USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program

The USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program (VMP) is a cooperative effort by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Park Service (NPS) to classify, describe, and map vegetation communities in more than 250 national park units across the United States. The VMP is a high priority element within the NPS Inventory & Monitoring (I&M) Program. The purpose of the I&M Program is to provide NPS natural resource managers with reliable scientific information for stewardship of NPS lands.

The VMP uses the U.S. National Vegetation Classification, which is a hierarchical system that organizes natural vegetation. NatureServe and their Natural Heritage Network provide ecological support to the VMP with vegetation sampling, analysis, and classification development.

The Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) provides the VMP with vegetation maps and data of selected national parks. Spatial coverages of vegetation and field data are produced for use in Geographic Information Systems. Thematic accuracy assessments validate the vegetation maps, with 80% as the standard.

Products include a final project report, vegetation community descriptions and dichotomous key, mapping conventions, ground photos of vegetation types, aerial photographs, hard copy maps, National Biological Information Infrastructure compliant metadata, and CD-ROM of all digital data.

Since 1996, the UMESC has been involved with mapping four national parks: Voyageurs National Park, Acadia National Park, Glacier National Park, and Effigy Mounds National Monument. For more information about the VMP and other national parks that are either completed or under way, visit the USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program’s official web site at http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg.

Acadia National Park
Vegetation Mapping Project, Maine

Effigy Mounds National Monument
Vegetation Mapping Project, Iowa

(currently undeveloped, anticipated completion Spring 2004)

Glacier National Park
Vegetation Mapping Project, Montana

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park

(anticipated completion Fall 2006)

Voyageurs National Park
Vegetation Mapping Project, Minnesota