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Vegetation Monitoring by the Southwest Alaska Network (SWAN): 2007-2025 — Data Package

Published by National Park Service | Department of the Interior | Catalog Last Checked: August 01, 2026 at 03:56 AM | Dataset Last Updated: June 09, 2026 at 12:00 AM
Ground-based monitoring for the vegetation composition and structure vital sign for the Southwest Alaska Network (SWAN), focuses on documenting trends in the structure, composition, and demography of selected late-successional vegetation classes in response to environmental changes across three elevation bands (0-450 m; >450-900 m; >900 m) within the three largest parks: Katmai (KATM), Kenai Fjords (KEFJ), and Lake Clark (LACL). SWAN employed a Generalized Random-Tesselation Stratified (GRTS) sampling design, which involved a two-stage sampling scheme to ensure safety and accessibility while establishing permanent plots in selected vegetation classes. In order to focus on long-term changes rather than successional dynamics, the monitoring targeted specific vegetation classes that are common, late-seral, and sensitive to environmental changes, while avoiding early-successional classes. The selected vegetation associations included low elevation interior spruce forests, mid-elevation white spruce woodlands, low and dwarf shrub communities, and alpine dwarf shrub-fellfield communities, reflecting a gradient from warm coastal to colder alpine environments. Selected monitoring plots were revisited at approximately 5 year intervals, during which point intercept, nested quadrat frequency, tree censuses, and other structural and environmental measurements were performed.

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Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel public
bureauCode 
[
  "010:24"
]
contactPoint 
{
  "fn": "NPS IRMA Help",
  "@type": "vcard:Contact",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:NRSS_DataStore@nps.gov"
}
description Ground-based monitoring for the vegetation composition and structure vital sign for the Southwest Alaska Network (SWAN), focuses on documenting trends in the structure, composition, and demography of selected late-successional vegetation classes in response to environmental changes across three elevation bands (0-450 m; >450-900 m; >900 m) within the three largest parks: Katmai (KATM), Kenai Fjords (KEFJ), and Lake Clark (LACL). SWAN employed a Generalized Random-Tesselation Stratified (GRTS) sampling design, which involved a two-stage sampling scheme to ensure safety and accessibility while establishing permanent plots in selected vegetation classes. In order to focus on long-term changes rather than successional dynamics, the monitoring targeted specific vegetation classes that are common, late-seral, and sensitive to environmental changes, while avoiding early-successional classes. The selected vegetation associations included low elevation interior spruce forests, mid-elevation white spruce woodlands, low and dwarf shrub communities, and alpine dwarf shrub-fellfield communities, reflecting a gradient from warm coastal to colder alpine environments. Selected monitoring plots were revisited at approximately 5 year intervals, during which point intercept, nested quadrat frequency, tree censuses, and other structural and environmental measurements were performed.
distribution 
[
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_CoarseWoodyDebris.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Coarse woody debris fuel measurements - pieces greater than 7.5 cm diameter.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759242?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_MossDepthLegacy.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Depth of moss in plots at set points along the transects. Alternate data collection method started summer 2019.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759248?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_MossDepthNew.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Depth of moss in plots at set points along the transects. Data collection method started summer 2019.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759249?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_SoilHardSurface.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Depth to hard surface at the four plot corners.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759256?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Vegetation_2007-2025_metadata.xml",
    "format": "xml",
    "mediaType": "application/xml",
    "description": "EML Metadata",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759299?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_FireEvidence.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Evidence of fire in plots during sampling event.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759243?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_HumanEvidence.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Evidence of human activity in plots during sampling event.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759245?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_FineWoodyDebris.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Fine woody debris fuel measurements - pieces less than or equal to 7.5 cm diameter.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759244?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_GeomorphicType.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Geomorphic features at time of sampling.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759246?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_TreeSaplings.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Measurement and mapping of trees and saplings observed in plots.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759263?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_SoilSensor.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Metadata for temperature sensors placed in the soil, plus sensors that capture air temperature and relative humidity.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759257?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_MicroRelief.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Microrelief features observed in plots during sampling event.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759247?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_QuadratSeedling.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Number of tree seedlings in 2m x 2m quadrats within plots.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759255?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_QuadratFrequency.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Occurrence of vascular and non-vascular species within nested quadrats.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759254?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_SoilSensorObservation_part1_4.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Part 1 of hourly data recorded by vegetation HOBO sensors, where observationID < 1048576.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759293?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_SoilSensorObservation_part2_4.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Part 2 of hourly data recorded by vegetation HOBO sensors, where 1048575 < observationID < 2097151.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759294?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_SoilSensorObservation_part3_4.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Part 3 of hourly data recorded by vegetation HOBO sensors, where 2097150 < observationID < 3145726.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759295?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_SoilSensorObservation_part4_4.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Part 4 of hourly data recorded by vegetation HOBO sensors, where observationID > 3145725.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759296?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_QuadratCover.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Percent cover of species by growth form and percent cover of ground layer. Last data entry in 2013. LEGACY TABLE.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759252?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_ViereckClass.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Plot vegetation classification based on Viereck et. al. 1992.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759264?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_PointIntercept.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Point intercept measurements to estimate cover and structure.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759253?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_PlotSample.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Sampling event data.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759251?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_Plot.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Sampling locations for ground based vegetation monitoring.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759250?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_Taxon.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Species codes, substrates codes, and taxonomic data.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759262?Reference=2318556"
  },
  {
    "@type": "dcat:Distribution",
    "title": "SWAN_Veg_WindEvidence.csv",
    "format": "csv",
    "mediaType": "text/csv",
    "description": "Wind event evidence observed at plots during sampling event.",
    "downloadURL": "https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/759265?Reference=2318556"
  }
]
identifier http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/NPS_DataStore_2318556
issued 2026-06-09T00:00:00Z
keyword 
[
  "Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Vegetation Complex",
  "IMD",
  "Inventory and Monitoring Division",
  "KATM",
  "KEFJ",
  "Katmai National Park and Preserve",
  "Kenai Fjords National Park",
  "LACL",
  "Lake Clark National Park and Preserve",
  "NPS",
  "National Park Service",
  "SWAN",
  "air temperature",
  "ground based",
  "monitoring",
  "plant cover",
  "protocol",
  "sensitive plant communities",
  "soil temperature",
  "species diversity",
  "structure",
  "temperature",
  "vegetation",
  "vegetation composition",
  "vegetation cover",
  "vegetation diversity"
]
landingPage https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2318556
license https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en
modified 2026-06-09T00:00:00Z
programCode 
[
  "010:118",
  "010:119"
]
publisher 
{
  "name": "National Park Service",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
spatial -156.5285,57.8733,-149.5165,61.4653
temporal 2007-06-20/2025-08-24
theme 
[
  "Data Package"
]
title Vegetation Monitoring by the Southwest Alaska Network (SWAN): 2007-2025 — Data Package

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