Pacific Northwest Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit (CESU)

Olympic National Park Vegetation Inventory Map Product Development

Project ID: P15AC00990

Federal Agency: National Park Service

Partner Institution: Portland State University

Fiscal Year: 2015

Initial Funding: $29,767

Total Funding: $265,448

Project Type: Technical Assistance

Project Disciplines: Biological

National Park: Olympic National Park

Principal Investigator: Nielsen, Eric

Agreement Technical Representative: Copass, Catharine

Abstract: As part of a national effort to develop baseline information about the status of existing natural resources, the National Park Service (NPS) is developing vegetation maps for all the national park units in the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN). This project continues a collaborative effort between NPS and Portland State University (PSU) to develop the vegetation map for Olympic National Park (OLYM). During accuracy assessment of a similar map for Mount Rainier National Park (MORA), it became apparent that the determination of plant associations made by various crews in the field over the years of data collection were inconsistent and not reliable enough to generate clear relationships among the computer based models and ground-collected data. This predicament was particularly true for forested and subalpine classes. The map classes for MORA and OLYM are designed to be similar, therefore this problem also applies to creating the OLYM vegetation map at acceptable levels of accuracy. PSU and NPS will collaborate in this project to conduct a thorough evaluation of OLYM mapping input and accuracy assessment field data, using the field data to refine and update map classes. PSU will incorporate new mapping techniques to improve final OLYM map products and summarize project results to meet NPS Vegetation Inventory mapping program standards. Expected products include: OLYM vegetation map that meets NPS standards, accuracy assessment layer of map classes, accuracy assessment matrices and statistics, map classification, and a final report on map development, methods, results and accuracy assessment.