Digital vegetation database and map for Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area: Final report
Jordan T and Madden M. 2024. Digital vegetation database and map for Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area: Final report. Science Report. NPS/SR—2024/199. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/2305475
This report describes the vegetation mapping procedures employed by the Center for Remote Sensing and Mapping Science (CRMS), Department of Geography, University of Georgia, for the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (BISO) in the Appalachian Highlands Inventory and Monitoring Network (APHN) of the National Park Service under Cooperative Agreement No. H5028 01 0651, entitled, “Digital Vegetation Databases and Maps for National Park Service Units in the Appalachian Highlands and Cumberland/ Piedmont Networks”. Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area (BISO) is located in the Cumberland Plateau of north central Tennessee and southern Kentucky. Encompassing a total area of 113,661acres (45,997 hectares), BISO is a rugged area carved from sandstone and shale, and filled with river gorges, steep cliffs, and unique sandstone arches. Using the National Vegetation Classification System (NVCS) developed by NatureServe, with additional classes and modifiers developed by CRMS, the vegetation communities for BISO were manually interpreted from 1:16,000 scale stereo color infrared aerial photographs acquired by Air Photographics, Inc. (Martinsburg, WV) in October 2003. Although the legislated area of BISO is 113,661 acres, the total area mapped was 122,368 ac (49,520 ha) and corresponds to the boundary file provided by the park. In addition, a 22,660 ac (9,170 ha) buffer area, extending 400 m outside of the park was mapped using a more general classification system meaning the total area mapped for BISO was 145,028acres (58,793 ha). Using a minimum mapping unit of 0.5 hectares (MMU = 0.5 ha), polygons representing areas of relatively uniform vegetation were delineated and annotated on clear plastic overlays registered to the aerial photographs. Polygons were labeled according to the dominant vegetation community. Where the polygons were not uniform, second and third vegetation classes were added. A number of modifier codes were employed to indicate important aspects of the polygon that could be interpreted from the photograph. The polygons on the overlays were then corrected using photogrammetric procedures and converted to vector format for use in creating a geographic information system (GIS) database for the park. High resolution color orthophotographs were created from the original aerial photographs for use in the GIS. Upon completion of the GIS database (including vegetation, orthophotos and updated roads and hydrology layers), both hardcopy and softcopy maps were produced for delivery.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Jordan, Thomas; Madden, Marguerite
- Date of Issue
- 2024-10
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- DOI
- 10.36967/2305475
- Units
- BISO , NRSS
- Keywords
- Accuracy Assessment, Aerial Photography, alliances, Associations, community association, Digital Orthophoto, Digital Spatial Database, DOQ, DOQQ, Field Data, flight line, GIS, GPS, habitat mapping, Inventory Projects, Landcover, Landscape, National Park, National Park Service Inventory, National Vegetation Classification Standard, National Vegetation Classification System, NVCS, Orthophoto, Plots, U.S. National Vegetation Classification, USNVC, USNVCS, Vegetation Composition Inventory, Vegetation Inventory, Vegetation Inventory Report, Vegetation Map Report, Vegetation Mapping, Vegetation Plots