James P. Vanderhorst 20080219 vector digital data http://www1.usgs.gov/vip/blue/blueplot.zip doi:10.5066/F7QV3JGS This feature class contains point features which represent locations of vegetation sampling plots in Bluestone National Scenic River. Location coordinates for most plots were collected using a global positioning system and details on these data are included in the attribute table. Attributes for GPS data follow the field naming conventions of Trimble Pathfinder Office software. The attribute table also includes information on date of plot sampling, surveyors names, and community classification. Complete data from plots is archived in the Plots2-WV database maintained by the West Virginia Natural Heritage Program. The purpose of this data is to provide locations of plots. These plots were sampled in order to develop a classification of natural and semi-natural vegetation in Bluestone National Scenic River. 2003 2005 ground condition Complete As needed Bluestone National Scenic River and environs, located in Mercer and Summers Counties, West Virginia. -81.028922 -80.940473 37.611215 37.517784 None vegetation plots GPS natural communities plant communities National Park Service Theme Category Thesaurus Vegetation ISO 19115 Topic Category biota None Bluestone River Mercer County Summers County West Virginia National Park System Unit Name Thesaurus Bluestone National Scenic River National Park System Unit Code Thesaurus BLUE None Standardized National Vegetation Classification System vegetation classification alliance community association Kingdom Plantae none none James P. Vanderhorst West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Community Ecologist mailing and physical address

PO Box 67, Ward Road

Elkins WV 26241 USA 304-637-0245 jimvanderhorst@wvdnr.gov Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 3; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.2.6.1500 Points were derived from Trimble GPS Coordinates or hand mapped on topographic maps. Includes all plots sampled for project. Plots were subjectively chosen to sample the geographic range and ecological diversity of the study area. Plot locations were selected along elevational gradients or to sample unique community types as they were encountered in the field. An ecological land unit model was developed to improve sampling equity across landform, elevation, aspect, and geological gradients. Throughout the project, plots were located to represent high quality natural vegetation (relatively weed free, away from roads and other human caused ground disturbance, etc) for natural types, but semi-natural types (e.g. successional forests, old fields) and cultural types (e.g. pine plantation) were also sampled. Point features were produced from locational coordinates collected using GPS units (Trimble GeoExplorer, GeoXT; Garmin ETrek) or from points mapped by hand on topographic maps. GPS data from Trimble units were post-process differentially corrected and exported as attributed GIS files using Trimble Pathfinder Office software. Plot points were attributed with community names determined by the vegetation classification. 20080116 James P. Vanderhorst West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Community Ecologist mailing and physical address

PO Box 67

Elkins WV 26241 USA 304-637-0245 jimvanderhorst@wvdnr.gov Process description: The vegetation plots shapefile was altered to create a shapefile suitable for public distribution. The X, Y coordinates for each plot that contains a rare plant species that could be vulnerable to collection were relocated to the following centrally located position: UTM East 501400 UTM North 4157976. Coordinates were altered in this manner for twelve plots. As a result, it is possible that some or all of the points now fall outside a vegetation polygon. A field named "crd_alt" was added to the shapefile attribute table; the value for this field is "no" if the plot coordinates have not been altered and "yes" if the plot coordinates were altered. 20080930 Andrew Steel National Park Service GIS Specialist mailing address

P.O. Box 246

Glen Jean WV 25846 (304) 465-6556 andy_steel@nps.gov Vector Entity point 135 Universal Transverse Mercator 17 0.999600 -81.000000 0.000000 500000.000000 0.000000 coordinate pair 0.000001 0.000001 meters North American Datum of 1983 Geodetic Reference System 80 6378137.000000 298.257222 BLUE_plots_pub Attribute table for shapefile of points representing individual vegetation plots ESRI FID Internal feature number. ESRI Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. Shape Feature geometry. ESRI Coordinates defining the features. PLOT_CODE Plot code corresponding to Plots database J. Vanderhorst, WV Division of Natural Resources Unique code assigned to the plot code, correspoinding to Plots database. Values range from BLUE.1 to BLUE.135. GPS_FILE Name of GPS file Trimble File name assigned by Trimble software UTM_X Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) X coordinate Trimble 497447.367 505253.789 UTM_Y Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Y coordinate Trimble 4152367.353 4161598.441 SURVEYORS Name(s) of surveyor(s) Surveyor's parents Surveyors names SURVEY_DAT Date plot was surveyed J. Vanderhorst, WV Division of Natural Resources 5/16/2003 9/15/2005 BLUE_COMMU Name of vegetation class observed at the plot J. Vanderhorst, WV Division of Natural Resources Name of vegetation class Vegetation class name J. Vanderhorst, WV Division of Natural Resources GPS_ACCURA Estimated horizontal accuracy of location coordinates in meters. For features that are based on Trimble GPS points (GPS_TECHNI field), this is the horizontal accuracy that is exported for the point using Trimble Pathfinder Office. For Garmin points, this is the accuracy displayed by the unit and written down in the field. For one "lost" Trimble file and the "map dots" this value is a conservative estimate (100 meters). We used the map dots when we couldn't get GPS reception; they are our best estimate of where the plot was on a USGS topo. J. Vanderhorst, WV Division of Natural Resources 0.5 100 GPS_TECHNI Technical information about GPS equipment and postprocessing J. Vanderhorst, WV Division of Natural Resources Notes about make and model of GPS equipment used and postprocessing crd_alt Indicates whether or not X,Y plot location coordinates have been altered conceal precise locations of rare plant species J. Vanderhorst, WV Division of Natural Resources Field is blank Plot location coordinates have not been altered J. Vanderhorst, WV Division of Natural Resources yes Plot location coordinates have been altered J. Vanderhorst, WV Division of Natural Resources USGS/CSS/Core Science Analytics and Synthesis USGS-NPS Vegetation Characterization Program Coordinator mailing and physical address

Denver Federal Center, Building 810, MS 302

Denver Colorado 80225 (303) 202-4220 303-202-4219 gs-b-npsveg@usgs.gov Downloadable Data The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service shall not be held liable for improper or incorrect use of the data described and/or contained herein. These data and related graphics (if available) are not legal documents and are not intended to be used as such. The information contained in these data is dynamic and may change over time. The data are not better than the original sources from which they were derived. It is the responsibility of the data user to use the data appropriately and consistent within the limitations of geospatial data in general and these data in particular. Any related graphics (if available) are intended to aid the data user in acquiring relevant data; it is not approriate to use the related graphics as data. The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data. It is strongly recommended that these data are directly acquired from an U.S. Geological Survey and National Park Service servers and not indirectly through other sources which may have changed the data in some way. Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the U.S. Geological Survey, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the utility of the data on another system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. This disclaimer applies both to individual use of the data and aggregate use with other data. It is also strongly recommended that careful attention be paid to the contents of the metadata file associated with these data. Mention of trade names or commercial products in this metadata report does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the U. S. Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey and National Park Service. HTML http://www.usgs.gov/core_science_systems/csas/vip/parks/blue.html Internet Access None 20090205 20100517 USGS/CSS/Core Science Analytics and Synthesis USGS-NPS Vegetation Characterization Program Coordinator mailing and physical address

Denver Federal Center, Building 810, MS 302

Denver Colorado 80225 (303) 202-4220 303-202-4219 gs-b-npsveg@usgs.gov FGDC Biological Data Profile of the Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata FGDC-STD-001.1-1999 http://www.usgs.gov/core_science_systems/csas/metadata/index.html