Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve Vegetation Mapping Project - Spatial Vegetation Data
Dates
Publication Date
2010
Time Period
2010-03
Summary
High resolution vegetation polygons mapped by the National Park Service. This vegetation classification and mapping effort encompasses 413,031 acres (167,148 ha) within the Alamosa Basin, east of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in south central Colorado. The mapping boundary is made up of several management units from a variety of government and private agencies. These include the National Park Service (Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve - (149,137 acres), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Baca National Wildlife Refuge - 92,623 acres), U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management (Blanca Wetlands), and the Nature Conservancy (Medano-Zapata Ranch - 32,725 acres). The mapped area includes portions of Saguache and Alamosa Counties. [...]
Summary
High resolution vegetation polygons mapped by the National Park Service. This vegetation classification and mapping effort encompasses 413,031 acres (167,148 ha) within the Alamosa Basin, east of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in south central Colorado. The mapping boundary is made up of several management units from a variety of government and private agencies. These include the National Park Service (Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve - (149,137 acres), U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (Baca National Wildlife Refuge - 92,623 acres), U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management (Blanca Wetlands), and the Nature Conservancy (Medano-Zapata Ranch - 32,725 acres). The mapped area includes portions of Saguache and Alamosa Counties. The precise mapping boundary reflects the U.S. Forest Service fire management plan area and is thus an effort by the NPS-USGS mapping program to encompass not only lands within the NPS but also those that are in proximity and that have some type of ecological or management cohesiveness. The final map product was produced in two parts. The F&WS Baca National Wildlife Refuge was produced by F&WS personnel and the remaining portion by Natureserve, Colorado Heritage, USGS, and Bureau of Reclamation staff. Constant communication between these parallel efforts allowed for consistency in both accuracy and classification. These data comply with standards and protocols of the USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program. Specifically these include the following: " Nationally defined standards o National Vegetation Classification Standard o Spatial Data Transfer Standard o Metadata Standard o Taxonomy " Additional Program Standards o Classification Accuracy o Minimum Mapping Unit To effectively classify and map the wide range of vegetation within the mapping boundary required a multi-year approach and consisted of several linked phases: (1) vegetation classification using field data and the National Vegetation Classification (NVC), (2) digital vegetation map production, and (3) map accuracy assessment. To classify the vegetation, we sampled 600 representative plots during the summer of 2006 over the entire mapping area. Analysis of the plot data using ordination and clustering techniques produced distinct plant. These associations were then combined into vegetated map units. Other map units not derived from plot data include sparsely vegetated, non-vegetated, and various cultural features such as roads, urban and farmed lands. The digital vegetation map was produced using a combination of machine processing and visual interpretation. We used two primary image sources. These included 2006 1:12,000-scale infrared aerial photography for the areas west of the Sangre de Cristo Mountain range that was subsequently scanned and mosaiced by the FWS contractor and 2006 NAIP imagery, and ground-truthing to interpret the complex patterns of vegetation and landuse at GRSA. Other referenced imagery included 2006 and 2007 quickbird imagery which covered portions of the project area. During the summer of 2008 we sample 1537 accuracy assessment points to establish a final overall accuracy of 72.4%. This metric is subject to considerable interpretation and is discussed in considerable detail in the final report. All of the interpreted and remotely sensed data were converted to Geographic Information System (GIS) databases using ArcInfo software. Draft maps created from the vegetation classification were field-tested and revised before independent ecologists conducted an assessment of the map's accuracy during 2007.
Vegetation maps of National Parks and National Monuments were developed to support natural resources management, planning, research and interpretation. This mapping effort is part of the National Park Service national inventory and monitoring program and will provide core or 'baseline' information that park managers need to effectively manage and protect park resources. This vegetation inventory was conducted in accordance with specified protocols and quality assurance standards. Data obtained through this inventory are compatible with other efforts, allowing for synthesis and analysis at broader levels (http://www1.nature.nps.gov/protectingrestoring/IM/resourceinventories.cfm).
