Vegetation inventory, mapping, and characterization report, Chiricahua National Monument: Volume II, type descriptions
Studd SE, Black JS, Hubbard JA, Galvin JB, Fallon B. 2025. Vegetation inventory, mapping, and characterization report, Chiricahua National Monument: Volume II, type descriptions. Science Report. NPS/SR—2025/252. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/2308488
The Sonoran Desert Network (SODN) conducted a vegetation mapping and characterization effort at Chiricahua National Monument (CHIR) from 2008 to 2011. This project was completed under the National Park Service (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring Division Vegetation Mapping Inventory, which aims to complete baseline mapping and classification inventories at more than 270 NPS units. The vegetation map data collected provides park managers with a digital map product that meets national standards of spatial and thematic accuracy, while also placing the vegetation into a regional and national context. A total of 29 distinct vegetation communities were described. These communities ranged from lower-elevation grass and forb systems with scattered mesquite (Prosopis velutina) or juniper trees (Juniperus arizonica) to rugged, exposed wooded shrublands and to deeply shaded and mesic drainages with Madrean pines (Pinus engelmannii, P. leiophylla) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) forests. Each of the 29 communities was described at the association level, with detailed narratives that include lists of species found in each association, their abundance, landscape features, and overall community structural characteristics. Of the 29 vegetation types, only nine were pre-existing “accepted” types within the National Vegetation Classification (NVC). The remaining types are newly described, specific to CHIR, and will be proposed for formal status within the NVC. This document is Volume II of two volumes in the CHIR Vegetation Mapping Inventory. Volume I is the main project report and provides summaries of each type description, while Volume II provides the unabridged versions of the type descriptions. These detailed type descriptions include floristic and structural characteristics, species abundances and constancy values, environmental and landscape descriptions, and characterizations of the community variability across CHIR.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Studd, Sarah; Black, Joseph; Hubbard, J.; Galvin, Jeffrey; Fallon, B.
- Date of Issue
- 2025-03
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- DOI
- 10.36967/2308488
- Units
- CHIR , NRSS , SODN
- Keywords
- Chiricahua mountains, inventory, Madrean, mapping, National Vegetation Classification Standard, native plants, plant communities, vegetation classification, vegetation communities, vegetation inventory, wildfire