Vegetation Classification and Map: Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument Contents
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National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Vegetation Classification and Map Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/SCPN/NRTR—2012/553 ON THE COVER Abó Ruin looking west above Cañon Espinoso. Cibola National Forest, Mountainair Ranger District, is in the distance Photography by: Amanda Kennedy Vegetation Classification and Map Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/SCPN/NRTR—2012/553 Esteban Muldavin, Yvonne Chauvin, Amanda Kennedy, and Teri Neville Natural Heritage New Mexico Division Museum of Southwestern Biology University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico Paul Neville Earth Data Analysis Center University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico Keith Schultz, Marion Reid NatureServe Boulder, Colorado Project Coordinators Anne Cully and Lisa Potter Thomas National Park Service Southern Colorado Plateau Network Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, Arizona February 2012 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Fort Collins, Colorado The National Park Service, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science office in Fort Collins, Colorado publishes a range of reports that address natural resource topics of interest and applicability to a broad audience in the National Park Service and others in natural resource management, including scientists, conservation and envi- ronmental constituencies, and the public. The Natural Resource Technical Report Series is used to disseminate results of scientific studies in the physical, biological, and social sciences for both the advancement of science and the achievement of the National Park Service mission. The series provides contributors with a forum for displaying comprehensive data that are often deleted from journals because of page limitations. All manuscripts in the series receive the appropriate level of peer review to ensure that the information is scientif- ically credible, technically accurate, appropriately written for the intended audience, and designed and published in a professional manner. This report received formal peer review by subject-matter experts who were not directly involved in the collec- tion, analysis, or reporting of the data, and whose background and expertise put them on par technically and scientifically with the authors of the information. Views, statements, findings, conclusions, recommendations, and data in this report do not necessarily reflect views and policies of the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the U.S. Government. This project was funded by the National Park Service through several cooperative agreements. These include cooperative agreements with the University of New Mexico (Cooperative Agreement 1248-01-001, Task Agree- ment UNM-03212105005) and with NatureServe (Cooperative Agreement H 2146-05-0001, Task NS-04) and a Colorado Plateau Cooperative Ecosystems Studies Unit Agreement with the University of New Mexico (Coop- erative Agreement H1200040002, Task Agreement J2121070103). This report is available from the Southern Colorado Plateau Network (http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/units/ scpn/products.cfm), and the Natural Resource Publications Management Web site (http://www.nature.nps.gov/ publications/nrpm/) on the Internet. Please cite this publication as: Muldavin, E., Y. Chauvin, A. Kennedy, T. Neville, P. Neville, K. Schultz and M. Reid. 2012. Vegetation classifica- tion and map: Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument. Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/SCPN/ NRTR—2012/553. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS 313/112908, February 2012 ii Vegetation Classification and Map: Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument Contents Figures ............................................................................................................................................................................. v Tables ............................................................................................................................................................................. vii Appendices ..................................................................................................................................................................... ix Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................................... xi Acknowledgments ....................................................................................................................................................... xiii Acronyms and abbreviations ....................................................................................................................................... xv 1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background, scope, and products ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 The USGS-NPS Vegetation Characterization Program .............................................................................................. 1 1.3 Park environment .................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.3.1 Location and cultural setting ........................................................................................................................... 3 1.3.2 Climate ........................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.3.3 Landscape context ......................................................................................................................................... 4 2 Vegetation classification ........................................................................................................................................... 11 2.1 Classification methods ........................................................................................................................................... 11 2.1.1 The National Vegetation Classification Standard ........................................................................................... 11 2.1.2 Field methods ............................................................................................................................................... 14 2.1.3 Vegetation analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 15 2.2 Classification results ............................................................................................................................................... 16 2.2.1 Classification overview .................................................................................................................................. 16 2.3 Classification discussion ......................................................................................................................................... 35 3 Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument Vegetation Map ............................................................................. 37 3.1 Mapping process overview ..................................................................................................................................... 37 3.2 Mapping methods ................................................................................................................................................. 37 3.2.1 Data sources and processing ......................................................................................................................... 37 3.2.2 Vegetation map unit and legend development .............................................................................................. 37 3.2.3 Image analysis and base map development ................................................................................................... 38 3.2.4 Final map classification and ancillary layers .................................................................................................... 39 3.3 Mapping results ..................................................................................................................................................... 39 3.3.1 Vegetation map and map legend .................................................................................................................. 39 3.3.2. Discussion .................................................................................................................................................... 39 4 Accuracy assessment ................................................................................................................................................. 45 4.1 Methods ................................................................................................................................................................ 45 4.2 Results and discussion ............................................................................................................................................ 45 5 Literature cited ..........................................................................................................................................................