Imagery data for the Vegetation Mapping Inventory Project of Joshua Tree National Park

This reference contains the imagery data used in the completion of the baseline vegetation inventory project for the NPS park unit. Orthophotos, raw imagery, and scanned aerial photos are common files held here.

The vegetation mapping portion of the project was contracted to Aerial Information Systems, Inc. (AIS) out of Redlands, CA. The mapping effort began in 1996 and by 2004 they had produced a vegetation map (referred to as the 2005 version of the map), along with two reports (see Appendix F and G) titled, Photo-Interpretation Report, USGS-NPS Vegetation and Inventory and Mapping Program, Joshua Tree National Park and USGS-NPS Vegetation Mapping Program, Joshua Tree National Park Mapping Classification. AIS was hired again in 2009-2010 to assist in updating the map; they hosted the meeting in August 2009, then proceeded to make changes to the map as discussed at the meeting. For the most part, this involved revisiting aerial photos and reevaluating the map class assigned to each problematic polygon, as well as correcting any global recodes and minor edits to the nomenclature. Aerial imagery used for the project was from 1998, including the revisits in 2009, and the minimum mapping unit was defined as 0.50 hectares. For more detail on methods used by AIS to produce the map and a summary of the project pre-2005, refer to the reports mentioned above.