Imagery data for the Vegetation Mapping Inventory Project of Mount Rushmore National Memorial

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.

All map classes were interpreted from existing 1:16,000 scale, color photography flown on August 28, 1993. The photographs were acquired from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). Photointerpretation used the standard identification features such as tone, texture, color, pattern, topographic position, and shadow. In addition, field sample locations and their vegetation descriptions aided in assigning map class to each polygon. All photographs were examined using a stereoscope. Digital elevation models (DEM’s) were processed and converted to slope and aspect coverages. These helped to provide additional perspectives of the landscape. Six photographs were interpreted for the entire mapping area.