National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior Natural Resource Stewardship and Science ` Vegetation Mapping at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Natural Resource Report NPS/SECN/NRR—2015/1088 ON THE COVER Piedmont Dry-Mesic Acidic Oak-Hickory Forest Photograph courtesy of Jennifer Asper, NPS Vegetation Mapping at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Natural Resource Report NPS/SECN/NRR—2015/1088 Rachel H. McManamay National Park Service Southeast Coast Inventory & Monitoring Network 135 Phoenix Road Athens, GA 30605 November 2015 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. These reports are 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 comprehensive information and analysis about natural resources and related topics concerning lands managed by the National Park Service. The series supports the advancement of science, informed decision-making, and the achievement of the National Park Service mission. The series also provides a forum for presenting more lengthy results that may not be accepted by publications with page limitations. 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. Data in this report were collected and analyzed using methods based on established, peer-reviewed protocols and were analyzed and interpreted within the guidelines of the protocols. 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 the Southeast Coast Network (http://science.nature.nps.gov/um/units/secn) and the Natural Resource Publications Management website (http://www.nature.nps.gov/publications/nrpm/). To receive this report in a format optimized for screen readers, please email [email protected]. Please cite this publication as: McManamay, R. H. 2015. Vegetation mapping at Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. Natural Resource Report NPS/SECN/NRR—2015/1088. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. NPS 352/130653, November 2015 ii Contents Page Figures.................................................................................................................................................... v Tables .................................................................................................................................................... ix Appendices ............................................................................................................................................ xi Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................xiii Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................ xv Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Vegetation Mapping Project ................................ 1 Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program ........................................................................................ 1 Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program Standards ....................................................................... 1 Protocols: ................................................................................................................................... 1 Standards: .................................................................................................................................. 2 National Vegetation Classification Standard .................................................................................. 2 Federal Geographic Data Committee Standards ............................................................................ 3 Methods .................................................................................................................................................. 5 Study Area ...................................................................................................................................... 5 Location ..................................................................................................................................... 5 History ....................................................................................................................................... 5 Vegetation.................................................................................................................................. 5 Climate and Weather ................................................................................................................. 5 Geology and Soils...................................................................................................................... 6 Project Scoping and Planning ....................................................................................................... 14 Project Boundary Extent.......................................................................................................... 14 Field Survey.................................................................................................................................. 14 Location and Plot Identifiers ................................................................................................... 14 Environmental Description ...................................................................................................... 16 Vegetation Description ............................................................................................................ 16 Other Ancillary Information Useful to Classification ............................................................. 16 Vegetation Classification .............................................................................................................. 16 iii Final Map Classifications ........................................................................................................ 17 Digital Imagery and Interpretation ............................................................................................... 18 Aerial Photography Acquisition and Processing ..................................................................... 18 Preliminary Photo-Interpretation ............................................................................................. 20 Field Reconnaissance .............................................................................................................. 20 Photo-Interpretation and Polygon Attribution ......................................................................... 21 Field Verification..................................................................................................................... 21 Accuracy Assessment ................................................................................................................... 22 Sampling Design ..................................................................................................................... 23 Field Data Collection ............................................................................................................... 25 Data Analysis........................................................................................................................... 25 Results .................................................................................................................................................. 27 Vegetation Classification .............................................................................................................. 27 Digital Imagery and Interpretation ............................................................................................... 27 Vegetation Map ............................................................................................................................ 28 Map Layer Presentation ........................................................................................................... 29 Accuracy Assessment ................................................................................................................... 29 Literature Cited .................................................................................................................................... 33 iv Figures Page Figure 1. Location of Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. ................................................. 7 Figure 2. Early- to Mid- Successional Loblolly Pine Forest covers the most area