Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1995 Analysis of historic vegetation patterns in Iowa using Government Land Officeur s veys and a Geographic Information System Michael Charles Miller Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Forest Sciences Commons, Geographic Information Sciences Commons, and the Landscape Architecture Commons Recommended Citation Miller, Michael Charles, "Analysis of historic vegetation patterns in Iowa using Government Land Office surveys and a Geographic Information System" (1995). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 16746. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/16746 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. 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Analysis of historic vegetation patterns in Iowa using Government Land Office surveys and a Geographic Infonnation System by Michael Charles Miller A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE Department: Landscape Architecture Major: Landscape Architecture Signatures have been redacted for privacy Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 1995 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGlJRES .......................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................ vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2. LITERATlJRE REVIEW ......................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 3. METHODS ..................................... :........................................................ 29 CHAPTER 4. RESULTS ................................................................................................ 67 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................... 104 LITERATURE CITED .................................................................................................. 124 APPENDIX A. DNR.LSP ............................................................................................. 131 APPENDIX B. VEG.LSP ............................................................................................. 132 APPENDIX C. GLO VEGETATION DESCRIPTIONS ............................................... 134 APPENDIX D. CENTER.LSP ...................................................................................... 136 APPENDIXE. UNI DATA EXAMPLE ...................................................................... 137 APPENDIX F. FAYE SEC.BAS .................................................................................. 138 APPENDIX G. CSV FILE EXAMPLE ......................................................................... 142 APPENDIXH. MMNODE.LSP .................................................................................... 143 APPENDIX I. WITNESS TREE AUTOLISP PROGRAMS ......................................... 145 iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1-1 Original forest cover created by B. Shimek in 1899 ...................................... 2 (Thomson 1987, p. 118) Figure 1-2 Original forest cover created in 1935 for the Iowa Forest ............................. 2 and Wasteland Survey (Thomson 1987, p. 117) Figure 2-1 Diagram showing a typical Iowa township ................................................. 12 Figure 3-1 Pilot county locations in Iowa .................................................................... 30 Figure 3-2 Fayette County, Iowa ................................................................................ 31 Figure 3-3 Jackson County, Iowa ............................................................................... 32 Figure 3-4 Iowa Township maps contained on the SOS microfilm (838 townships) ..... 36 Figure 3-5 Iowa townships surveyed before 1850 (887 townships) ............................ 37 Figure 3-6 Iowa townships surveyed before 1850 and maps contained in the ............... 38 50S microfilm (833 townships) Figure 3-7 Tier 93 Range 7, Fayette County (SOS microfilm) ..................................... 40 Figure 3-8 Township 93 Range 7, Fayette County (WP A microfilm) ........................... 41 Figure 3-9 Incomplete SOS map ................................................................................. 42 Figure 3-10 The "rubber-sheeting" process ................................................................... 45 Figure 3-11 Diagram showing the completion of vegetation boundaries along .............. 46 section lines Figure 3-12 SOS map coverage for Fayette County ...................................................... 47 Figure 3 -13 WP A map coverage for Fayette County ..................................................... 48 Figure 3-14 Intersection of SOS and WP A Prairie ........................................................ 50 Figure 3-15 Fayette County from the 1875 Andreas Atlas ........................................... 51 iv Figure 3-16 DEM from the northeast corner of Fayette County ................................... 55 (exaggerated five times) Figure 3-17 Slope aspect coverage for the northwest corner of Fayette County ............ 56 Figure 3-18 Slope steepness coverage for the northwest comer of Fayette County ........ 57 Figure 3-19 Results of the renode procedure ................................................................ 61 Figure 3-20 Diagram showing the numbering procedure ............................................... 62 Figure 4-1 Map showing cession boundaries for Iowa (Dodds 1943, p 546) ................ 73 Figure 4-2 Fayette County surveyor name and date surveyed ...................................... 74 Figure 4-3 Soil Association map for Fayette County ................................................... 78 Figure 4-4 Landscape position from soils in Fayette County ........................................ 80 Figure 4-5 Native vegetation from soils in Fayette County .......................................... 82 Figure 4-6 SOS vegetation map for Jackson County ................................................... 93 Figure 4-7 Diagram showing the River type in Jackson County ................................... 99 Figure 4-8 Comparison of mean distances for Fayette and Jackson Counties ............. 100 Figure 4-9 Comparison of mean witness tree diameters between Fayette ................... 101 and Jackson Counties Figure 4-10 Relative density of witness trees in Fayette and Jackson Counties ............ 103 Figure 5-1 Distribution of witness trees in Prairie in Fayette County ......................... 114 Figure 5-2 Distribution of witness trees in Prairie in Jackson County ......................... 115 Figure 5-3 Distribution of witness trees in TSO in Jackson County ........................... 118 Figure 5-4 Relative density of Witness Trees in Jackson County .............................. 119 v LIST OF TABLES Table 4-1 Descriptive statistics for SOS, WP A and Andreas Atlas maps .................... 68 in Fayette County Table 4-2 Area comparison for SOS, WP A and Andreas Atlas maps ......................... 71 in Fayette County Table 4-3 Three-way comparison ofCAC values for SOS, WPA. .............................. 75 and Andreas Atlas Table 4-4 Landscape characteristics for Fayette County ............................................. 77 Table 4-5 Soil Association descriptions for Fayette County ....................................... 79 Table 4-6 Landscape position for each vegetation type in Fayette County .................. 81 Table 4-7 Native vegetation (from soils) for each vegetation type in .......................... 84 Fayette County Table 4-8 Slope aspect for each vegetation type in Fayette County ....................... 85-86 Table 4-9 Slope steepness statistics for Fayette County ............................................ 88 Table 4-10 Witness tree species for Fayette County ..................................................... 90 Table 4-11 Distance statistics for witness trees in Fayette County ................................ 91 Table 4-12 Diameter statistics for witness trees in Fayette County .............................. 91 Table 4-13 Area statistics for vegetation types in Fayette County ............................... 92 Table 4-14 Witness tree species composition for Jackson County ........................... 95-97 Table 4-15 Witness tree distance statistics for Jackson County .................................. 100 Table 4-16 Witness tree diameter statistics for Jackson County ................................. 102 Table 4-17 Relative density statistics for Jackson County .......................................... 102 Table 5-1 Chi-Square Table Comparing Frequency Distributions of Witness ............ 116 trees in Fayette and Jackson Counties vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This is, without a doubt, the toughest part of my thesis to write. There are too many people to thank for all of the support, help, and encouragement. The past three years at Iowa State