640-foot [ft]) buffer were created on a broader scale using a system based on the Anderson Level II classification scheme which includes anthropogenic and land use/land cover (LULC) classes. Within the memorial, the more detailed National Vegetation Classification System (NVCS) was used. The most common class found in Fort Caroline National Memorial is the combination class 11007 (3564—Southeastern Coastal Plain Xeric Hammock, 7020—Southeastern Florida Maritime Hammock, and 7032—Maritime Live Oak Hammock), covering approximately 64% of the Memorial. All non-NVCS classes combined to cover less than 5% of the total area of the park. A rigorous accuracy assessment was conducted on the 11 map classes within the boundary of Fort Caroline National Memorial representing floristic types within the National Vegetation Classification System. Results showed a 75% map accuracy and a kappa rating of 67% using 36 accuracy assessment points. The products generated from this project include vegetation maps, a photointerpretation key, summary statistics of each vegetation class, and a detailed geodatabase with digital maps.

Vegetation mapping at Fort Caroline National Memorial: Photointerpretation key and final vegetation map

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