FGDC Vegetation Subcommittee Update to Coordination Group

1. March 18, 2014 Coordination Group Meeting FGDC Vegetation SubcommitteeUpdate to Coordination Group Marianne K. Burke, Ph.D Chair of the Vegetation Subcommittee Forest Service Research and Development 571-733-7972 mburke@fs.fed.us

2. IntroductionThe Mission/Purpose of the Vegetation Subcommittee is: the coordination of terrestrial vegetative data-related activities among Federal agencies and the establishment of a mechanism for the coordinated development, use, sharing, and dissemination of terrestrial vegetation data. Members include:  • Marianne Burke, USFS • Mike Mulligan, USGS • Gene Fults, NRCS • Don Faber-Langendoen, NatureServe • Scott Franklin, ESA • Alexa McKerrow, USGS • Kristin Snow, • NatureServe • Carol Spurrier, BLM • Nate Herold, NOAA • Karl Brown, NPS • Kathy Goodin, NatureServe • Laurel Gorman, USACE • Elizabeth Middleton, NASA • Patrick Donnelly, FWS • Cliff Duke, ESA • Jill Parsons, ESA • Harbin Li, USFS • Robert Peet, UNC/ESA • Dave Tart, USFS • John Dennis, NPS • Michelle Cox, US Navy

3. NGDA Data Themes and Data Sets • The FGDC Vegetation Subcommittee reports to the Land Use – Land Cover Theme. • The following data themes and data sets fall under the purview of the FGDC Vegetation Subcommittee: • The National Vegetation Classification Standard. • Revised content (types and descriptions) for eight levels of the NVC hierarchy. • VegBank – a permanent archive of the vegetation plot data.

4. Recent Meetings • Monthly Vegetation Subcommittee Meetings • Monthly ESA Panel Meetings • ESA Pilot Peer Review Board Meeting • Meetings with potential users • Interagency Land Management Adaptation Group • USFS Forest Inventory and mapping • USFS Environmental Threat Assessment Centers

5. Recent Developments/Projects(Subcommittee Administration) • Subcommittee MOU is before the partner signatories • Subcommittee Charter is before the Land Use - Land Cover Theme Leads for their concurrence. • Subcommittee Implementation Plan is almost ready to share beyond the subcommittee • A mapping working group was created to interact with groups using the NVC in mapping. • Progress is being made for housing the NVC in a federal agency • USGS is working on database search capability for USNVC Database • FS Data archivist is: • providing advice for the planning process for housing the NVC and related information • advocating for housing the NVC by the Forest Service.

6. Recent Developments/Projects(Content Maintenance and Dissemination)

7. Recent Developments /Projects(Peer review and evaluation of proposals for revising content) • The report for the ESA Peer Review pilot has been submitted to USGS for review. • Longleaf pine dataset was used as case study to identify the process and policy decisions specific to reviewing proposed changes to the NVC – nearing completion. • Proposals for revisions will address changes needed at the in the content for the Alliance level.

8. Recent Developments/Projects • The Hierarchy Revisions Report for Formation Class, Formation Subclass, and Formation (levels 1 to 3) is being published. • Multi-agency report • Online and Paper copies • Published by the Forest Service

9. Recent Developments/Projects(Collaborations involving use of NVC) USNVC is being used in for Vegetation classification in the • Parashant National Monument (BLM), • Lake Mead Natural Recreation Area (NPS) • Grand Canyon National Park (NPS)

10. Recent Developments/ProjectsCollaboration using NVCForest Service FIA vegetation crosswalk • Draft Key to the Eastern Forest Macrogroups is complete • Final key needs to wait for completion of final report on the Macrogroups and Groups (TBD by Dec. 2014) • Verification and QAQC is needed. • Plan is to implement NVC in the FIA database • Eventually hope to do crosswalk for Western US Forest and other non-forested types nationally.

11. Key for Crosswalking Vegetation ClassificationDATA DRIVING THE KEY: Species, their relative importance values, and attributes (hardwood, conifer, etc.)

12. NVC will be part of the multi-phase integrated monitoring framework that will be used across the nation Permanent 20+ Ecosystem sites throughout U.S. Ecosystem Index Site Forest Health Indicators Permanent 8,000+ forest plots 13 mile (22 km) grid Permanent 125,000+ forest plots 3 mile (5 km) grid Phase 2 (P2) Forest Inventory Millions of 1 m – 1 km pixels Phase 1 (P1) Remote Sensing GROUND

13. Recent Developments/ProjectsCollaborations using NVCLANDFIRE Landfire involves vegetation mapping in support of fire and fuels management, and conservation planning. Products include spatial data that are moderate resolution vegetation maps for the US (current & historic distributions, structural characteristics, fuel loadings, etc).

14. Recent Developments/ProjectsCollaborations using NVCLANDFIRE • Future plans: Link plot data labeling for forested and non-forested areas to NVCS throughout the US • Status: Currently initiating a new national mapping effort. Auto-keys will be developed for groups and macro- groups across the U.S. • Benefits: A comprehensive wall-to-wall spatial data for the US to support natural resource planning and management.

15. Recent Developments/Projects(Collaborations involving use of NVC) Existing Vegetation Classification, Mapping, and Inventory Technical Guide (Ver. 2.0) Vegetation Subcommittee provided advice on how to ensure that the NVC was crosswalked during land management planning activities on National Forests and Grasslands.

16. Recent Developments/Projects(Outreach and education) • A half-day workshop “Applying the U.S. National Vegetation Classification on Military Lands.” was held on March 11, 2014 in Denver CO. • Todd Keeler-Wolf (California Department of Fish and Wildlife) • Scott Franklin (Chair, Ecological Society of America Panel on Vegetation Classification; Associate Professor University of Northern Colorado) • Alexa McKerrow (USGS Core Science Analytics and Synthesis; NVC Implementation Manager) • Jill Petraglia Parsons (Program Manager Ecological Society of America)

17. Next Steps - administrative • Submit Charter to Coordination Committee • Finalize implementation plan and share it outside the subcommittee • Finalize how the NVC content will be housed and managed on a federal public facing server.

18. Next Steps –outreach to users • Interagency Land Management Adaptation Group • Scoping for projects to use NVC. • FS Environment Threat Assessment Centers • Sought out NVC as system to use nationwide • Plan to have National Forests crosswalk vegetation categories • FS Ecosystem Management Coordination • Subcommittee is providing input for development of directives for land management planning on the National Forests.

19. Next Meeting • The next meeting of the Vegetation subcommittee will be held about March 26, 2014. It will take place via teleconference. • Some of the topics to be discussed at the next meeting include: • Implementation plan. • Report on workshop “Applying the U.S. National Vegetation Classification on Military Lands” • Status of the auto key projects • Progress on re-homing the NVC and associated information. • Report on Peer Review Pilot Project

20. Questions? Marianne Burke, Forest Service R&D Phone – 571-733-7972 mburke@fs.fed.us