Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
The overall purpose of the National Park Service Vegetation Inventory Program (NPS VIP) is to provide a research tool enabling the National Park Service (NPS) to better manage their resources for the betterment of the American public.
The NPS VIP products, with cooperative support from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Vegetation Characterization Program (VCP), provide the NPS Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program with baseline vegetation information. The I&M Program is vital in equipping NPS natural resource managers reliable scientific information for making prudent decisions regarding stewardship of NPS lands, thus preserving the Nation’s park lands for years of enjoyment by the public wealth. The NPS VIP suite of products provide a structure for framing and answering critical scientific questions about vegetation communities and their relation to environmental processes across the landscape. The NPS VIP activities are based on peer-reviewed, objective science. Comprehensive vegetation information is provided at national and regional levels, while also serving local management needs of individual parks. Products are used for various resource management, planning, compliance, and public educational purposes at the park, regional, and national levels. Information for each park must therefore be consistent in classification, detail, and accuracy. Common research needs are monitoring, invasive species, habitat models, wildlife surveys, and fire management. The NPS VIP is administered by the NPS Biological Resources Management Division.
The Upper Midwest Environmental Science Center (UMESC) began partnering with the NPS VIP in 1996. The UMESC became a partner in this program because the mapping products of the NPS VIP are biologically based and our mapping staff has strong backgrounds in biological and natural sciences. Although UMESC staff use state-of-the-art mapping technology to produce maps, it is the biological background of the team that is a huge benefit for mapping ecologically based plant communities and for partnering with NatureServe ecologists regarding vegetation classification.
The first two park units the UMESC engaged in were "pilot" projects to the NPS VIP, which were to test and revise classification and mapping standards. Those first two park units were Voyageurs National Park (~390,000 acres mapped) and Acadia National Park (~240,000 acres mapped). The UMESC had an integral part in showcasing methodology and final products for the NPS VIP. The UMESC has also completed Effigy Mounds National Monument (~12,000 acres mapped), applying standards and lessons learned from the "pilot" projects. In 2007, UMESC completed Glacier National Park, with ~1.1 million acres of mapping and over 200 plant communities identified. This project was part of an International effort with Canada's Waterton Lakes National Park (~225,000 acres mapped).
Beginning in 2005, UMESC and the NPS VIP initiated vegetation mapping through a network approach that clusters parks by region. Currently, UMESC is working on mapping the Great Lakes Network, which includes the remaining six unmapped parks in the Great Lakes Region. To date, the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, and Grand Portage National Monument have been completed. In progress as of 2010 are the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. Together, these six parks total ~464,000 acres. The Great Lakes Network is scheduled to be completed in 2011.
Additional National Park projects currently in progress are the Buffalo National River in northwestern Arkansas, the entire Appalachian National Scenic Trail, and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in northern Ohio.
To provide a research tool enabling the National Park Service to better manage their resources for the betterment of the American public. Data sets developed by this program provide a structure for framing and answering critical scientific questions about vegetation communities and their relation to environmental processes across the landscape.
Point of contact: Jennifer Dieck
For more information, please visit these NPS links:
NPS Vegetation Inventory Program
USGS Vegetation Characterization Program
