Vegetation Classification and Mapping Project Report
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U.S. Geological Survey-National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Program Acadia National Park, Maine Project Report Revised Edition – October 2003 Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the U. S. Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey. USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Acadia National Park U.S. Geological Survey-National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Program Acadia National Park, Maine Sara Lubinski and Kevin Hop U.S. Geological Survey Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center and Susan Gawler Maine Natural Areas Program This report produced by U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center 2630 Fanta Reed Road La Crosse, Wisconsin 54603 and Maine Natural Areas Program Department of Conservation 159 Hospital Street 93 State House Station Augusta, Maine 04333-0093 In conjunction with Mike Story (NPS Vegetation Mapping Coordinator) NPS, Natural Resources Information Division, Inventory and Monitoring Program Karl Brown (USGS Vegetation Mapping Coordinator) USGS, Center for Biological Informatics and Revised Edition - October 2003 USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Acadia National Park Contacts U.S. Department of Interior United States Geological Survey - Biological Resources Division Website: http://www.usgs.gov U.S. Geological Survey Center for Biological Informatics P.O. Box 25046 Building 810, Room 8000, MS-302 Denver Federal Center Denver, Colorado 80225-0046 Website: http://biology.usgs.gov/cbi Karl Brown USGS Program Coordinator - USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Phone: (303) 202-4240 E-mail: [email protected] Susan Stitt USGS Remote Sensing and Geospatial Technologies Specialist USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Phone: (303) 202-4234 E-mail: [email protected] Kevin Hop Principal Investigator U.S. Geological Survey Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center 2630 Fanta Reed Road La Crosse, Wisconsin 54603 Phone: (608) 783-6451 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.umesc.er.usgs.gov iii USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Acadia National Park U. S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Website: http://www.nps.gov Mike Story NPS Program Coordinator - USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program National Park Service Natural Resources Information Division 12795 West Alameda Parkway Lakewood, Colorado 80228 Phone: (303) 969-2746 E-mail: [email protected] Acadia National Park PO Box 177 Route 233, McFarland Hill Bar Harbor, Maine 04609 Phone: (207) 288-5463 Website: http://www.nps.gov/acad Karen Anderson GIS Specialist Phone: (207) 288-8724 E-mail: [email protected] Linda Gregory Botanist Phone: (207) 288-8725 E-mail: [email protected] iv USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Acadia National Park NatureServe Website: http://www.natureserve.org Jim Drake Project Manager Minneapolis Office 1101 West River Parkway, Suite 200 Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415 Phone: (612) 331-0729 E-mail: [email protected] Lesley Sneddon Senior Regional Ecologist Boston Office 11 Avenue de Lafayette, 5th Floor Boston, Massachusetts 02111 Phone: (617) 542-1908 E-mail: [email protected] Susan Gawler Plant Ecologist Gawler Conservation Services 256 Guptill Road Belgrade, Maine 04917 Phone: (207) 495-3513 E-mail: [email protected] v USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Acadia National Park Acknowledgements This project required the cooperation and assistance of many people in various locations within the United States. Many people played essential roles in this project. It has been a long process and the authors hope they have forgotten no one. Acadia National Park: Field assistants Chelsea O’Connell-Barlow, Geneva Chase, Norman Forder, Dafna Reiner, and Maria Trinh maintained good outlooks and high data standards in the field despite demanding schedules and bulky global positioning system (GPS) equipment. Glen Mittelhauser gladly made his data from island forest sampling available to round out forest type descriptions. Karen Anderson converted maps and other data to geographical information system (GIS) layers for analysis. Linda Gregory provided botanical expertise, logistical support, and mighty fine Isle au Haut burritos. U.S. Geological Survey Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center: Mel Bower and Tom Owens devoted several intense days to help with gradsect (gradient directed transect sampling) analysis (see online glossary of terms <http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/glossary.html>). Christine Calogero and Janis Boyd automated our interpreted polygons to produce the digital map coverage, and provided their skills in developing other geographic information system (GIS) data layers that support the mapping project. Maine Natural Areas Program: Brian Carlson tirelessly worked to convert field data into computer files accessible for analysis, and ensured attention to details. He also scanned slides and assisted with many tasks through the analysis phase of this project. Sarah Evans converted the data into the proper format to match The Nature Conservancy (TNC) database and, along with Emily Pinkham, will be responsible for recording the presence of rare communities or selected examples of common communities into our Biological and Conservation Database. Emily also tracked the finances. Ecologists Andy Cutko and Don Cameron contributed data from their independent field surveys in the region. Curry Caputo and Keith Pearson assisted in final production of this report. Molly Docherty, program director, administered the contract. Dan Coker redesigned our plots database to agree with TNC plots database and helped with many database design and data handling questions. The Nature Conservancy and the NatureServe: Denny Grossman (Home Office) provided insight into the Mapping Program process and acted as a sounding board for questions. Meredith Hammon (Eastern Regional Office) helped compile the Kuchler data into a useful format for our early vegetation types list. Mark Anderson and Lesley Sneddon (Eastern Regional Office) supervised the standard vegetation classification. Jim Drake (Midwest Regional Office) had the task of overseeing the large contract between TNC/NatureServe and the USGS. Without his help and oversight, as well as that of Tony Curtis from whom Jim inherited this responsibility, this project would not have been possible. A large thank you to all involved, both those listed and those unacknowledged. vi USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Acadia National Park Contents Contacts ....................................................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................................... vi Figures..........................................................................................................................................................................ix Tables ...........................................................................................................................................................................ix Summary........................................................................................................................................................................1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................................3 Objective of the U.S. Geological Survey-National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Program ............................3 The National Vegetation Classification System.......................................................................................................3 Ecological Setting of Acadia National Park.............................................................................................................5 Previous Vegetation Studies ....................................................................................................................................8 Participants, Responsibilities, and Meeting Summary.............................................................................................8 Methods .......................................................................................................................................................................11 Aerial Photography Acquisition.............................................................................................................................11 Fieldwork for Vegetation Classification Development..........................................................................................12 Draft List of Vegetation Community Types.....................................................................................................12 Gradient Directed Transect (Gradsect) Sampling Analysis .............................................................................13 Field Reconnaissance.......................................................................................................................................14 Field Sampling .................................................................................................................................................14 Vegetation Data Analysis for Vegetation Classification Development .................................................................17 Mapping the Vegetation of Acadia