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.

The vegetation map for Pecos National Historical Park was developed using a combined strategy of automated digital-image classification and direct analog-image interpretation of aerial photography and satellite imagery. Initially, the aerial photography and satellite imagery were processed and entered into a GIS along with ancillary spatial layers. A working legend of ecologically based vegetation map units was developed using the vegetation classification described in Chapter 2 as the foundation. The intent was to develop map units that targeted the plant-association level wherever possible within the constraints of image quality, information content, and resolution. With the provisional legend and ground-control points provided by the field-plot data (the same data used to develop the vegetation classification), a series of automated image segmentation and supervised image classifications were conducted, followed by fine-scale map refinement using direct image interpretation and manual editing. The outcome was a vegetation map composed of a suite of map units defined by plant associations and represented by sets of mapped polygons with similar spectral and physical characteristics