Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve (CRMO) encompasses approximately 753,222 acres in south central Idaho. CRMO is located approximately 84 miles west of Idaho Falls, ID and 90 miles northeast from Twin Falls, ID. This unique unit of the National Park Service (NPS) includes volcanic cones, craters, lava flows, and kipukas characteristic of the Great Rift on the broad Eastern Snake River Plain. The park is cooperatively managed by the NPS and Bureau of Land Management and consists of three main lava flows, the Craters of the Moon, Kings Bowl and Wapi lava fields. This unique, moon-like, terrain supports approximately 701 species of vascular plants and includes examples of native plant communities common to cinder fields and lava beds. To better understand the distribution of the plant assemblages located at CRMO, the NPS Vegetation Mapping Program funded an effort, beginning in 2006, to map the vegetation at CRMO. The Upper Columbia Basin’s Inventory and Monitoring Network (UCBN) coordinated the vegetation inventory effort.
A four-year, 4-phase program was initiated to complete the task of mapping and classifying the vegetation at CRMO. Phase one, directed by CRMO and UCBN staff in conjunction with Northwest Management Incorporated (NMI) and the Idaho Conservation Data Center (ICDC) developed a vegetation classification using the National Vegetation Classification System (NVCS). To classify the vegetation, 506 representative plots located throughout the approximately 928,373 acre project area (753,222 acres + 2km environs buffer) were sampled during the summer of 2006. Analysis of the plot data by Idaho Conservation Data Center in the winter of 2006-2007 produced 93 distinct plant associations and 47 plant alliances. Vegetation descriptions and a field key for all of the unique plant assemblages for CRMO are included in this report.
Phase two, directed by NMI and Cogan Technology, Inc (CTI) produced a digital vegetation map. Mapping was done using a new ortho-photo product acquired in May 2007 specifically for this project by Furgo Horizons Incorporated (Rapid City, SD). The imagery was collected using an airborne, Leica ADS40 digital sensor that collected multi-spectral (4-band), 12 bit data at 1-meter resolution. The resulting tiles were than rectified, mosiaced and processed into an 8-bit, 1:12,000-scale ortho-image. In part, using the vegetation-specific signatures from the new imagery, CTI was able to discern 50 individual map units through image segmentation and manual digitizing. All of the interpreted and remotely sensed data were converted to Geographic Information System (GIS) databases using ArcGIS© software. The final map layer contained vegetation and land-use polygons based on the minimum mapping unit of 0.5 hectares (1.24 ac) and these were attributed with appropriate map class, NVC and modifier information. Draft maps were printed, field tested, reviewed, and revised. After verifying the map and accessing the accuracy the final number of map units was refined to 54, including 38 vegetation, 3 bare geology, and 13 land-use/land cover types.
The phase 3 accuracy assessment (AA) was conducted in 2008 by placing 772 random point locations throughout the study area based on frequency and abundance of the map units. These were visited by NMI field crews and the vegetation at the targets was keyed to the proper association. The field data was then compared to the vegetation map and after final revisions and removal of 10 points from analysis (due to recent fire and agricultural field expansion) the assessment revealed an overall thematic accuracy of 82%.
Completion of the project in phase 4 included producing the standard project deliverables as described and presented in this report, as well as stored on the accompanying DVD. These include: ● A Final Report that includes keys to the vegetation and imagery signatures, AA information, and all of the methods and results of the project
● A Spatial GIS Database containing spatial data for the vegetation, plots, and AA points
● Digital Photos from sample plots and miscellaneous park views
● Metadata for all spatial data [Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC)-compliant]
● Vegetation Descriptions and Photo Signature Key to the map classes and associations/alliances.
