Spatial Vegetation Data for Wind Cave National Park Vegetation Mapping Project

This geospatial database covers vegetation land cover and land use for Wind Cave National Park and surrounding areas and is authorized as part of the USGS/NPS Vegetation Mapping Program <http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg> . The program is administered by the Biological Resources Division (BRD) of the United States Geological Survey (USGS). This mapping effort was performed by the US Bureau of Reclamation's (USBR) Remote Sensing and GIS Group, Technical Service Center, Denver, CO. The vegetation mapping program is part of a larger Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) program started by the National Park Service (NPS) <http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/> . I&M goals are, among others, to map the vegetation of all national parks and monuments and provide a baseline inventory of vegetation. The USGS/BRD is responsible for overall management and oversight of all ongoing mapping efforts. The mapped vegetation reflects conditions that existed during the specific year and season that the aerial photographs were taken. There is a margin of error inherent in the use of aerial photographs. Therefore, a detailed ground and historical analysis of a single site may result in a revision of the vegetation alliance boundaries established through photographic interpretation.