The files linked to this reference are the geospatial data created as part of the completion of the baseline vegetation inventory project for the NPS park unit. Current format is ArcGIS file geodatabase but older formats may exist as shapefiles.

To better understand the ecology and distribution of vegetation within each of the NEPE sites (and the entire NEPE vegetation distribution) an inventory, classification, and mapping project was initiated in 2009 by the NPS Vegetation Inventory Program (NVIP) in conjunction with the Upper Columbia Basin Inventory and Monitoring Network (UCBN). Using experienced contractors and NPS affiliates a three-year, three-phase program was started by the UCBN as part of the network-wide inventory effort. Phase-one, directed by UCBN staff in conjunction with Northwest Management Incorporated (NMI), Idaho State University (ISU), and S.M. Stoller Corporation (Stoller) resulted in the plant association and vegetation alliance classification using the National Vegetation Classification System (NVCS). Vegetation classification was based on the 2010 field sampling of 260 representative classification plots located within the boundaries of each NEPE site. Analysis of the classification plot data by ISU and Stoller ecologists occurred in 2011. Through this process 47 distinct plant associations and seven vegetation alliances were classified.