Field Plot Crosswalk to Revised US National Vegetation Classification Associations
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National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Stewardship and Science Vegetation Inventory Project Pu‘ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site Natural Resource Report NPS/PUHE/NRR—2011/459 ON THE COVER Pu‘ukoholā Heiau (Temple on the Hill of the Whale) Photograph by: Dan Cogan Vegetation Inventory Project Pu‘ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site Natural Resource Report NPS/PUHE/NRR—2011/459 Dan Cogan Cogan Technology, Inc. 21 Valley Road Galena, IL 61036 Keith Schulz NatureServe 4001 Discovery, Suite 2110 Boulder, CO 80303 David Benitez National Park Service Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park – Resource Management PO Box 52 Hawaii National Park, HI 96718 Greg Kudray National Park Service Pacific Island Network – Inventory and Monitoring PO Box 52 Hawaii National Park, HI 96718 Alison Ainsworth National Park Service Pacific Island Network – Inventory and Monitoring PO Box 52 Hawaii National Park, HI 96718 September 2011 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 environmental constituencies, and the public. The Natural Resource Report Series is used to disseminate high-priority, current natural resource management information with managerial application. The series targets a general, diverse audience, and may contain NPS policy considerations or address sensitive issues of management applicability. All manuscripts in the series receive the appropriate level of peer review to ensure that the information is scientifically credible, technically accurate, appropriately written for the intended audience, and designed and published in a professional manner. This report received informal peer review by subject-matter experts who were not directly involved in the collection, analysis, or reporting of the data. 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 report is available from NPS Inventory and Monitoring, Pacific Island Network (http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/uites/pacn/index.cfm) and the Natural Resource Publications Management website (http://www.nature.nps.gov/publications/nrpm/). Please cite this publication as: Cogan, D., K. Schulz., D. Benitez, G. Kudray, and A. Ainsworth 2011. Vegetation inventory project: Pu‘ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site. Natural Resource Report NPS/PUHE/NRR— 2011/459. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS 454/110578, September, 2011 ii Contents Page Figures............................................................................................................................................. v Tables ............................................................................................................................................ vii Appendices ..................................................................................................................................... ix Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................... xi Acknowledgments......................................................................................................................... xii Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 National Vegetation Inventory Program .................................................................................. 1 National Vegetation Classification Standard ........................................................................... 2 Pacific Island Network, Inventory and Monitoring Program .................................................. 4 Pu‘ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site ................................................................................ 5 Vegetation Inventory Project ................................................................................................. 13 Scope of Work ....................................................................................................................... 14 Methods......................................................................................................................................... 17 Planning, Data Gathering and Coordination .......................................................................... 17 Field Surveys ......................................................................................................................... 19 Vegetation Classification ....................................................................................................... 21 Digital Imagery and Mapping ................................................................................................ 27 Accuracy Assessment ............................................................................................................ 30 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 35 Vegetation Classification ....................................................................................................... 35 Vegetation Map ..................................................................................................................... 39 Accuracy Assessment ............................................................................................................ 45 Discussion ..................................................................................................................................... 49 iii Contents (continued) Page Page Field Survey .................................................................................................................. 49 Classification ......................................................................................................................... 50 Digital Imagery and Mapping ................................................................................................ 51 Accuracy Assessment ............................................................................................................ 51 Future Recommendations ...................................................................................................... 51 Research Opportunities .......................................................................................................... 52 Literature Cited ............................................................................................................................. 55 iv Figures Page Figure 1. The 11 national parks included within the Pacific Island Network. ............................... 4 Figure 2. NPS Pu‘ukoholā Heiau National Historic Site map. ...................................................... 6 Figure 3. PUHE entrance and Pu‘ukoholā Heiau (top) and visitor center building (bottom)........................................................................................................................................... 7 Figure 4. Beach strand and basalt outcrop exposed adjacent to the Pacific Ocean within PUHE. .................................................................................................................................. 8 Figure 5. 3D overview image of PUHE and surrounding areas showing common vegetation patterns. ....................................................................................................................... 10 Figure 6. Representative cross-section of PUHE’s topography showing general vegetation life zones. .................................................................................................................... 11 Figure 7. Common vegetation types at PUHE and surrounding areas......................................... 12 Figure 8. The vegetation mapping project boundary and PUHE park boundary. ........................ 15 Figure 9. Field plot data collection at PUHE led by PACN. ....................................................... 19 Figure 10. Location of vegetation plots and observation points collected at PUHE. .................. 22 Figure 11. Distribution of 15 cluster analysis plot groups defined from West Hawai‘i parks using Nonmetric Multidimensional Scaling (NMS) ordination. ......................................... 26 Figure 12. Distribution of 15 cluster analysis plot groups defined from West Hawai‘i parks using Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) ordination. .......................................... 26 Figure 13. Examples of the Ikonos 2002 and Quickbird 2006 imagery for PUHE. .................... 28 Figure 14. Accuracy assessment field data collection at PUHE. ................................................. 32 Figure 15. Location of accuracy assessment points collected at PUHE. ..................................... 34 Figure 16. Example of the PUHE vegetation map layer. ............................................................. 44 v Tables Page Table 1. Summary of USNVC Revised Hierarchy Levels and Criteria