National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Northeast Region Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Vegetation Classification and Mapping at Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River Technical Report NPS/NER/NRTR—2008/133 USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River ON THE COVER Riverside Rock Outcrop at Skinner’s Falls in the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River. Photograph by: Stephanie Perles. 2 USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River Vegetation Classification and Mapping at Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River Technical Report NPS/NER/NRTR—2008/133 Stephanie J. Perles1,2, Gregory S. Podniesinski1,3, Mary Ann Furedi1, Bradley A. Eichelberger1, Aissa Feldmann4, Greg Edinger4, Elizabeth Eastman 5, and Lesley A. Sneddon6 1 Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program Western Pennsylvania Conservancy 208 Airport Drive Middletown, PA 17057 2 current address: National Park Service 403 Forest Resources Building University Park, PA 16802 3 current address: DCNR-Office of Conservation Services 9th Floor, Rachel Carson State Office Building Harrisburg, PA 17101 4 New York Natural Heritage Program 625 Broadway Ave., 5th floor Albany, NY 12233-4757 5 Center for Earth Observation North Carolina State University 5112 Jordan Hall, Box 7106 Raleigh, NC 27695 6 NatureServe 11 Avenue de Lafayette, 5th Floor Boston, MA 02111 December 2008 U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Northeast Region Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 3 USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River The Northeast Region of the National Park Service (NPS) comprises national parks and related areas in 13 New England and Mid-Atlantic states. The diversity of parks and their resources are reflected in their designations as national parks, seashores, historic sites, recreation areas, military parks, memorials, and rivers and trails. Biological, physical, and social science research results, natural resource inventory and monitoring data, scientific literature reviews, bibliographies, and proceedings of technical workshops and conferences related to these park units are disseminated through the NPS/NER Technical Report (NRTR) and Natural Resources Report (NRR) series. The reports are a continuation of series with previous acronyms of NPS/PHSO, NPS/MAR, NPS/BSO-RNR, and NPS/NERBOST. Individual parks may also disseminate information through their own report series. Natural Resources Reports are the designated medium for information on technologies and resource management methods; "how to" resource management papers; proceedings of resource management workshops or conferences; and natural resource program descriptions and resource action plans. Technical Reports are the designated medium for initially disseminating data and results of biological, physical, and social science research that addresses natural resource management issues; natural resource inventories and monitoring activities; scientific literature reviews; bibliographies; and peer-reviewed proceedings of technical workshops, conferences, or symposia. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the National Park Service. This report was accomplished with assistance from the NPS under Cooperative Agreement 4560A0019, which was superceded by Cooperative Agreement 4506060766, Task Agreement No. 004. The statements, findings, conclusions, recommendations, and data in this report are solely those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Print copies of reports in these series, produced in limited quantity and only available as long as the supply lasts, or preferably, file copies on CD, may be obtained by sending a request to the address on the back cover. Print copies also may be requested from the NPS Technical Information Center (TIC), Denver Service Center, PO Box 25287, Denver, CO 80225-0287. A copy charge may be involved. To order from TIC, refer to document D-69. This report may also be available as a downloadable portable document format file from the Internet at http://www.nps.gov/nero/science/. Please cite this publication as: Perles, S. J., G. S. Podniesinski, M. Furedi, B. A. Eichelberger, A. Feldmann, G. Edinger, E. Eastman, and L. A. Sneddon. 2008. Vegetation Classification and Mapping at Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River. Technical Report NPS/NER/NRTR—2008/133. National Park Service. Philadelphia, PA. NPS D-69 December 2008 4 USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River Table of Contents Page Figures ............................................................................................................................................ 7 Tables ............................................................................................................................................. 8 Appendixes .................................................................................................................................... 9 Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................ 10 Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... 11 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 13 General Background ........................................................................................................... 13 Park-specific Information ................................................................................................... 14 Project Area ................................................................................................................................. 15 Location and Regional Setting ............................................................................................ 15 Park Environmental Attributes ............................................................................................ 15 Materials and Methods ................................................................................................................. 20 Planning and Scoping .......................................................................................................... 20 Preliminary Data Collection and Review of Existing Information ..................................... 20 Aerial Photography Acquisition and Processing ................................................................ 20 Metadata .............................................................................................................................. 21 Photointerpretation .............................................................................................................. 21 Field Data Collection and Classification ............................................................................ 24 Accuracy Assessment ......................................................................................................... 30 5 USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River Table of Contents (Continued) Page Results .......................................................................................................................................... 37 Vegetation Classification and Characterization .................................................................. 37 Vegetation Map Production ................................................................................................ 38 Accuracy Assessment ......................................................................................................... 38 Vegetation Association Descriptions .................................................................................. 39 Project Deliverables ............................................................................................................ 40 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 45 Vegetation Classification and Characterization .................................................................. 45 Vegetation Map Production ................................................................................................ 50 Recommendations for Future Projects ................................................................................ 51 Literature Cited ............................................................................................................................ 52 6 USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River Figures Page Figure 1. Location of Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River in Wayne and Pike counties in Pennsylvania, and Delaware, Sullivan, and Orange counties in New York. ..................................................................................................... 16 Figure 2. Location of Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River on twelve 1:24,000 USGS topographic quad maps. ......................................................................... 17 Figure 3. Geologic formations of the Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River. ...................................................................................................................... 18 Figure 4. Vegetation cover