U.S. National Vegetation Classification: Advancing The

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U.S. National Vegetation Classification: Advancing the Description and Management of the Nation’s Ecosystems Use of the NVC hierarchy to scale the GAP/LANDFIRE National Ecosystems Map Legend Don Long (U.S. Forest Service), Anne Davidson (GAP, BSU) Todd Earnhardt (GAP , NSCU) Alexa McKerrow (U.S. Geological Survey) . Background Methods Results A national inventory of the existing vegetation across the There are 551 natural vegetation classes represented in the 6 Classes 13 Subclasses 22 Formations U.S. has been central to the missions of both the GAP/LANDFIRE National Terrestrial Ecosystems Map for the a Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools conterminous U.S. The crosswalk allows for the Project (LANDFIRE) and the National Gap Analysis Program aggregation of the mapped classes into the hierarchical b

(GAP). Over the past several years these two programs structure of the USNVC; specifically, the ecological systems a. Forest & Woodland a. Temperate & Boreal Forest & Woodland a. Temperate Flooded & Swamp Forest b. Desert & Semi-Desert b. Warm Desert & Semi-Desert Woodland, b. Warm Desert & Semi-Desert Scrub & have come together to collaborate on the next generation are crosswalked to the middle and upper levels of the Scrub & Grassland Grassland highly detailed existing vegetation maps for the U.S. This USNVC. Relationships between the two classification 51 Divisions 112 Macrogroups 240 Groups collaboration leverages the mapping and inventory to systems developed by NatureServe ecologists were used to meet needs for both fire and fuels management, as well link the mapped Ecological Systems to the Group level of as for wildlife habitat conservation planning. the USNVC. Figure 2 provides an example of the GAP/LANDFIRE National hierarchical structure from Association to Class and the a. Eastern North American Great Plains a. Laurentian-Acadian-Northeast Flooded a. Laurentian-Acadian-Appalachian conceptual relationship between the Ecological Systems Flooded & Swamp Forest & Swamp Forest Alkaline Swamp Terrestrial Ecosystems 2011 b. North American Warm Desert Scrub & b. Chihuahuan Desert Scrub b. Chihuahuan Desert Sand Scrub Classification and the USNVC. Grassland

USNVC Class 2 Shrub & Herb Vegetation Figure 3. Example of the scaling of the map legend based

USNVC Subclass on the USNVC for two sites in the conterminous U.S. 2.C. Shrub & Herb Wetland

USNVC Formation 2.C.2 Temperate to Polar Bog & Fen USNVC Division Discussion 2.C.2.Nb Atlantic & Gulf Coastal Plain Pocosin

USNVC Macrogroup M065 2.C.Nb.1 Southeastern Coastal Bog & Fen The existing crosswalk allows us to represent the mapped

USNVC Association CEGL003943 USNVC Group vegetation types at different levels of the hierarchy. The Cyrilla racemiflora - Zenobia pulverulenta Wet Shrubland 2.C.Nb.1.a Southeastern Coastal Pocosin & USNVC Association CEGL003944 Shrub Bog Ilex glabra - Lyonia lucida - Zenobia pulverulenta Wet Shrubland ability to change the thematic resolution provides the USNVC Association CEGL004458 USNVC Alliance A1054 Pinus serotina / Zenobia pulverulenta - Cyrilla racemiflora - Lyonia lucida Wooded Zenobia pulverulenta - Lyonia lucida Shrub ecological context for the vegetation at multiple scales. While the initial mapping effort focused on the Wet Shrubland Ecological System Pocosin Atlantic Coastal Plain Peatland USNVC Association CEGL004165 The fact that there are some many-to-many relationships Ecological Systems Classification (Comer et al. Pocosin and Canebrake Chamaedaphne calyculata - Vaccinium macrocarpon / Carex striata - Woodwardia areolata Wet Dwarf-Shrubland between the Ecological Systems Classification and the 2003), a 2011 update incorporated a crosswalk USNVC Association CEGL004164 Chamaedaphne calyculata / Carex striata - Sarracenia (flava, purpurea, rubra ssp. USNVC Alliance A3441 to the U.S. National Vegetation Classification rubra) Wet Dwarf-Shrubland Chamaedaphne calyculata / Carex striata USNVC systems means there is error incorporated in the Dwarf-shrub Pocosin USNVC Association CEGL004163 specific to the USNVC hierarchy. The crosswalk Chamaedaphne calyculata / Carex striata - Woodwardia virginica Wet Dwarf- higher levels of the map based on the choices made during shrubland USNVC Association CEGL004449 the crosswalk process. While both classifications systems to the hierarchical structure of the USNVC Cyrilla racemiflora - Persea palustris - Magnolia virginiana Wet Shrubland USNVC Association CEGL004666 have been in use for several years, the concepts and allows for scaling of the map legend in a Ilex coriacea - Lyonia lucida - Smilax laurifolia Wet Shrubland USNVC Association CEGL003846 standardized way. Pinus serotina / Lyonia lucida - Ilex glabra - (Cyrilla racemiflora) Wet Shrubland* descriptions of the types continue to evolve. In addition to USNVC Association CEGL003843 Arundinaria gigantea ssp. tecta Wet Shrubland* providing for a rigorous standard, the process of Citations USNVC Association CEGL003851

Ecological System Pinus serotina / Arundinaria gigantea ssp. tecta Wooded Wet Shrubland crosswalking the concepts between systems should help Comer, P., D. Faber-Langendoen, R. Evans, S. Gawler, C. Josse, G. Kittel, S. East Gulf Coastal Plain USNVC Association CEGL008550 Menard, M. Pyne, M. Reid, K. Schulz, K. Snow, and J. Teague. 2003. Interior Shrub Bog Ilex (coriacea, glabra) / Osmunda cinnamomea - Rhexia petiolata Seepage Bog USNVC Association CEGL008548 our understanding of vegetation types across the U.S. For Ecological Systems of the United States: A Working Classification of U.S. Morella cerifera - Kalmia latifolia - Symplocos tinctoria / Osmunda cinnamomea Terrestrial Systems. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Seepage Bog the 2016 LANDFIRE Existing Vegetation Dataset one map will be modeled directly from plots labeled to the USNVC Federal Geographic Data Committee. 2008. The National Vegetation Figure 2. The relationship between USNVC Associations and two Ecological Systems and the Classification Standard, Version 2. FGDC Vegetation Subcommittee. FGDC- Groups (See Comer and Long this session). STD-005-2008 (Version 2). pp. 126. associations and their membership within the USNVC Hierarchy.