Vegetation Classification and Mapping Project Report - USGS

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USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Colonial National Historical Park Table 15. Summary of products resulting from the classification and mapping of vegetation at Colonial National Historical Park. FGCD-complaint Product spatial metadata Park orthophoto mosaics (leaf-on and leaf-off) Yes Vegetation plot sampling data in the PLOTS 2.0 database Not applicable Vegetation plot point data (ArcView shapefile) Yes Thematic accuracy assessment sampling points (ArcView shapefile) Yes Digital photos representative of vegetation types Not applicable Association-level vegetation polygon map Yes Final report with vegetation keys and descriptions in digital and hardcopy format Not applicable 74
USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program Colonial National Historical Park Vegetation Classification and Characterization Discussion A comprehensive regional analysis resulted in the classification of over 100 USNVC associations, spanning nearly all major physiographic provinces in the region. Thirty-five of the associations are represented in the seven national parks included in this study. An additional 19 associations and 12 nonstandard, park-specific classes representing disturbed, cultural, or exotic vegetation were also recognized from the seven parks. This study at Colonial National Historical Park identified and characterized 40 map classes, representing 31 USNVC associations, seven Anderson Level II land-use classes (Anderson et al. 1976), and seven nonstandard, park-specific vegetation classes (Table 11). The diversity seen in the vegetation map reflects the varied environmental settings of Colonial National Historical Park, as well as the park’s location in the midst a rapidly developing urban/suburban area, and its mandate to preserve historic and cultural features. Transitional vegetation and cultural map classes cover 56.7% of the land in Colonial National Historical Park. Transitional vegetation alone covers 37.4% of the land in the park (1308.4 ha [3233.0 ac]). This vegetation is the result of relatively recent (20-80 years) abandonment of pine plantations and fields, or tree canopy removal by disturbances such as pine bark beetle infestation, wind, beaver activity, and timber harvests or other silvicultural practices. Transitional uplands are dominated by early successional, weedy tree species in the canopy and subcanopy, and can have high cover of nonnative plants in the shrub and herbaceous layers. Transitional vegetation is also found fringing roadways and parking areas where upland and wetland vegetation has been disturbed or fragmented by road construction. Beaver-disturbed areas, or areas artificially impounded, typically occur as semipermanently flooded habitats variously dominated by trees, shrubs, herbs, or open water. Where roads or berms have altered the natural tidal flooding regime of formerly tidal vegetation, disturbed wetlands exist that are transitional between oligohaline and freshwater systems. Each of these map classes are rapidly changing in species composition and vegetation structure. In the absence of beaver and nonnative plant species invasions, some of these stands would eventually succeed into one of the later successional forest types mapped in the park. Map classes representing transitional vegetation include: Disturbed Calcareous Forest, Disturbed Depressional Wetland, Disturbed Seepage Swamp, Disturbed Tidal Hardwood Swamp, Semipermanent Impoundment, Successional Black Walnut Forest, Successional Mixed Scrub, Successional Sweetgum Forest, Successional Tree-of-Heaven Forest, and Successional Tuliptree - Loblolly Pine Forest. These map classes are described in Appendix I. Cultural map classes cover 19.3% of the park’s acreage (676.6 ha [1671.9 ac]). Cultural map classes include Anderson land-use classes as well as vegetation resulting from planting or active cultivation. Cultural Meadow is the most common cultural map class in the park, covering 363.0 ha (897.0 ac). Cultural Meadow includes all mowed or maintained fields and agricultural leases in the park, as well as mowed roadsides over 0.5 ha in size. Most of the Cultural Meadow areas are managed to keep an open landscape similar to the open farmland conditions found during the 18th century. Other cultural map classes include Dense Hardwood Regeneration, Golden Bamboo Shrubland, Loblolly Pine Plantation, Industrial and Commercial Complexes, Mixed 75
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Vegetation Classification and Mapping Project Report - USGS

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