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Track: Forestry
Donald Long
Intermountain Fire Sciences Laboratory
PO Box 8089
Missoula, MT 59807
Telephone: 406-329-4800
Fax: 406-329-4877
Janice Garner
Implementing Decision Rules Based on Topographic Settings in an ArcInfo AML to Map Potential Vegetation Types
A Potential Vegetation Type (PVT) is based on the endpoint of the successional pathway diagram and identifies a unique biophysical setting that supports a stable climax plant community. Habitat type and plant associations are examples of fine and mid-scale PVTs. Biophysical settings are derived from climate and topography. We created a PVT map of the Salmon National Forest in Idaho from climatic and topographic settings using a heuristic, rule-based approach. These rules were formulated by local area experts and ecologists, and refined using vegetation data collected within the study area. GIS layers representing moisture and temperature regimes were used to map PVTs using ArcInfo commands in ARC Marco Language (AML) that implemented these decision rules in the GIS. This AML allowed us to visually review the results of the decision rules before implementing them, to efficiently create a PVT map of the Salmon National Forest in Idaho.
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