Phased Collection of Accuracy Assessment Field Data in Support of Vegetation Mapping at Amistad National Recreation Area

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Vegetation mapping is an inventory process that documents the composition, distribution and abundance of plant communities across a landscape. It is one of the 12 baseline inventories to be completed for all 270 national parks within the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program. The Chihuahuan Desert Inventory & Monitoring Network (CHDN) is currently coordinating the development of vegetation maps for national parks in Texas. This project undertakes Accuracy Assessment (AA) vegetation mapping efforts in Amistad National Recreation Area (AMIS). Each vegetation mapping project is a multi-step and multi-year process that involves the skills and interactions of several parties, including NPS staff, a field ecology team, a classification team, and a mapping team. NPS heads the project management team and coordinates each of the other teams. The field ecology team collects field classification plot data following standard sampling protocols established by the National Vegetation Mapping Program (NVMP). Using the data collected by the field vegetation team, a classification team develops the vegetation classification, vegetation descriptions and field key to vegetation types. The classifications/map types are then field tested in the accuracy assessment (AA) phase of the process (Step 11, Formal Accuracy Assessment [NPS 2013]). The NPS mapping team provides GIS support throughout the project and ultimately creates the digital vegetation map and report suitable for publication. The University of Texas at Austin Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (UT-LBJWC)â¿¿s field crews will collect AA data at AMIS. The data collection will occur across two years and will be completed in phases. Phase 1 (2016) entails project planning using legacy data, GIS information and AA target point generation). Phase 2 (2016-2017), entails field collection of AA data at AMIS. During Phase 3 (2017 and 2018), the information gathered in the field will be entered into the NPS PLOTs database and a final project report will be produced.

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