Map of deciduous parts of forest

[SAR-EMT40]

Does anyone know of an online resource that has a map that shows the white mountains and what type of trees are located where in the forest? I know that there has to be one. I just haven't been able to find it. I am trying to find the largest patches of hardwoods in the forest and where they are located and their extent.

I know where the conifers are. I can't swing a dead cat without hitting (&(*& conifers. Where are the large patches of hardwoods or aren't there any or is the entire forest made up of confers and mixed?

Any help with this would be helpful.

Thanks in advance,
Keith

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I don't know that I've ever seen a map of the Whites with such info, Keith. However, as a rule of thumb, this works for me: Under 3K' - hardwoods and some softwoods; 3K-3.5K' - white birch zone; above 3.5K' - spruce.

Edit - Also - I've seen references to white birches being a 'recovery' tree, so that in places which are clear-cut or have a fire, the first growth may be white birch and raspberry bushes. As the woods mature, the birches will be crowded out and die.

 

[jniehof]

Go to the National Map seamless server. Click on "View and Download United States Data". Play around for awhile...the dataset you want is "NLCD 2001 Land Cover," under "Land Cover." If you download it as a GeoTIFF, you'll be able to view it, but you'll have to figure out the colours on your own.

 

[SAR-EMT40]

Thanks Kevin. I use those rules for coarse rule of thumb. I was looking for something a little better.

Go to the National Map seamless server. Click on "View and Download United States Data". Play around for awhile...the dataset you want is "NLCD 2001 Land Cover," under "Land Cover." If you download it as a GeoTIFF, you'll be able to view it, but you'll have to figure out the colours on your own.

This thing is pretty cool and it looks like it will do what I am asking. The best resolution it has for this piurpose appears to be 200 meters but that is pretty good for what I am looking for.

Thanks for this.

As a side note. I think it basically is going to prove the previous rule of thumb that Kevin talked about.

Thanks again,
Keith

 

[cushetunk]

http://mapper.granit.unh.edu/

You may need to mess around a bit to learn how to use this, but you can zoom in beyond a certain scale and see black-and-white aerial photos which clearly distinguish hardwood/softwood forests. You can also find a map component that displays hardwood forests (looks like it was under the "wildlife" heading).

I'm sure there is plenty of hardwood forest once you start looking. Avoid the cold valley bottoms.

 

[spencer]

If you say what you want to use it for I can be a bit more help. It can get very accurate and very complicated or very coarse and easy.

If you prefer to go exploring on your own, you can check out FIA's FIDO. I don't think Granit Mapper has a type map in it although you can get an approximation (as Cushetunk implied) if you know for instance, how it relates to wildlife habitat. I'm sure Granit (NH's GIS consortium) has a type map layer but it might not be loaded in Granit Mapper.

Granit MApper is an example of an ArcIMS.
They are meant to be user-friendly and interactive interpretations of actual GIS data. Unfortunately, they are rarely user-friendly and if you have access to GIS software and know how to use it you can do better just downloading the data layer itself.

What you are asking for is generally called a "type map" and is usually available if you know where to look for most any forest. and if it matters, you can likely find it at 30 m resolution or better.

spencer

 

[psmart]

The Forest Plan includes detailed mapping, including type of vegetation. The data consists of Arcview layers, which can be viewed with a free viewer. It's not particularly easy to use, but the data is there if you're prepared to spend some time.

The WMNF web site has been down for a couple of days. When it comes back you'll find the map data under Forest Plan.

 

[1HappyHiker]

The Forest Plan includes detailed mapping, including type of vegetation. The data consists of Arcview layers, which can be viewed with a free viewer. It's not particularly easy to use, but the data is there if you're prepared to spend some time.

The WMNF web site has been down for a couple of days. When it comes back you'll find the map data under Forest Plan.

The WMNF website is back up. Here's the link:

www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/white_mountain/projects/forest_plan/plan_docs.html

If you do go to this site, then you’ll need to play around with the various links that are presented to you and determine what works best for you. And although it can be a bit cumbersome to use, there's some really good info here about forest types.

 

[Silverfox]

I was just rummaging around some of my outdoors books and came across

A Guide to New England's Landscape..by Neil Jorgensen


black and white photos so a bit dated but there is a wealth of information about forest and wetland vegatation and the whys and wherefor's of it..