Washington State Parks and RecreationVegetation communities within Washington State Parks were delineated and classified using a combination of field survey and remote sensing techniques. Surveyors relied on descriptions from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (WADNR) late-seral forested plant associations of the Puget Lowland (Chappell 2005), freshwater wetland vegetation (Kunze 1994), and intertidal vegetation (Kunze and Cornelius 1982) to make final vegetation community assignments. In some cases, the WADNR descriptions were not adequate in describing existing vegetation associations. In these cases, alternative vegetation communities or plant associations were created by PBI. Remote sensing techniques consisted of manually delineating plant associations or mosaics of plant associations in a digital environment. Orthorectified aerial photography and LANDSAT Thematic Mapper satellite images were reviewed for discernable vegetation or landform patterns. When available, we also high-resolution true color orthorectified aerial photography was also used. Topographic maps, digital elevation models (DEMs), and light detection and ranging imagery (LIDAR) were also employed (where available) to assist the process of vegetation community delineation. The vegetation polygons were created by hand in GIS by ocular assessment. Field surveys consisted of visiting sites located within the vegetation polygons created during the remote sensing process. At representative sites within a polygon, vegetation data and site descriptions were recorded in a fashion consistent with the plant community polygon format. Further refinements and editing of the initial vegetation polygon layers were done by hand on hard copy maps in the field, and later edited digitally in GIS to create the final vegetation polygon layer.ArcGIS FeatureLayerhttps://hub.arcgis.com/datasets/40be556577c84f82a4d3f7322767076d_0engState of Washington Geospatial Open Data PortalPublicPARKS - Vegetation Surveys [Washington (State)]Web servicesWashington (State)Last Modified: 2023-07-06