Geospatial data for the Vegetation Mapping Inventory Project of Cowpens National Battlefield

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.

In 2002 and 2003, we returned to Cowpens National Battlefield to follow-up on the first three goals and to cooperate with the University of Georgia Center for Remote Sensing and Mapping Science on their project to map all vegetation communities in the park. We supplied the University of Georgia team with all plot data already collected and a dichotomous key to the communities of the park and we walked throughout the park to help them identify unique mapping units. Since photointerpreters rely heavily on canopy species composition, understory species composition, and disturbance to classify polygons and ecologists rely just as heavily on the shrub and herb layer to classify types, the mapping units and the vegetation classification units do not always “crosswalk” (match up) perfectly. The last step of the project was to reconcile mapping units with vegetation associations to produce mapping units that match up well with the ecological units of the National Vegetation Classification. We continue to work with the University of Georgia team on the mapping; the vegetation map will be produced separately by the Center for Remote Sensing and Mapping Science and will include any crosswalk as specified in the cooperative agreement.