LCOVER1 and LCOVER2

Description: land cover for public lands and surrounding private lands
Last Update: 1997
Data Type: Polygon
Source Data: digital orthophotos
Source Data Date: May 1995
Source Data Resolution: 3.12' pixels
Source Data Projection: tfw uses Vernon County Coordinate System

These land cover layers were developed using Vernon County 1995 digital orthophotos as source data. The interpretations, fieldwork, and digitizing for the land cover layers were conducted by three separate sets of people. The final coverages (LCOVER1 and LCOVER2) were compiled from these three separate data sets. The land cover classes identified and the methods used by each group are described later in this document.

LCOVER1 CLASSIFICATION

(Kickapoo Reserve, Wildcat Mountain State Park, Whitestown and Forest Townships)

--ATTRIBUTES--

LANDCOVER: land cover designation
COMMENT: comments about the land cover polygon
VERIFIED:

0 = land cover designation assigned by looking at orthophoto only
1 = land cover designation verified by field or airphoto observation

-- LAND COVER DESIGNATIONS--

WOODLANDS

MH = Mixed Hardwood
LR = Lowland Riparian (e.g. silver maple, black willow, cottonwood)
CP = Conifer Plantation
HH = Hemlock & White Pine & Hardwoods (e.g. yellow birch, black ash, sugar maple)
NP = Natural Pine

OLD FIELDS/NEW GROWTH

UG = Upland Grass (open grassy area)
S = Saplings (about 75% saplings - over 5')
BR = Brush (about 75% shrubs, small saplings - under 5')
UG/S = Upland Grass/Saplings combination (< 75% of one category)
UG/BR = Upland Grass/Brush combination
UG/BR/S = Upland Grass/Brush/Saplings combination (approx. 33% of each)
UG/MH = Upland Grass/Mixed Hardwood (trees larger than saplings)

WETLANDS

WG = Wet Grass
SM = Sedge Meadow
M = Marsh (open water, cattails)
WB = Wet Brush (e.g., black willow, red-osier dogwood, speckled alder)
WS = Wet Saplings (larger saplings -- black willow, box elder)
WG/WB = Wet Grass/Wet Brush combination
WG/WS = Wet Grass/Wet Sapling combination
WG/WB/WS = Wet Grass/Wet Brush/Wet Sapling combination
WG/LR = Wet Grass/Lowland Riparian combination (trees larger than saplings)

OW = Open Water

AGRICULTURAL

G = Ginsing
HAY = Hay field
P = Pasture (evidence of recent grazing; some areas may be covered by shrubs or saplings)
R = Row Crop
Rc = Row Crop contoured

DEVELOPED

B = Buildings/Farmstead/Lawn/Developed
Q = Quarry

LCOVER2 Classification

(Whitestown, Forest, Stark, Clinton, Liberty, eastern half of Webster Townships)

-- ATTRIBUTES--

LANDCOV1: General land cover designation (e.g. woodland, old field)
LANDCOV2: More detailed designation (e.g. mixed hardwood, conifer plantation)
COND: Condition (e.g. grazed, contour)
COMMENT: Comments about the land cover polygon
CODE: Numeric code for land cover designation
VERIFIED:

0 = land cover designation assigned by looking at orthophoto only
1 = land cover designation verified by field or airphoto observation

code

0 WOODLAND

01 MH = Mixed Hardwood
02 CP = Conifer Plantation
03 NC = Natural Conifer (Pine, Hemlock, etc.)
04 PLTN = Plantation - not conifer

1 OLD FIELD

10 UG = Upland Grass (open grassy area)
11 OFS = Old Field Successional (upland grass with "new growth")
12 J = Juniper

2 WETLAND

20 NFW = Non-Forested Wetland
21 LR = Lowland Riparian (brushy and woody wetlands)

3 WATER

30 OW = Open Water

4 AGRICULTURE

40 P = Pasture (evidence of recent grazing; may be covered by shrubs or saplings)
41 HAY = Hay field
42 R = Row Crop
420 - contoured
421 - non-contoured
43 G = Ginsing

5 DEVELOPED

50 B = Buildings/Farmstead/Lawn/Developed
51 Q = Quarry
52 ROAD = Road

SOME DATA CONSIDERATIONS

1. The land cover designations were made according to the status of the land cover at the time of field verification (summer and fall 1996) which has the following implications: polygons were labeled "pasture" if there was evidence of recent grazing. However, a field that may have been grazed in previous years, but had not been grazed during 1996, might be labeled "upland grass" or "upland grass/shrubs." Similarly, areas labeled "hay" were hay fields during 1996, but may have been planted with different crops in other years.
   

2. Boundaries between different land cover types are often difficult to distinguish - both on the orthophotos and on the ground. For example, the line between where wet grass ends and upland grass begins is subject to the interpretation of the observer. The locations of the boundary lines should not be overstated due to the "fuzzy" nature of land cover distinctions.
   

3. Designations of "brush", "upland grass/brush", "brush/saplings", etc. are based on estimates of the quantities of the different types of vegetation made through photo or ground observations. No measurements were made to determine the actual proportions of vegetation.

SOURCE DATA FOR LCOVER1 and LCOVER2

Three sets of people were responsible for gathering the source data which comprised LCOVER1 and LCOVER2. The divisions are as follows: 1)Wildcat Mountain State Park and the Kickapoo Reserve, 2) Whitestown and Forest Townships (outside of the State Park and Reserve boundaries) and the eastern half of Webster Township, 3)Liberty, Clinton, and Stark Townships outside of the Reserve boundary. MAP 3 shows these three divisions. Following are descriptions of the methods and the land cover classes used by the three different groups.

The first two sets of data (excluding Webster Township) used the same land cover classification scheme. These data were joined to create LCOVER1 which maintained the original attributes and land cover classifications. The attributes and land cover classification schemes of all three sets of data were redesigned and reclassified so that they could be joined together to create LCOVER2. All reclassification and joining was performed by Helen Kahn at LICGF.

1) AREA: Wildcat Mountain State Park and the Kickapoo Reserve

COMPILED BY: Lea Shanley, intern for the WDNR Bureau of Endangered Resources

Polygons were digitized on-screen and assigned land cover designations using Arcedit and Arctools. As mentioned above, the Vernon County 1995 digital orthophotography served as the backdrop against which these land cover types were delineated. This initial land cover layer, along with streams and roads, were overlaid on the orthophotos and plotted to produce a series of "orthomaps." These maps were used for field work.

The preliminary land cover layer was checked for validity and corrected accordingly. This was accomplished through field verification and airphoto interpretation. Field verification was conducted by Lea Shanley in June, July, and August of 1996. This consisted both of "windshield surveys" and of hiking a short ways into the interior. Areas which were not easily accessible were verified by air photo interpretation. Aerial photography, generously provided by Jim Dalton, Vernon County DNR Forester, was viewed in stereo for photo-interpretation of land cover boundaries and vegetation types. These leaf-on photos were acquired at a scale of 1:20,000 in 1993 and 1995. Changes to the initial data layer were made on the orthomaps and then transferred to the digital coverage.

Eric Epstein of the BER made the final review of the data. Final corrections to the coverage were made by Helen Kahn.

2) AREA: Whitestown and Forest Township (outside of state park and reserve boundaries); Eastern half of Webster Township

COMPILED by: Helen Kahn,research assistant, LICGF

Land cover types were interpreted from the 1995 digital orthophotos. Preliminary land cover polygons were digitized on-screen and assigned land cover designations using Arcedit and Arctools. The initial data layer was plotted onto a series of maps that were taken into the field to verify boundary delineations and land cover designations. Helen Kahn and John Zinn (Vernon County Land Conservation Department) conducted the field verification through "windshield surveys" (summer and fall of 1996). Polygons on private lands which could not be viewed from the road were not verified. Boundary and land cover changes were drawn onto the field maps and this information was used to make corrections to the digital data.

(Digitizing and field verification for the eastern half of Webster Township was conducted in 1997 using the land cover classification scheme for LCOVER2.)

3) AREA: Liberty, Clinton, and Stark Townships

COMPILED BY: Lynne Heasley, graduate student in Forestry, UW-Madison and Hawthorne Beyer, graduate student in geography, UW-Stevens Point

These land cover layers were created using similar methods as those outlined in the previous two sections. Polygons were digitized on-screen from 1995 digital orthophotos and then field checked through ground surveys and aerial photo interpretation. The original land cover classification system and set of attributes for these data differed from the two previous data sets. They were reclassified as LCOVER2.