Geospatial data for the Vegetation Mapping Inventory Project of Cedar Breaks National Monument

The files linked to this reference are the geospatial data created as part of the completion of the baseline vegetation inventory project for the NPS park unit. Current format is ArcGIS file geodatabase but older formats may exist as shapefiles.

A combination of methods was used to delineate and interpret vegetation polygons for the mapping component of the CEBR project area. RMGSC cartographers acquired or created a number of ancillary spatial datasets: soils, geology, fire data, climate, fauna, invasive species, and CEBR and project boundaries. Digital elevation model (DEM) data were downloaded from the USGS Seamless Data Server (http://seamless.usgs.gov) and processed into a 10-meter ERDAS Imagine file. Slope and aspect information were derived from the DEM coverage. Vegetation information was obtained from Zion National Park from a survey that occurred in 1988 for the CEBR area. Mylar overlays and MOSS data layers were used to create this dataset. After receiving the files, the data were subsequently transferred to current digital orthophotos and output to a shapefile. Two classifications were nested within the original spatial dataset: a habitat type classification with 18 categories (145 polygons) and a community level classification with 29 classes (127 polygons). The polygon delineation was fairly coarse and the shapefile was used only as a reference for the current work. Another vegetation dataset that was acquired from the NPS was a USFS layer. This dataset was clipped to the CEBR area; this subset contained 125 polygons with 16 map classes. The age of these data and any additional metadata is unknown; therefore these general polygons were only used as a guide for the current project.