Vegetation Mapping Project

The intent of the Vegetation Mapping Project is to develop a Geographic Information System (GIS) digital layer of designated vegetation and non-vegetation cover-types for land use planning purposes. Successful completion of the project will produce a GIS digital layer of designated vegetation and non-vegetation cover-types on all lands in Teton County, Wyoming, excluding those under federal ownership by the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service.

Updates

The Vegetation Mapping Project was completed in 2013. See the final report (PDF).

Meetings & Public Workshops

Not available at this time.

Reports & Documents

  1. Award Recommendation - GIS Vegetation Mapping Project (BCC Staff Report - June 5, 2012) (PDF)
  2. Cogan, D., and S. Johnson (2013). Final Report - Vegetation Non-Vegetation Cover Type Mapping (PDF)
  3. Request for Proposals - Vegetation Mapping Project (PDF)

Background

Executive Summary from Final Vegetation Mapping Report

Teton County encompasses approximately 4,222 square miles (10,930 km2) in northwestern Wyoming adjacent to the Idaho and Montana borders. In 2012, Cogan Technology, Inc. (CTI) under contract to the Teton County Planning and Development Department initiated a project to develop a digital layer of designated vegetation and non-vegetation cover-types for the Teton County’s current Geographic Information System (GIS). Included in this project were 87,547-acres of privately owned lands, lands managed by state and local organizations, and lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

Phase 1

To complete the mapping, CTI conducted a 4-phase project beginning with the Phase 1 creation of a draft vegetation GIS layer. CTI created the draft vegetation layer using existing information from the nearby and partially overlapping 2002-2005 Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) vegetation inventory project and new mapping/interpretation efforts. Base maps for the mapping and interpretation included the 2011 imagery (provided by Teton County) and the 2012 National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) ortho-photography. Fifty-four map units based on the GTNP project were adopted, modified, and expanded to interpret the vegetation and land-use patterns.

Phase 2

In Phase 2, CTI ecologists visited numerous sites within Teton County and collected 2,015 ground-based verification points and 115 observation point locations. The ground-based data was geo-located and used to update the vegetation map layer. The revised vegetation layer was subsequently reviewed and modified by Teton County Planning and Development Department and the Natural Resources Technical Advisory Board (NRTAB) staffs.

Phase 3

During Phase 3, independent ecologists familiar with the Teton County flora were sub-contracted by CTI to collect 382 ground-based accuracy assessment (AA) data points. AA points were randomly distributed throughout the project area and target locations were based on access and the frequency/abundance of the various map units. The AA points were then placed on the final Teton County land cover map layer to calculate an overall thematic accuracy ranging from 79%-93%.

Phase 4

Phase 4 involved creating all of the necessary deliverables and reports as summarized below:

  • A GIS-based digital map of vegetation and other cover-types with specified polygon attributes and associated metadata.
  • A DVD containing the final report and results of the AA process including error matrices (contingency tables) and for each AA site its location, photos, description of vegetation, and the three map unit assignments.
  • A final report, with executive summary, introduction, scope of work, methods, results, discussion, tables, and figures.