James P. Vanderhorst 20060526 vector digital data http://www1.usgs.gov/vip/neri/neriplot.zip doi:10.5066/F7ZP443Q This data set contains point features which represent locations of vegetation sampling plots in the New River Gorge National 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. In this data set, the X, Y coordinates for 15 plots have been altered to protect a rare species that could be vulnerable to collection. 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 New River Gorge National River. 1998 2006 ground condition Complete As needed New River Gorge National River and environs -81.144335 -80.869161 38.116273 37.690701 none plots vegetation natural communities ecological communities global positioning system National Park Service Theme Category Thesaurus Vegetation ISO 19115 Topic Category biota None New River Gorge National River New River West Virginia Fayette County Summers County Raliegh County National Park System Unit Name Thesaurus New River Gorge National River National Park System Unit Code Thesaurus NERI 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

PO Box 67, Ward Road

Elkins West Virginia 26241 304-637-0245 jimvanderhorst@wvdnr.gov http://www1.usgs.gov/vip/neri/neriplots.pdf Locations of vegetation plots; low resolution for web browsing. PDF Microsoft Windows XP Version 5.1 (Build 2600) Service Pack 3; ESRI ArcCatalog 9.2.6.1500 General tests for graphic data. Points were derived from Trimble GPS Coordinates. Plots were subjectively chosen to sample the geographic range and ecological diversity of the study area. The park was divided into three sections to facilitate contract admininistration and plot sampling stratification and methods vary somewhat between sections. For the northern and southern thirds (1998-1999) plot locations were selected along elevational gradients or to sample unique community types as they were encountered in the field. After 2002, plots were located to fill in the middle section and to focus on undersampled community types and unusual aerial photo signatures. In 2003 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 Basic, Explorer, and GeoExplorer; Garmin 76) 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. 20060526 James P. Vanderhorst West Virginia Division of Natural Resources mailing and physical address

PO Box 67, Ward Road

Elkins WV 26241 (304) 637-0245 jimvanderhorst@wvdnr.gov 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 500289 UTM North 4187044. Coordinates were altered in this manner for fifteen 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 "yes" if the plot coordinates have been altered. 20080818 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 277 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 North American Vertical Datum of 1988 0.000010 meters Explicit elevation coordinate included with horizontal coordinates neriplots_pub attribute table for shapefile of points representing individual vegetation plots Plots-2 WV Database FID Internal feature number. ESRI Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. Shape Feature geometry. ESRI Defined type of feature crd_alt Field used to indicate whether X, Y coordinates for the plot have been altered to protect a rare species that could be vulnerable to collection. National Park Service, NERI GIS Specialist No The X, Y coordinates for the plot have not been altered. National Park Service, NERI GIS Specialist Yes The X, Y coordinates for the plot have been altered. National Park Service, NERI GIS Specialist OBJECTID Internal feature number. ESRI 0 281 PLOT Plot number Plots2-WV database Unique number assigned to individual plot SURVEYOR name of surveyor Plots2-WV database Surveyor name LOCATION place name at or nearby plot Plots2-WV database feature location name COMMENTS comments related to the plot or GPS point surveyor comments regarding plot condition MAX_PDOP Maximum PDOP Trimble 0 11 CORR_TYPE Correction type Trimble Correction type RCVR_TYPE Model of GPS unit Trimble Model of GPS unit GPS_DATE Date GPS coordinates were collected Trimble Date GPS coordinates were collected GPS_TIME Time GPS coordinates were collected Trimble Time GPS coordinates were collected DATAFILE Name of GPS file Trimble Name of data file where GPS coordinates are stored UNFILT_POS Number of unfiltered positions Trimble 0 917 FILT_POS Number of filtered positions Trimble 0 917 STD_DEV Standard deviation Trimble 0 137.048647 GPS_HEIGHT GPS elevation Trimble 0 959.468 HORZ_PREC Horizontal precision Trimble 0 7.019 VERT_PREC Vertical precision Trimble 0 13.24 NORTHING Y Coordinate Trimble 4171508.257 4218715.826 EASTING X Coordinate Trimble 487347.796 511469.177 Plot_Code Plot code corresponding to Plots database Plots2-WV database Unique identification code assigned to the plot, corresponds to PLOTS database NERI_Commu Community Plots2-WV database NERI vegetation community name USNVC_Asso Association Plots2-WV database USNVC Association USNVC_Elem Element Plots2-WV database USNVC Element code 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/neri.html Internet Access None 20090528 20100603 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