The National Vegetation Classification System Versus Other Classifications: Crosswalking & When to Use What

What are the other principal classifications systems: provide definition and history, purpose, and examples of applications. (person responsible for description in parenthesis - the goal at this time for having a draft of the information is July 1, 1998)

• National Vegetation Classification System - NVCS (Andrew MacLachlan, Steve Talbot)
• National Wetland Inventory - NWI; Cowardin et al. (Andrew MacLachlan)
• Riparian - (Andrew MacLachlan)
• Society of American Foresters Forest Types - SAF (Paul Steblein)
• Anderson et al. and other landuse/landcover - LULC (Paul Steblein)
• Desert - Brown (Ron Kerns)
• Northwest Forest Classification - IRICC (Ron Kerns)
• Ecosite Index - NRCS and Forest Service (Mike Long)
• Fosberg System (Steve Talbot)
• Others, Alaska, Mexico, Canada (Steve Talbot)

Potential to crosswalk with NVCS : Provide some information and examples on crosswalks with the systems described above; these are not the definitive crosswalks (same people working on particular systems)

• - where do systems crosswalk appropriately (e.g., at particular hierarchical levels)
• - where do they not crosswalk (e.g., particular classifiers may not match one-to-one cleanly, or even whole hierarchies)
• - what have others done on crosswalking and implementation
• - how to crosswalk; E.G. recode based on descriptions or classify field data under both systems

NWI comparison with NVCS - this topic needs a more exhaustive examination of classifications involving wetlands. (Lead by NWI?????) It should include:

- what are the appropriate applications of each for wetland related activities (section 404 permits, wetland management, endangered species....)
- provide a complete review of crosswalking (where do they crosswalk well, e.g., floristic levels of NVCS may nest well under NWI, but formation levels and higher may not mesh)

Relatively complete alliance/association descriptions for NVCS are needed to conduct the analyses above. Paul Steblein will contact Leslie Sneddon and Denny Grossman about availability.

Field Methods for Collecting Vegetational/Floristic Data: There are standardized methods used by ecologists to provide descriptions of the vegetation and floristic characteristics of ecological communities. These standard methods are necessary to classify field sites to the appropriate NVCS classification. The use of the techniques are appropriate in developing a list and description of community types at a study site, or for vegetation mapping in associating community types with photo/image signatures and in conducting accuracy assessments. The standardized data are also necessary in defining when community types do not adequately fit the current classifications of NVCS and contribute to a national database that is used to further develop NVCS.

The techniques and supporting materials (field data sheets, databases, classification systems) need to be easily accessible to FWS staff if they are to use the field methods for their applications. Paul Steblein and Steve Talbot will compile some of these alternatives for Service staff.

For additional information regarding this Web page, contact Chris Lett, in the Division of Information Resources and Technology Management, at Chris_Lett@fws.gov

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Keywords=GIS, data, metadata, steering, veg, vegetation
Last Modified January 02, 2001 10:44 AM