The USGS-NPS Vegetation Characterization Program is a cooperative effort by the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS) and the National Park Service (NPS) to classify, describe, and map vegetation
communities in more than 280 national park units across the United States. This landmark
program is both the first to provide national-scale descriptions of vegetation for a Federal
agency and the first to create national vegetation standards for its data products. Its goal
is to meet specific information needs identified by the National Park Service with additional
cooperative projects for the FWS at Ouray and Lacreek National Wildlife Refuges, both now
served on the website, and with the BLM at Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area.
The vegetation mapping program is an important part of the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program,
a long-term effort to develop baseline data for all national park units that have a natural
resource component. It is jointly managed by the USGS Center for Biological Informatics and
the National Park Service�s Inventory and Monitoring Program.
Program activities are based on peer-reviewed, objective science. Comprehensive vegetation
information is provided at national and regional levels, while also serving local management
needs of individual parks. Stringent quality control procedures ensure that products are
accurate and consistent for initial inventory purposes and replicable for monitoring
purposes. The spatially enabled digital products produced by the program are available on
the World Wide Web.
Program scientists have developed data collection procedures for classification, mapping,
accuracy assessment, and use of existing data. Program products meet Federal Geographic
Data Committee standards for vegetation classification and metadata, and national standards
for spatial accuracy and data transfer. Standards include a minimum mapping unit of 0.5
hectares and classification accuracy of 80% for each map class. Nature Serve, an important
partner in the USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping program, is the caretaker of the National
Vegetation Classification System, which is used by the program to classify vegetation
communities.
A report of project methods and results is provided at completion of individual projects.
Project results include a rich set of data and information for each park project, as
follows:
U.S. Department of the Interior |
U.S. Geological Survey
