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VEGETATION CLASSIFICATION AND MAPPING
AT
FRIENDSHIP HILL NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE
Technical Report NPS/NER/NRTR--2006/041
Stephanie J. Perles1, Gregory S. Podniesinski1,
Ephraim A. Zimmerman2, William A. Millinor3, Lesley
A. Sneddon4
1 Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program
Pennsylvania Science Office of The Nature Conservancy
208 Airport Drive
Middletown, PA 17057
2 Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program
Western Pennsylvania Conservancy
209 4th Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
3 Center for Earth Observation
North Carolina State University
5112 Jordan Hall, Box 7106
Raleigh, NC 27695
4 NatureServe
11 Avenue de Lafayette, 5th Floor
Boston, MA 02111
June 2006
U.S. Department of the Interior
National Park Service
Northeast Region
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
____________________________
Executive Summary
Vegetation classification
and mapping was conducted at Friendship Hill National Historic Site,
creating a current digital geospatial vegetation database for the park.
Seven vegetation associations, Northern Red Oak – Mixed Hardwood
Forest, Tuliptree – Beech – Maple Forest, Sycamore Floodplain
Forest, Early Successional Forest, Conifer Plantation, Successional
Old Field, and Mixed Forb Marsh, that occur within the park were identified
and described in detail.
The most abundant vegetation type in Friendship Hill National Historic
Site is Tuliptree – Beech – Maple Forest. This vegetation
type is similar to the natural vegetation of the region (Mixed Mesophytic
Forest); however, the predominance of tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera)
reflects the relatively recent disturbances. Northern Red Oak –
Mixed Hardwood Forest is relatively limited in extent in Friendship
Hill National Historic Site. This type occurs only on steep slopes where
harvesting the trees was difficult, and in pockets of forest in which
the oaks were not timbered. The Sycamore Floodplain Forest is the prominent
vegetation type on the floodplain terraces adjacent to the Monongahela
River. The Conifer Plantation association is the least abundant association
in the park. These small patches of conifers are remnants of the pine
plantations that once covered the Friendship Hill estate.
The Early Successional Forest and Successional Old Field associations
occur in abandoned agricultural areas on which woody species have colonized.
These associations illustrate the process of natural succession from
open field to forest. The management of these former agricultural fields
should be a priority for the park. The Successional Old Field association
contains particularly high abundances of invasive plant species that
threaten and impede the succession to a native forest type. The Mixed
Forb Marsh association occurs in small patches along Ice Pond Run that
drains from south to north through the center of the park. This variable
vegetation type is heavily influenced by acid mine drainage and associated
remediation efforts.
The lack of current management in the Successional Old Fields is promoting
the establishment and spread of invasive species such as multiflora
rose (Rosa multiflora), Morrow’s honeysuckle (Lonicera
morrowii), and autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata). The park
should develop a management plan for old fields to address the control
of invasive species, the development of desired target vegetation structure
and composition, and management actions to achieve the desired target
conditions. If the desired target condition is a native forest type,
Northern Red Oak – Mixed Hardwood Forest or Tuliptree – Beech
– Maple should be considered for selection.
Since the time Albert Gallatin acquired the Friendship Hill estate over
200 years ago, the forest has been timbered and replanted numerous times,
and the land has been mined for coal and cultivated for row crops, hay,
orchards, tree nurseries, and Christmas trees (Roddy and Hammons 1986).
The effects of these land uses can be seen on the land today, and their
influences on the vegetation classification and the vegetation map are
discussed throughout the report.
A map showing the locations of vegetation associations in the park was
created, following the USGS/NPS Vegetation Mapping Program protocols
(The Nature Conservancy and Environmental Systems Research Institute
1994a, b, c). These vegetation associations were also crosswalked to
the Terrestrial and Palustrine Plant Communities of Pennsylvania (Fike
1999)and the National Vegetation Classification System in order to provide
a regional and global context for the park’s vegetation. A dichotomous
field key was developed for these vegetation associations to assist
with field recognition and classification. This project documents the
vegetation associations of Friendship Hill National Historic Site based
on 2003 aerial photography and 2004 field sampling, and completes one
of 12 basic inventory data sets for the park.
Keywords: vegetation association, vegetation classification, vegetation
mapping, Friendship Hill National Historic Site
__________________________________
The entire report
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pdf
file 1
Front Matter through Introduction
pdf
file 2
Project Area through Materials and Methods
pdf
file 3
Results:Vegetation Association Descriptions
--through Tuliptree-Beech-Maple Forest
pdf
file 4
--Sycamore Floodplain Forest through Successional Old Fields
pdf
file 5
--Mixed Forb Marsh through
Literature Cited
pdf
file 6
Appendices