National Park Service Northern Colorado Plateau Network U.S. Department of the Interior Information Brief Intermountain Region Inventory & Monitoring Program

2011 Vegetation Mapping at Zion National Park

To create a map, vegetation is fi rst classifi ed into associations Wondering where in the park to look for a and/or alliances, which are repeating assemblages of plants in certain bird? Trying to plan a prescribed fi re? similar habitats. Those assemblages are then organized into map classes, which identify meaningful units to represent exist- Need help identifying potential habitat for a ing vegetation and land uses (see map, next page). Ecological threatened species? You need a vegetation map! systems are used to organize the map classes. They represent groups of communities that occur in similar environments and are shaped by similar ecological processes. Vegetation maps visually display the distribution of vegetation communities across a landscape. Knowing what’s growing For the Zion NP project, the mapping crew classifi ed vegetation where, and what kinds of habitat occur in a park, helps park into 95 community types and developed 48 natural or semi-nat- managers to successfully conduct a variety of activities, includ- ural vegetation map classes. The most frequent vegetation map ing park planning, resource monitoring, interpretive programs, unit was the Gambel Oak Shrubland Alliance. The most abun- prescribed fi re, and climate change response. Vegetation maps dant map unit was the Pinyon - Juniper Woodland Complex. also provide a baseline for ecological studies. The mapping results revealed that the park’s low-elevation In cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey and many other (~3,700–4,200 ft) vegetation includes desert and semi-desert partners, the National Park Service (NPS) is engaged in an shrublands dominated by blackbrush, big sagebrush, fourwing eff ort to classify, describe, and map vegetation communities in saltbush, rabbitbrush, greasewood, snakeweed, and Mormon more than 270 NPS units across the U.S. Each map represents tea, with smaller areas of desert grasslands and lowland ripar- hundreds to thousands of hours of eff ort by dozens of con- ian forests and woodlands. Mid-elevation (~4,000–6,800 ft) tributors: ecologists, fi eld technicians, GIS technicians, data vegetation is often dominated by pinyon-juniper woodlands, managers, writers, editors, and park staff . Each fi nished project with woodland understories dominated by Utah serviceberry, comprises not just a map and report, but also an entire library greenleaf manzanita, big sagebrush, mountain mahogany, of vegetation data and descriptive information. curl-leaf mountain-mahogany, Stansbury cliff -rose, turbinella live oak, or Gambel oak. Higher-elevation (~6,000–8,600 ft) To create each mapping project, a vegetation mapping team vegetation is characterized by montane vegetation types, such from NatureServe and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation gath- as ponderosa pine woodland and forest, quaking aspen forest, ered aerial photography, established and collected data from Douglas-fi r forest, white fi r forests, and mixed montane shrub- vegetation plots, used those data to classify vegetation types lands and grasslands. and write descriptions, wrote a vegetation-type key, performed photo interpretation, assessed the accuracy of the results, cre- Map on other side! ated a geodatabase, and wrote a fi nal report. June 2011 National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Carmel Formation (Limestone) Chinle Formation - Petrified Forest (Shale) Chinle Formation - Shinarump (Shale) Kaibab Formation (Limestone) Kayenta Formation (Sandstone) Moenave Formation (Sandstone) Moenkopi Formation (Conglomerate) Navajo Formation (Sandstone) Temple Cap (Sandstone) Basalt Talus Gullies and Eroded Lands Slides (Fans and Slumps) Snags Tinajas (Natural Water Holes/Tanks) Unvegetated Volcanic Cinders and Cinder Cones Volcanic and Basalt Cliffs Croplands and Pastures Orchards, Groves, Vineyards, Nurseries, and Ornamental Horticultural Areas Other Agricultural Lands Sand Bars and Beaches Strip Mines, Quarries, and Gravel Pits Canals Intermittent Streams Perennial Streams Reservoirs Stock Ponds Mixed Urban or Built-up Land Transportation, Communications, and Utilities Zion National Park Boundary Talus Mixed Shrubland Mixed Mountain Shrubland Complex Greenleaf Manzanita - Gambel Oak (Utah Serviceberry) Shrubland Greenleaf Manzanita Shrubland Complex Emory Seepwillow Shrubland Tamarisk spp. Temporarily Flooded Shrubland Arrow-weed Seasonally Flooded Shrubland Fremont Cottonwood Woodland Complex Fremont Cottonwood - Velvet Ash Woodland Russian Olive Semi-natural Woodland Honey Mesquite Shrub Stands Cattail, Bulrush, Emergent Wetland Complex Littleleaf Mountain Mahogany Slickrock Sparse Vegetation Mountain Mahogany Rock Pavement Sparse Vegetation Ponderosa Pine Slickrock Sparse Vegetation Blackbrush Shrubland Complex Nevada Joint-fir Basalt Shrubland Sand Sagebrush Colorado Plateau Shrubland Black Sagebrush Dwarf-shrubland Complex Juniper / Big Sagebrush Woodland Complex Pinyon-Juniper / Gambel Oak Woodland Complex Pinyon-Juniper Woodland Complex Perennial Disturbed Grassland Complex Cheatgrass Annual Disturbed Grassland Painted Desert Sparsely Vegetated Alliance Dry Meadow Mixed Herbaceous Vegetation Mosaic James' Galleta Herbaceous Vegetation Sand Dropseed Great Basin Herbaceous Vegetation Rabbitbrush Shrubland Complex Snakeweed - (Prickly-pear species) / James' Galleta Dwarf-shrubland Big Sagebrush Shrubland Complex White Fir Forest Alliance Sedge-Rush Wet Meadow Herbaceous Vegetation Mosaic Gambel Oak Shrubland Alliance Gambel Oak Woodland Mountain Snowberry / Kentucky Bluegrass Semi- natural Shrubland Utah Serviceberry Shrubland Sandbar Willow Shrubland Alliance Strapleaf Willow / Beaked Sedge Shrubland Single-leaf Ash Woodland Boxelder Woodland Alliance Bigtooth Maple / Gambel Oak Forest Douglas-fir Forest Alliance Quaking Aspen Forest Complex Ponderosa Pine / Greenleaf Manzanita Woodland Ponderosa Pine / Gambel Oak Woodland Complex Ponderosa Pine / Mixed Herbaceous Woodland Complex Ponderosa Pine Forest (Closed Canopy) Vegetation Map Classes Miles Projection UTM Zone 12, Datum NAD83 Produced by USGS 024 8 12 Zion National Park Vegetation Map

Northern Colorado Plateau Network  http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/units/ncpn/ USGS/NPS Vegetation Characterization Program  http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/index.html