Thursday, August 25, 2011

Vegetation Characterization Products Now Available for Cedar Breaks National Monument

Photo: Cedar Breaks
National Monument
USGS-National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Characterization Program (VCP) documentation for Cedar Breaks National Monument has been completed and is available on the VCP Web site. Cedar Breaks National Monument products include aerial photography - graphic of orthophoto mosaic, spatial orthophoto data, and flightline index; project report - photointerpretation key, vegetation descriptions, vegetation key, photos of map class, and accuracy assessment; field data - graphic of field plots, field database, physical descriptive for plots, species list for plots, and plot and AA photos; geospatial vegetation information - graphic of vegetation communities and geodatabase; accuracy assessment information - graphic of accuracy assessment points, and contingency matrix;  metadata, and a link to NPS information about Cedar Breaks National Monument. The goal of the VCP is to classify and map the vegetation communities of National Parks that have a natural resource component. Complete documentation is currently available for one hundred seventeen park units and two U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuge units. The VCP is managed by the USGS Center for Biological Informatics in cooperation with the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program. The USGS Vegetation Characterization effort includes the management and upkeep of the VCP protocols, Web-based access to the standards, and the Web-based access to NPS Vegetation Characterization program finished products.

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Vegetation Characterization Products Now Available for Bandelier National Park

Photo:

Bandelier National Park

USGS-National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Characterization Program (VCP) documentation for Bandelier National Park has been completed and is available on the VCP Web site. Bandelier National Park products include aerial photography - graphic of orthophoto mosaic, and spatial orthophoto data; project report - photointerpretation key, vegetation descriptions, vegetation key, photos of map class, and accuracy assessment; field data - graphic of field plots, field database, physical descriptive for plots, species list for plots, and plot photos; geospatial vegetation information - graphic of vegetation communities and geodatabase; accuracy assessment information - graphic of accuracy assessment points, contingency matrix, and AA photos;  metadata, and a link to NPS information about Bandelier National Park. The goal of the VCP is to classify and map the vegetation communities of National Parks that have a natural resource component. Complete documentation is currently available for one hundred sixteen park units and two U.S. Fish and Wildlife refuge units. The VCP is managed by the USGS Center for Biological Informatics in cooperation with the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program. The USGS Vegetation Characterization effort includes the management and upkeep of the VCP protocols, Web-based access to the standards, and the Web-based access to NPS Vegetation Characterization program finished products.

Friday, August 5, 2011

FGDC Vegetation Subcommittee to be Represented at ESA Meeting

The Vegetation Subcommittee of the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) will be well represented at this year’s Ecological Society of America (ESA) meeting.  The subcommittee responsible for the implementation of the National Vegetation Classification (NVC) is actively engaged in a variety of activities at this year’s annual meeting, which will be held in Austin, TX, from August 6-12.  A diversity of partners work together to implement the NVC, including the U.S. Forest Service, USGS, NatureServe, the Vegetation Classification Panel of the Ecological Society, and all the member agencies represented on the subcommittee.  The meeting will include an NVC related field trip to Pedernales Falls State Park, a vegetation classification workshop, an organized oral session specific to use of the NVC in assessments, and an NVC booth sponsored by the ESA Vegetation Classification Panel. Dr. Alexa McKerrow, NVC implementation manager, as well as FGDC and ESA representatives will be available throughout the week to discuss the new standard and the work of the subcommittee.