Document: NEI-3-93-1

Modifying the national hierarchial framework of ecological units for Utah's West Desert .

WEST, N.E.*, F.L.DOUGHER, G.S.MANIS and R.D.RAMSEY

Utah State University, Logan, UT 84322 USA ¹

Abstract:
A 10 level hierarchial ecological classification of Hill Air Force Base's Military Operations Area, a 11.4 million acre area of controlled air space centered in Western Utah has been developed to satisfy managers' and scientists' needs for extrapolating and interpolating resource relationships. The existing structure of the U.S. Forest Service's ECOMAP was used when possible, but shortcuts for the finest grained units are novel. These new levels were, in order of coarse to finess: Bolson Segments, Macroterrain Units, Mesoterrain Units, Microterrain Units, Ecological Sites and Vegetation Stands. Bolson Segments were based on watershed boundaries defined from 90m resolution digital elevation models. Macroterrain Units were based on distinctions of which land-forming processes dominate. Mesoterrain Units were based on geologic formations in the mountains and the Natural Resources Conservation Service's (NRCS) SSURGO database on dominant soil texture and thus sediment type in the lowlands. Microterrain Units were based on dominant land forms derived from DEMs used in concert with soils information from SSURGO. Ecological Sites were derived from an existing NRCS database. Vegetation Stands were drawn on translucent overlays to ortho photo quads while in the field. Land managers should be able to find a layer of the ecological classification which matches the spatial scales of a particular need. General questions can best use the coarser scales whereas more detailed questions typically focus on smaller polygons.

Keywords: ECOMAP, Landscapes, Watersheds, Bedrock, DEM, GIS, Soils, Landforms, Vegetation

This abstract is being presented at: 3:30 PM in session:
Poster Session #17: Vegetative Analysis.