The 2009 Vegetation Map of De Soto National Memorial
Whelan KR, Sudalter E, Patterson J , Vargas RM, Atkinson AJ, Witcher B. 2009. The 2009 Vegetation Map of De Soto National Memorial. Natural Resource Technical Report. NPS/SFCN/NRTR—2009/240. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
De Soto National Memorial (DESO) was created in 1948 to commemorate the 1539 landing of Hernando de Soto. De Soto National Memorial and the adjacent Riverview Pointe Preserve are part of the Shaw’s Point Archaeological District which comprises a large prehistoric coastal village site that was inhabited by Florida Indians from about 356 B.C. to A.D. 110. The native vegetation consists primarily of mangroves, beaches, hammock, and pines. The majority of the park is comprised of wetlands (mangroves and associated shoreline mostly) that are intimately tied to the Manatee River and Tampa Bay. De Soto National Memorial provided $5,900 funded by the Natural Resources Preservation Program (NRPP), Small Parks (Project Management Information System [PMIS] project number 105225), to the NPS South Florida / Caribbean Network (SFCN) to create a vegetation map of De Soto National Memorial (26 acres) and the adjacent Riverview Pointe Preserve (11 acres) in 2007. This report documents the steps involved in creating the De Soto National Memorial vegetation map. The De Soto National Memorial vegetation map was made in UTM, NAD 83, zone 17N coordinates with a minimum mapping unit of 400m2. Aerial imagery from January 2007 and LIDAR imagery from 2003 were used for initial polygon development. These polygons were further refined with field data from December 2007 and June 2009. The final vegetation map has a total of 21 mapping classes and 56 polygons. Map class descriptions are provided in Appendix B with some modifications to the Rutchey et al. (2006, v. 5/22/2007) vegetation key and classification provided in Appendix F. Photos of map classes are provided in Appendix C. A list of species encountered during the field assessment is provided in Appendix D. Maps are provided in Appendix E. Data were collected for 70 field points as well as additional points delineating 0.57 miles of drainages. Nineteen (19) shell mound polygons were created from data collected during this project and a previous effort by Daniel Stephens (DESO NPS). Eighty-four percent (84%) of the polygons had vegetation plot data collection and the remainder were visually confirmed.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Whelan, Kevin; Sudalter, Eric; Patterson, Judd; Vargas, Rachel; Atkinson, Andrea; Witcher, Brian
- Date of Issue
- 2009-09
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- DESO , NRSS , SFCN
- Keywords
- De Soto National Monument, Florida, Map, Vegetation, Vegetation Mapping Inventory
- License
- Public Domain