General classification handbook for floodplain vegetation in large river systems

Abstract

This handbook describes the General Wetland Vegetation Classification System developed as part of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program, Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) element. The UMRR is a cooperative effort between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin. The classification system consists of 31 general map classes and has been used to create systemic vegetation data layers throughout the diverse Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS), which includes the commercially navigable reaches of the Mississippi River from Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the north to Cairo, Illinois, in the south, the Illinois River, and navigable portions of the Kaskaskia, Black, St. Croix, and Minnesota Rivers. In addition, this handbook describes the evolution of the General Wetland Vegetation Classification System, discusses the process of creating a vegetation data layer, and describes each of the 31 map classes in detail. The handbook also acts as a pictorial guide to each of the map classes as they may appear in the field, as well as on color-infrared imagery. This version is an update to the original handbook published in 2004.