Vegetation Classification and Mapping Project Appendices - USGS

USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program
Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park
Note: You can deviate from the standard plot shapes where that makes sense, but the total plot area
encompassed by the boundaries should be as listed above for each major class of vegetation. For example,
forested riparian vegetation, may be sampled in a more linear, 10 x 40 m (400 m 2 ) plot; herbaceous
riparian or ridgeline vegetation in a 2 x 50 m (100 m 2 ) plot.
5) Once the plot is established, it is generally a good time to fill out the Identifiers/Locators part of your
Plot Survey Form (see the cheat sheet) and take the plot photos.
Taking photographs
Instructions from Park staff?
Data Collection
Environmental Description
See the coding instructions at the end of this document for guidance on the specific fields.
Vegetation Description
For guidance on the specific fields on the second page of the form, see the coding instructions.
As you begin to collect the species, DBH and cover information, keep these four rules in mind—they will
speed your data collection considerably:
1) Except in very diverse plots, don’t spend more than 20 minutes looking for new and different species
to record. Remember that these plot data are to be used to classify the overall vegetation of the Park, not
to make a complete species list for it. And if you had to spend much more than 20 minutes to find a
species, it probably isn’t going to be important in characterizing the vegetation type. For diverse plots
with over 25 taxa you may take up to 30 minutes on the listing process.
2) If you can’t identify a plant to species, record the species on your form as “unknown species 1,”
“unknown species 2,” “Carex unknown sp. 1,” etc. Record associated cover class and other data for the
unknown as you would for any other species.
Then do one of two things:
If you need the species identified right away because it appears to be dominant or diagnostic (you’re
seeing it all over the place or you’re seeing much more in this particular vegetation type than in others),
take a sample of the species with as much of the plant as possible, especially intact sexual parts, if
present). Place the sample in a baggie, and label the baggie with the plot code and the name you gave it
on the data form.
If you don’t need the plant keyed right away, press it. Mark the pressed specimen with the plot code and
the name you gave it on the data form.
Give all your specimens, bagged and pressed, to the Field Coordinator for keying. You can, of course, key
some of these out yourself if you want to, but don’t let plant keying get in the way of your primary
responsibility: field data collection. No one expects you to identify every plant; that’s why keying is
considered part of the Field Coordinator’s routine responsibilities. A quick prioritization of what to key
and what to press may be made based on the recurrence of the species in samples and on the cover-class
estimate of the species in a particular plot. If the species has a high cover value (>1%) it is more of a
priority to identify. Field crews should mark the specimen tag with its cover class estimate as well as its
unique identifying number for the vegetation sample.
A sample completed Plot Survey form is provided at the end of this document.
Appendix C: Plot Sampling Form and Field Manual C-8