The ESA Panel on Vegetation Classification was constituted in January, 1995, by the Ecological Society of America to support and facilitate the creation of standardized, scientifically credible North American vegetation classification.
Vision Statement
The ESA Panel on Vegetation Classification provides impartial scientific expertise to public, professional and private partners in support of the development and use of a scientifically credible national vegetation classification system (see ByLaws PDF | HTML).
The Panel’s goals are to:
- Advance the standardization of the national vegetation classification;
- Advance quality assurance of the data in the national vegetation classification;
- Support the application of the national vegetation classification to management and conservation objectives;
- Foster and coordinate research in vegetation classification; and
- Promote understanding of North American vegetation classification information and its importance to the national and international community.
U.S. National Vegetation Classification System Partnership
In April 1999, the Panel formalized a Memorandum of Understanding with The Nature Conservancy/NatureServe and the U.S. Geological Survey, on behalf of the National Biological Information Infrastructure and the U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee, for the purpose of forming a partnership to develop, implement, and maintain the National Vegetation Classification (NVC) system.
New National Vegetation Classification Standard Accepted
On February 11, 2008 the Steering Committee of the U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee formally approved the 2008 National Vegetation Classification Standard. This event represented the culmination of over a decade of effort by the ESA Panel on Vegetation Classification. As a dynamic content standard, the FGDC Vegetation Standard creates a process for adopting, describing, and improving individual vegetation classification types over time.
The new standard can be found on FGDC’s webpage: www.fgdc.gov/standards/projects/FGDC-standards-projects/vegetation
Acknowledgments
The ESA Vegetation Classification Panel's activities have been funded by the former National Biological Service (now the Biological Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey), the Gap Analysis Program, the Federal Geographic Data Committee, the Bureau of Land Management, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Science Foundation, and the Army Environmental Policy Institute. The ESA Science Office provides support to the ESA Panel on Vegetation Classification
