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EPA/600/C-05/005
THE  SOUTHWEST  REGIONAL  GAP  PROJECT:
          PLANT  COMMUNITIES  OF  NEVADA
           William G. Kepner1, Todd D. Sajwaj2, Daniel T. Heggem1, and David F. Bradford1
               HJ.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, National Exposure Research Laboratory,
           Environmental Sciences Division, Las Vegas, Nevada 89119, University of Idaho, College of Natural Resources, Moscow, Idaho 83844
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                     Ecological Systems of Nevada
                                    1 he Southwest
                                    Regional Gap
                                    Analysis Project used
                                    contemporary (1999-
                                    2001) Landsat 7 Enhanced
                                    Thematic Mapper satellite im-
                                    agery from three seasons, i.e.,
                                    spring (leaf-on), summer (peak
                                    greenness), and fall (leaf-off). The in-
                                  * formation comprised 63 triplicate scenes
                                    for the state of Nevada and they were com-
                                    posited into biogeographically unique map-
                                    ping units that span political boundaries of the
                                    adjacent states. Vegetation mapping was conducted
                                    at the "ecological systems" level of the National Veg-
                                    etation Classification provided by NatureServe. The data
                                  * set used to "train" the imagery contains over 17,500
                                    ground-truth sites collected across the state, and it includes 73    ' .Panrui
                                    natural and seminatural ecological systems. The funding to un-
                                  A. dertake this project was provided by the national Gap Analysis Pro-
                                    gram of the USGS-Biological Resources Discipline and the Landscape
                                    Ecology Branch of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Invalu-
                                    able assistance was received from the U.S. Bureau of Land
                                    Management/Nevada State Office and the Eastern Nevada Landscape Coali-
                                    tion. This land cover map and other geospatial data for Nevada can be found
                                    online at: http://www.epa.gov/nerlesdl/land-sci/gap.htm
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