USGS-NPS vegetation mapping: Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site

Salas, David; Pucherelli, Michael

The 2002 Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site Vegetation Mapping Project was conducted as part of and in accordance with the U.S. Geological Survey/National Park Service (USGS/NPS) Vegetation Mapping Program. This Program is being administered by the Center for Biological Informatics (CBI), Biological Resources Division of the USGS, Denver, Colorado and was initiated as part of the NPS Inventory & Monitoring Program. The primary goal of the Program is to classify, describe, and map vegetation for approximately 270 NPS units. This mapping project was performed by the Remote Sensing and GIS Group (RSGIG), Technical Service Center, Bureau of Reclamation, Department of Interior, Denver, Colorado. In addition to the main contractor, NatureServe provided initial descriptions and methodology for the vegetation classification. The vegetation mapping protocol for KNRI was modified from the standard techniques due to its extremely small size and history of alteration to the native vegetation. No systematic survey was conducted to describe the vegetation. Instead, NatureServe developed a list of potential types. This list was then compared to vegetation types found during the site visit and the results are presented in this report. In addition, photointerpretation was conducted prior to the site visit. All vegetation types that could be delineated or differentiated were identified and assigned a vegetation type using the list provided by NatureServe. Each polygon delineated was visited in the field and assigned its respective vegetation type. This eliminated the need for a follow-up accuracy assessment. A total of 17 vegetation (land cover) classes were used for interpretation of approximately 8872 acres encompassing the Park and surrounding environs. Vegetation map classes were determined through field reconnaissance and reference to the preliminary list of potential vegetation types provided by NatureServe. The vegetation map was created from photographic interpretation of June 20, 2002, 1:12,000 scale color aerial photographs (0.5 hectare minimum mapping unit). All vegetation and land-use information was then transferred to a GIS database using the latest grayscale USGS digital orthophoto quarter-quads as the base map and using a combination of on-screen digitizing and scanning techniques. Overall thematic map accuracy for the Park is considered 100% as all interpreted polygons received a filed visit for verification. Field work was conducted during the last week in August, 2002.

USGS-NPS vegetation mapping: Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site

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