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Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Vegetation Classification and Mapping, a Report for the Southern Plains Network

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Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Vegetation Classification and Mapping, a Report for the Southern Plains Network National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Program Center Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Vegetation Classification and Mapping, A report for the Southern Plains Network Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/SOPN/NRTR—2007/050 ON THE COVER Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site: Big Sandy Creek from near the monument. Photograph by: Stephanie Neid Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Vegetation Classification and Mapping, A report for the Southern Plains Network Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/SOPN/NRTR—2007/050 Stephanie Neid, Joe Stevens, Kelsey Forest, and Michelle Fink Colorado Natural Heritage Program Colorado State University 254 General Services Building Fort Collins, CO 80523 March 2007 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resource Program Center Fort Collins, CO The Natural Resource Publication series addresses natural resource topics that are of interest and applicability to a broad readership in the National Park Service and to others in the management of natural resources, including the scientific community, the public, and the NPS conservation and environmental constituencies. Manuscripts are peer reviewed to ensure that the information is scientifically credible, technically accurate, appropriately written for the intended audience, and is designed and published in a professional manner. The Natural Resources Technical Reports series is used to disseminate the peer-reviewed 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’s mission. The reports provide contributors with a forum for displaying comprehensive data that are often deleted from journals because of page limitations. Current examples of such reports include the results of research that addresses natural resource management issues; natural resource inventory and monitoring activities; resource assessment reports; scientific literature reviews; and peer reviewed proceedings of technical workshops, conferences, or symposia. Views, statements, findings, conclusions, recommendations and data in this report are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect views and policies of the U.S. Department of the Interior, NPS. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the National Park Service. Printed copies of reports in these series may be produced in a limited quantity and they are only available as long as the supply lasts. This report is also available from the Natural Resource Publications Management Web site (http://www.nature.nps.gov/publications/NRPM) on the Internet, or by sending a request to the address on the back cover. Please cite this publication as: Neid, S., J.E. Stevens, K. Forest, and M. Fink. 2007. Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site: Vegetation Classification and Mapping. Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/SOPN/NRTR—2007/050. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS D-9, March 2007 ii Contents Page Contents ......................................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. v List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... vii List of Appendixes ......................................................................................................................... ix Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................... xi Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... xiii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 USGS-NPS Park Vegetation Mapping Program ..................................................................... 1 Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site Vegetation Mapping Project ............................ 1 Introduction to the National Vegetation Classification (NVC) .............................................. 2 Introduction to Natural Heritage Program Methodology and Element Ranking .................... 5 Study Area ...................................................................................................................................... 9 Location and Regional Setting ................................................................................................ 9 Climate and Weather ............................................................................................................... 9 Geology ................................................................................................................................... 9 Topography ........................................................................................................................... 13 Soils ....................................................................................................................................... 13 Hydrology ............................................................................................................................. 18 Vegetation ............................................................................................................................. 18 Wildlife ................................................................................................................................. 20 Methods......................................................................................................................................... 21 Preliminary Data Collection and Review of Existing Information ....................................... 21 Field Survey .......................................................................................................................... 21 iii Plot Data Management .......................................................................................................... 22 Vegetation Classification ...................................................................................................... 23 Vegetation Mapping .............................................................................................................. 23 Accuracy Assessment ........................................................................................................... 24 Element Occurrence Records ................................................................................................ 28 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 29 Field Data Collection ............................................................................................................ 29 Vegetation Classification ...................................................................................................... 29 Photographic database .......................................................................................................... 34 Vegetation Map ..................................................................................................................... 34 Accuracy Assessment ........................................................................................................... 34 Element Occurrence Records ................................................................................................ 39 Discussion ..................................................................................................................................... 41 Literature Cited ............................................................................................................................. 45 Appendix A. Field form instructions and vegetation plot form. ................................................... 49 Appendix B. Accuracy Assessment (AA) plot form. ................................................................... 65 Appendix C. Key to Natural Vegetation Types at Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site and local vegetation descriptions. ................................................................................................. 69 Appendix D. Plant list for Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site. Species observed outside of plots have frequency of zero. ....................................................................................... 79 Appendix E. Photo Interpretation Mapping Conventions and Visual Key. .................................. 83 Appendix F. Contingency tables for each fuzzy set level of accuracy. ........................................ 95 iv List of Tables Page Table 1. Summary of the National Vegetation Classification System hierarchal approach ........... 4 Table 2. Definition of natural heritage imperilment ranks. ............................................................ 7 Table 3. Element occurrence ranks and their definitions. ............................................................... 8 Table 4. Recommended map accuracy sample number per class by frequency and area ............ 24 Table 5. Fuzzy Level Ranking Criteria for AA Plots (Adapted from Hansen et al. 2004). .......... 28 Table 6. Plant associations
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