Agenda - Parks and Recreation Commission - 01/10/2002

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Mapl, ittg out the.future of resottrce management The Minnesota Land Cover Classification System (MLCCS) he Minnesota Land Cover Classification Systen, is a relatively new tool that fills an important informa- tional niche for natural resource managers and planners. Developed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources - Metro Region, in cooperation with other state, federal and local agencies, the system is unique in that it categorizes urban and built up areas in terms of land cover, rather than land use. Development of the MLCCS began in 1998 during efforts to conduct a natural resource inventory and manage- ment plan for a portion of the Mississippi River corridor in the metro region. Existing data from aerial and satellite photos was too coarse and it was presented in terms of land use o- such as industrial, commercial, residential o- rather than land cover. Land use data offered little information about the amount or type of vegetation or the amount of artificial surfaces such as pavement covering a parcel of property. To address these shortcomings, the DNR convened a steering committee comprised of representatives from the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Corps of Engineers, the Dakota Soil and Water Conservation District, Ramsey County Parks, Friends of the Mississippi River and Great River Greening. The group created a hybrid system incorporat- ing the National Vegetation Cl.assification System (NVCS) and the'Minnesota Natural Heritage native plant community types, along with a cultural classification System to distinguish among different types and amounts of land cover, vegetation and impervious surfaces. The classification system consists of five hierarchical levels. At the most gen.eral level, land cover is divided into either Natural/Semi-Natural cover types or Cultural cover types. The Natural/Semi-Natural classification system is a hybrid of the NVCS and the Minnesota Natural Heritage plant communities. The NVCS is used for Levels 1, 2 and 3 of the system (the coarser levels), while Levels 4 and 5 use the Minnesota Natural Heritage system to more explicitly identify plant community types Level 1 - General growth patterns (e.g. forest, woodland, shrubland, etc.) Level 2 - Plant types (e.g. deciduous, coniferous, grasslands, forbs, etc.) Level 3 - Soil hydrology (e.g. upland, seasonally flooded, saturated, etc.) Level 4 - } Plant species composition, (e.g. floodplain forest, rich fen sedge, jack pine barrens, etc.) Level 5 The Cultural classification system is designed to identify built-up / vegetation patterns and an area s impervious- ness to water infiltration. Most other land inventory classification systems, such as the USGS Anderson system, employ land use terminology (e.g. urban, commercial, residential)i This system distinguishes among land cover types at the fgllowing levels of detail: Level 1 - Presence of built-up elements (i.e. built-up vs. cultivated land) Level 2 - Dominant vegetation (trees, shrubs, herbaceous) Level 3 - Plant type (deciduous, coniferous, etc.) Level 4 - Percent of impervious surface or soil hydrology Level 5 - Specific plant species This cultural classification is unique in that it emphasizes vegetation land cover instead of land use, thus creating a land cover inventory especially useful for resource managers and planners. For more informatiOn contact: Bart Richardson, DNR-Metro GIS Coordinator, 65 !-772-6150 ,89