Effigy Mounds National Monument Vegetation Mapping Project - Spatial Vegetation Data
Vegetation Inventory
Dates
Publication Date
2005-01-31
Time Period
2005-01-31
Summary
The vegetation spatial database coverage (vegetation map) is a product of the Effigy Mounds National Monument Vegetation Mapping Project, USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program (VMP). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and the Minneapolis Office of NatureServe in Minneapolis, Minnesota, have completed mapping and classification of existing plant communities of Effigy Mounds National Monument (EFMO) and extended surroundings. Photointerpreters, ecologists, and botanists collaborated to describe National Vegetation Classification System (NVCS) plant communities (associations) and determine how best to map them using aerial photographs. --- Two vegetation map coverages [...]
Summary
The vegetation spatial database coverage (vegetation map) is a product of the Effigy Mounds National Monument Vegetation Mapping Project, USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program (VMP). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and the Minneapolis Office of NatureServe in Minneapolis, Minnesota, have completed mapping and classification of existing plant communities of Effigy Mounds National Monument (EFMO) and extended surroundings. Photointerpreters, ecologists, and botanists collaborated to describe National Vegetation Classification System (NVCS) plant communities (associations) and determine how best to map them using aerial photographs. --- Two vegetation map coverages were produced, the Yellow River and Sny Magill Units and their respective environs. Vegetation and land use were interpreted using high-quality mirror stereoscopes and 1:8,000-scale color infrared aerial photographs dated October 9, 2000. Polygons were mapped to 0.25 ha (0.62 acres) and, for specific classes, to 0.1 ha (0.25 acres). The interpreted data were digitally and spatially referenced using state-of-the-art mapping software, making the map data usable in geographic information systems (GIS). --- Covering 4,972 ha (12,286 acres), 2,844 polygons make up the 2 geospatial map coverages with an average polygon size of 1.7 ha (4.3 acres). Of the area mapped, 2,179 polygons (76.6%) represent NVCS plant communities as defined by NatureServe. Those polygons cover 3,167 ha (7,825 acres; 63.7%) of the total map area. Another 529 polygons (18.6%) represent NVCS Formation level types covering 1,316 ha (3,251 acres; 26.5%) of the total map area. The remaining 136 polygons (4.8%) represent land use features covering 489 ha (1,208 acres; 9.8%). EFMO lands comprise 1,022 ha (2,526 acres; 20.6%) of the map coverage area. About 563 ha (1,390 acres; 11.3%) of the map coverage area is of Iowa's Yellow River State Forest. --- Results from a thematic accuracy assessment of map classes representing NVCS plant communities provide an overall accuracy of 92% (Kappa index of 90%). Most individual map class themes exceed the VMP standard of 80% with a 90% confidence interval. --- The vegetation spatial database coverages are projected in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM), Zone 15, using North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83).
The vegetation spatial database coverage was produced for the Effigy Mounds National Monument Vegetation Mapping Project, USGS-NPS VMP. The focus of this metadata report centers on the vegetation map coverage and not necessarily the vegetation classification or accuracy assessment. Although references are made to classification and accuracy assessment, their documentation are found in separate metadata reports and in the EFMO Project Report.
Preview Image
Graphic file showing vegetation distribution of Effigy Mounds NM and environs. Low resolution for web browser.
