GRSM VEG PLOTS

This feature class contains locational data related to GRSM Long-term Vegetation Monitoring from 2003-2009 (IRMA Reference 2218923). As part of the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program, GRSM I&M staff began a new long-term vegetation monitoring effort in 2003. This effort used a new protocol and site location selection design as described in Jenkins 2008 (GRSM Veg Monitoring Protocols). The general idea of the site selection design was a 'clustered' approach where plots were spatially near each other in clusters, but each cluster included plots from unique environmental zip codes. These zip codes are based on elevation, hillshade, and topographic convergence index. See Jobe and McKnight (2003) for more details. Only a subset of plots from this sampling design were installed and have associated plot data. Of these installed plots, 32 are being used as part of a Hemlock study related to the lost of hemlock from Hemlock Woolly Adelgid. The corresponding Integration of Resource Management Applications (IRMA) NPS Data Store reference is Great Smoky Mountains National Park Vegetation Monitoring Plots.