Vegetation Mapping of Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve

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The Everglades National Park (EVER) and Big Cypress National Preserve (BICY) vegetation mapping project is a component of the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP). This is a cooperative effort between the South Florida Water Management District, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and the NPS Vegetation Inventory Program (VIP). The goal of the project is to produce a spatially and thematically accurate vegetation map of EVER and BICY that will serve as baseline conditions to 1) document changes to the spatial extent, pattern, and proportion of plant communities as they respond to management-driven hydrologic modifications resulting from implementation of the CERP; and 2) provide vegetation and land cover information to NPS park managers and scientists for use in park management, resource management, research, and monitoring.

The project covers an area of approximately 7,400 km2 (1.84 million acres) and consists of seven mapping regions: four regions in EVER, 1 through 4, and three regions in BICY, 5 through 7.  Photo interpretation is performed by superimposing a 50 m x 50 m (¼ hectare) grid cell vector matrix over stereoscopic, 0.30-cm spatial resolution, color infrared aerial imagery on a digital photogrammetric workstation. Photo interpreters identify the dominant community in each cell by applying majority rule algorithms, recognizing community-specific spectral signatures, and referencing an extensive ground-truth database.

To date, approximately 54% of the entire project area has been mapped. EVER is approximately 70% complete while BICY is 30% complete.  Region 2 in EVER and Region 7 in BICY are complete. The Region 2 vegetation map has a thematic accuracy of 88.6% with a lower 90th percentile confidence level of 84.6%. The thematic accuracy of the Region 7 vegetation map is 85% with a 90th percentile lower confidence interval of 82%. These two completed regions will be available for distribution in late summer 2017 with subsequent project deliverables expected each year thereafter.

This project receives support from the NPS VIP and the USACE.

Footprint of the Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve vegetation mapping project showing mapping regions and progress to date.

Footprint of the Everglades National Park and Big Cypress National Preserve vegetation mapping project showing mapping regions and progress to date.

Platform
Author Name
Pablo L Ruiz, Theodore N. Schall
Author Email
pablo_ruiz@nps.gov; ted.n.schall@usace.army.mil