Landcover Classes, Ecoregions and Plant Associations of Katmai National Park and Preserve Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/KATM/NRTR—2003/001
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National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Program Center Landcover Classes, Ecoregions and Plant Associations of Katmai National Park and Preserve Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/KATM/NRTR—2003/001 ON THE COVER View from above the Kejulik Mountains. Photograph by: Jess Grunblatt, AK NPS Landcover Mapping Program. Landcover Classes, Ecoregions and Plant Associations of Katmai National Park and Preserve Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/KATM/NRTR—2003/001 Keith Boggs Susan C. Klein Alaska Natural Heritage Program Environment and Natural Resources Institute. University of Alaska Anchorage Anchorage, Alaska 99501 Jess Grunblatt Beth Koltun National Park Service Alaska Support Office Landcover Mapping Program Anchorage, Alaska 99501 June 2003 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Natural Resource Program Center Fort Collins, Colorado 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 Program Center website (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: Boggs, K. W., S. C. Klein, J. E. Grunblatt, and B. Koltun. 2003. Landcover classes, ecoregions and plant associations of Katmai National Park and Preserve. Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/KATM/NRTR—2003/001. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS D-117, June 2003 AUTHORS Keith Boggs is program manager and a vegetation ecologist at the Alaska Natural Heritage Program, Environment and Natural Resources Institute, University of Alaska Anchorage, 707 A Street, Anchorage, AK 99501. Susan C. Klein is a vegetation ecologist at the Alaska Natural Heritage Program, Environment and Natural Resources Institute, University of Alaska Anchorage, 707 A Street, Anchorage, AK 99501. Jess Grunblatt is the landcover coordinator at the National Park Service-Alaska Support Office, 240 West 5th Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501 Beth Koltun is a GIS biological technician at the National Park Service-Alaska Support Office, 240 West 5th Ave, Anchorage, AK 99501 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors wish to thank and acknowledge the National Park Service-Alaska Support Office for financial support of this project, and Katmai National Park and Preserve staff for logistic support for data collection in Katmai. We also thank Ken Stumpf and Sergio Henricy (Geographic Resource Solutions, Arcata, California) for developing the landcover map, Carolyn Parker (University of Alaska Herbarium) and Anna Jansen (Alaska Natural Heritage Program) for help identifying plant species, Tom Smith (Alaska Science Center, USGS) for sharing photos and plot data, and Wanda Seamster (Environment and Natural Resources Institute) for producing several of the graphics. Sara Wesser (National Park Service) and George Dickison (National Park Service) gave valuable advice in the initial stages of the project. I SUMMARY Boggs, K. W., S. C. Klein, J. E. Grunblatt, and B. Koltun. 2003. Landcover classes, ecoregions and plant associations of Katmai National Park and Preserve. Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/KATM/NRTR—2003/001. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. 274 p. This document presents three classifications for Katmai National Park and Preserve: landcover classes, plant associations, and a revision of Shephard’s (2000) ecological subsections. These classifications provide resource managers with essential information to understand the vegetation and ecology of Katmai National Park and Preserve (Katmai). This document also lists vascular plant species identified during the project that were never before identified in the Park, a review of Katmai’s ecological literature, climate, vegetation, landscapes, major processes, and the project’s methods. The classifications were developed by the National Park Service Landcover Mapping Program, Inventory and Monitoring Program, Alaska Support Office (AKSO) in cooperation with the Alaska Natural Heritage Program (AKNHP) and Geographic Resource Solutions (GRS). GRS and AKSO also developed, in cooperation with AKNHP, the digital landcover map to which the landcover classes and plant associations are linked. Information pertaining to remote sensing analyses, modeling and digital map accuracy assessment are described in Geographic Resource Solutions’ Final Report (2003) available from the AKSO. Katmai is located on the Alaska Peninsula, and encompasses 1,655,816 hectares. The Aleutian Range roughly bisects the Park with multiple peaks over 1,500 meters. The Park’s west-side is comprised of low elevation hills interspersed with piedmonts and large lakes. The east-side of the Park rises rapidly from sea level along the flanks of the Aleutian Range. In general, the west-side is cooler and drier than the more maritime east-side of Katmai. Twenty-one landcover classes are described for Katmai, and are mapped at intermediate scales (1:63,360 to 1:100,000) using Landsat Thematic Mapper multi-spectral imagery. The classification follows, with modifications, The Alaska Vegetation Classification (Viereck et al. 1992) system at levels II through IV. A step-wise procedure was used to develop the classification that incorporated: a pre-fieldwork list of classes; 228 field plots collected from 1993 to 1995 for a bear habitat project by Smith, National Park Service; 218 aerial field sites collected by GRS, AKNHP and AKSO during the 2000 and 2002 field seasons; the plot data used for defining plant associations; and image processing results. Landcover descriptions include distribution and site characteristics, the dominant species, and a list of plant associations occurring within the landcover class. A dichotomous key, based on lifeforms and indicator species, is provided to aid in field identification of landcover classes. Plant association is the finest scale classification, and is equal to “level V” of The Alaska Vegetation Classification (Viereck et al. 1992) and “plant association” of the National Vegetation Classification System (Grossman et al. 1998). Eighty-six plant associations are described for Katmai based on 114 plots collected by AKNHP and AKSO during the 2000 and 2002 field seasons, and the 228 plots collected by Smith from 1993 to 1995. The plot data includes full plant species lists, plant structure, soil profiles and landscapes. Plant association descriptions include a list of other studies of the region, distribution of the plant association, vegetation structure and composition, and environmental factors such as soils and hydrology. A dichotomous key, based on indicator species, is provided to aid in field identification of plant associations. Plant associations are nested within the coarser scale landcover classes that were used to map Katmai. Shephard’s (2000) ecological subsections were modified to reflect knowledge gained from developing the landcover and plant association classifications and to meet project objectives. Shephard (2000) had divided two of Nowacki and Brock’s (1995) ecoregions (Bristol Bay-Nushagak Lowlands and Alaska II Peninsula Mountains) into 20 ecological subsections at the 1:250,000 scale. The modification of Shephard’s (2000) work resulted in 18 subsections. The basis for each subsection revision is provided in the individual subsection descriptions. A total of 397 species were identified by the Smith sampling effort, and of these species 20 were new to the Park. Two-hundred and ten species were identified during the AKSO-AKNHP sampling effort and 18 were new to the Park. This information plus additional plot data can be reviewed in the Katmai Field Data Viewer (an Access/ArcView database) maintained by the AKSO. C.L. Parker at the University of Alaska Museum Herbarium verified and vouchered all species new to the Park. Keywords: Alaska, Katmai National Park and Preserve, remote