Minnesota Land Cover Classification System

(MLCCS)

Bart Richardson DNR Central RegionGIS Project Coordinator

Standardizing land cover inventories

Overview

• Brief history of MLCCS• Data management issues• Solutions• Future products

History

• Started in 1999 with a DNR Metro Greenway planning grant for a Pine Bend River Bluff analysis with the Friends of the Mississippi River and Dakota County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD)

• Expanded with National Park Service funding to include the entire Mississippi National River Recreation Area (MNRRA) corridor using Greening the Great River Park (now Great River Greening) and DNR staff

the land land use vs. land cover

A system that looks at the land’s cover...

Using the National Vegetation Classification System as a

model• Hierarchical system• Federally mandated for federal

projects• Compliant with MnDNR’s Natural

Heritage communities (at the time…)

• Incorporates NWI classifications• Can bridge many of the existing

systems

Hybrid of NVCS and DNR Heritage

Natural / Semi-natural Levels

Level 1 - Vegetation structureLevel 2 - Vegetation growth-form characteristicsLevel 3 - Vegetation physiognomy refinement or hydrological regime (NWI) Level 4 - Vegetation natural community types (MN Natural Heritage)Level 5 - Vegetation natural community subtypes (MN Natural Heritage)

Cultural Levels

Level 1 - Artificial surfaces or cultivated vegetationLevel 2 - Vegetation structureLevel 3 - Vegetation growth-form characteristics or artificial surface typeLevel 4 - Percent of impervious surfaces or soil conditionsLevel 5 - Plant genus, plant communities, management practices, or surface type

Overview of the MLCCS

• Hierarchical Classification System

• Supersystem - Terrestrial

• System - Cultural or Natural/Semi-natural

• Five level system beginning with vegetation type

• Modifiers for adding information for specific polygons

Natural and Semi-natural System

• Level 1 - Vegetation structure• Level 2 - Vegetation growth-form characteristics• Level 3 - Vegetation physiognomy refinement or hydrological regime • Level 4 - Vegetation natural community types• Level 5 - Vegetation natural community subtypes

Coding SchemesNumeric

Examples:30000 - Interpreted to the first level, thus represents Forests32000 - Interpreted to the second level, thus represents Deciduous

forest32100 - Interpreted to the third level, thus represents Upland

deciduous forest32110 - Interpreted to the forth level, thus represents Oak forest32113 - Interpreted to the fifth level, thus represents Oak forest dry

subtype

level one level two level three level four level five

first digit second digit third digit fourth digit fifth digit

The MLCCS is a typical hierarchical classification system. The organization of the numerical and alphanumerical codes reflect this multi-level nested hierarchy.

Numerical codesThe numerical codes use a five digit number. The digits are organized left to right and each digit represent a level of the classification system; the first digit represents level one, the second digit represents level two, etc.

The five levels of the MLCCS are represented by a five digit number:

Coding SchemesAlphanumeric

Examples:3 Interpreted to the first level, thus represents Forests3.de Interpreted to the second level, thus represents

Deciduous forest3.de.UP Interpreted to the third level, thus represents Upland

deciduous forest3.de.UP.nOA Interpreted to the forth level, thus represents Oak forest3.de.UP.nOA.nOD Interpreted to the fifth level, thus represents Oak forest

dry subtype

level one level two level three level four level five

arabic number two lowercase letters two uppercase letters three characters three characters

Alphanumerical codesThe alphanumerical codes use a unique combination of numbers and letters (characters) for each level. The unique character clusters for each level are separated by periods.

• Data management issues……

GovernmentMnDOTAnoka Conservation DistrictAnoka County ParksUS ArmyDakota County Soil and Water Conservation DistrictHennepin Conservation District - Dave ThillMNRRA / DNR / Great River Greening, Perry & StubbsMinneapolis ParksUS Fish & Wildlife Service

VendorsEOR, Inc.Kestrel Design GroupBonestrooBarr EngineeringU of M, Remote Sensing LabSEH, Inc.

IndividualsEthan PerryJason HusvethBarb Delaney

4,517,956 acres

339,280 polygons

Numerous sources

The gruesome facts

Data Issues:multiple sources

• Overlapping projects• Different quality• Gaps, slivers, nulls...

Data Issues:attribute errors

• Wrong field names• Wrong field types• Missing mandatory attributes

Data Issues

•Different land cover interpretations

Oak savanna?

Woodland?

Aspen opening?

Prairie?

Data Issues•Different land cover interpretations

Prairie?

Non-native grass?

Hayfield?

Managed long grasses?

Data Issues•Different land cover interpretations

Short grasses (lawns)?

Non-native savanna?

Woodland?

Stream?

Managing the data issues

Pulling it all together with standards....

Setting standards

for...•Land cover type interpretations

•Attribute tables

•Delineation

•Digitizing

interpretation• Dichotomous key• Standard aerial photo interpretation• Subjective.....

Oak Woodland-Brushland

Begin with an existing geodatabase or shapefile to get legitimate fields and values

Standards for data creation

• Use the best aerial photo available• Digitize at a detailed scale ( ~ 1:3,000)• Minimum Mapping Units

• 1 acre natural cover• 2 acres for built up or agland

Standards for data creation

• Interpret level 4/5 natural and semi-natural communities in the field• Stop at level 3 (or above) when interpreting from aerial photo• Use a GPS to verify codes and locations• Proof attribute table for typos

MLCCS Modifiers

• An integral part of the MLCCS is the use of modifier codes.

• Modifier codes are to be used to further define a site and are considered equal in weight to the MLCCS code.

• Modifiers are intended to be used concurrently, and are organized by major themes.

Modifier Themes

Modifiers codes have been created for the following topics:• Percent Imperviousness

• Land Use

• Current vegetation management of a site

• Types of disturbances observed in the natural communities

• Natural quality of a site

• Invasive species or reflects vegetative encroachment

• Tree Species

• Forest Dynamics

• Percent tree canopy cover

• Cover size measured by the average diameter of trees

• Water regime

Definition of the codes

• To further assist with land cover interpretation, definitions of all the codes are provided

• Most of the definitions come directly from the Minnesota Key to Natural Communities, or The Nature Conservancy