A Pre-European Settlement Vegetation Database for Wisconsin from U.S. General Land Office Records

Author: Theodore A. Sickley
Organization: University of Wisconsin-Madison

120 Russell Labs
1630 Linden Dr
Madison, WI 53706
USA

Phone: 608-265-6321
Fax: 608-262-9922
tsickley@facstaff.wisc.edu

The U.S. General Land Office surveyed the country's unsettled territories between 1785 and 1930 to subdivide the land for sale. As they proceeded, surveyors noted the location and size of witness trees near each survey post and vegetative information for each mile surveyed. Their notebooks represent an invaluable source of information regarding the pre-European landscape. We extracted ecological information from the notebooks and compiled a State-wide tabular database of Wisconsin's presettlement vegetation. The data is related to an ArcInfo coverage of survey points for mapping and spatial analysis. We present an overview of the database and results from several applications.