Version 2 raster digital data This dataset combines the work of several different projects to create a seamless data set for the contiguous United States. Data from four regional Gap Analysis Projects and the LANDFIRE project were combined to make this dataset. In the Northwestern United States (Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Washington and Wyoming) data in this map came from the Northwest Gap Analysis Project. In the Southwestern United States (Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah) data used in this map came from the Southwest Gap Analysis Project. The data for Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Virginia came from the Southeast Gap Analysis Project and the California data was generated by the updated California Gap land cover project. The Hawaii Gap Analysis project provided the data for Hawaii. In areas of the county (central U.S., Northeast, Alaska) that have not yet been covered by a regional Gap Analysis Project, data from the Landfire project was used. Similarities in the methods used by these projects made possible the combining of the data they derived into one seamless coverage. They all used multi-season satellite imagery (Landsat ETM+) from 1999-2001 in conjunction with digital elevation model (DEM) derived datasets (e.g. elevation, landform) to model natural and semi-natural vegetation. Vegetation classes were drawn from NatureServe's Ecological System Classification (Comer et al. 2003) or classes developed by the Hawaii Gap project. Additionally, all of the projects included land use classes that were employed to describe areas where natural vegetation has been altered. In many areas of the country these classes were derived from the National Land Cover Dataset (NLCD). For the majority of classes and, in most areas of the country, a decision tree classifier was used to discriminate ecological system types. In some areas of the country, more manual techniques were used to discriminate small patch systems and systems not distinguishable through topography. The data contains multiple levels of thematic detail. At the most detailed level natural vegetation is represented by NatureServe's Ecological System classification (or in Hawaii the Hawaii GAP classification). These most detailed classifications have been crosswalked to the five highest levels of the National Vegetation Classification (NVC), Class, Subclass, Formation, Division and Macrogroup. This crosswalk allows users to display and analyze the data at different levels of thematic resolution. Developed areas, or areas dominated by introduced species, timber harvest, or water are represented by other classes, collectively refered to as land use classes; these land use classes occur at each of the thematic levels. Six layer files are included in the download packages to assist the user in displaying the data at each of the Thematic levels in ArcGIS. National Gap Analysis Program Land Cover Data covers the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii. The original National coverage has been clipped to each of the 50 states, the 21 Landscape Conservation Cooperatives and 6 Regions, This data may represent one of these subsets. 1999 2001 ground condition In work Irregular -131.720826 -64.761500 52.496415 22.067063 None land cover vegetation None Continental United States Southeastern United States Northwestern United States Central United States Southwestern United States Northeastern United States Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Puerto Rico Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Landscape Conservation Cooperatives Appalachian California Desert Eastern Tallgrass Prairie and Big Rivers Great Basin Great Northern Great Plains Gulf Coast Prairie Gulf Coast Plains and Ozarks North Atlantic Southern Rockies Upper Midwest and Great Lakes Aleutian and Berind Sea Islands Arctic, Northwestern Interior Forest Western Alaska Pacific Islands Restriction Code: other restrictions; Other Constraints: Access constraints: none National Gap Analysis Program Anne Davidson Spatial Ecoologist Unknown

530 S. Asbury Suite 1

Moscow Idaho 99163 U. S. 208-885-3720 adavidson@uidaho.edu 8 a.m - 5 p.m. PST Online references Northwest Gap Analysis Project http://gap.uidaho.edu/index.php/gap-home/Northwest-GAP Southwest Gap Analysis Project- http://earth.gis.usu.edu/swgap/ Southeast Gap Analysis Project- http://www.basic.ncsu.edu/segap/ California Gap land cover project http://www.gap.uidaho.edu/Portal/California/CAReGAP.html LANDFIRE- http://www.landfire.gov/ Landscope- http://www.landscope.org/ NatureServe- http://natureserve.org/ National Land Cover Dataset- http://www.epa.gov/mrlc/nlcd-2001.html Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Version 6.1 (Build 7601) Service Pack 1; ESRI ArcGIS 10.0.2.3200 Accuracy assessments have been conducted for part of the Northwestern United States and the Southwestern United States Not applicable for raster data All cells within the continental United States heve been assigned an Ecological System or land use Value and description. Work is ongoing to improve country wide consistancy in the class assignment process. United States Geological Survey, EROS Data Center, National Elevation Dataset 19990101 map None 30 Meter Digital Elevation Model United States Geological Survey, EROS Data Center, Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium map Landsat 7 ETM+ Imagery provided for Spring, Summer and Fall dates between 1999 and 2001 None Landsat 7, ETM+ Imagery None National Land Cover Dataset Raster Pixel 100657 163330 Albers Conical Equal Area coordinate pair 0.0000000037527980722984474 0.0000000037527980722984474 Meter D North American 1983 GRS 1980 6378137.0 298.257222101 natgaplandcov_v2.img.vat OID Internal feature number. ESRI Sequential unique whole numbers that are automatically generated. VALUE Code used to identify Ecological System or land use class. Repeated for Alaska, Hawaii, and Continental U.S. datasets GAP COUNT Number of 30 m x 30 m pixels per class GAP COMB_VALUE Code used to identify Ecological System or land use class. 1-584 for Continental U.S., 601- 743 for Alaska, and 800-837 for Hawaii RED Red color value GREEN Green color value BLUE Blue color value CL Code Representing the National Vegetation Classification- Class see http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/nvcs.html and http://www.basic.ncsu.edu/esaveg/ for more details on NVC NVC_CLASS Textual description of the National Vegetation Classification-Class or Land Use Class see http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/nvcs.html and http://www.basic.ncsu.edu/esaveg/ for more details on NVC SC Code Representing the National Vegetation Classification- Subclass see http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/nvcs.html and http://www.basic.ncsu.edu/esaveg/ for more details on NVC NVC_SUBCL Textual description of the National Vegetation Classification-Subclass or Land Use Class see http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/nvcs.html and http://www.basic.ncsu.edu/esaveg/ for more details on NVC FRM Code Representing the National Vegetation Classification- Formation see http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/nvcs.html and http://www.basic.ncsu.edu/esaveg/ for more details on NVC NVC_FORM Textual description of the National Vegetation Classification- Formation or Land Use Class see http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/nvcs.html and http://www.basic.ncsu.edu/esaveg/ for more details on NVC DIV Code Representing the National Vegetation Classification- Division see http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/nvcs.html and http://www.basic.ncsu.edu/esaveg/ for more details on NVC NVC_DIV Textual description of the National Vegetation Classification-Divisionor Land Use Class see http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/nvcs.html and http://www.basic.ncsu.edu/esaveg/ for more details on NVC MACRO_CD Code Representing the National Vegetation Classification- Macrogroup see http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/nvcs.html and http://www.basic.ncsu.edu/esaveg/ for more details on NVC NVC_MACRO Textual description of the National Vegetation Classification- Macrogroup or Land Use Class see http://biology.usgs.gov/npsveg/nvcs.html and http://www.basic.ncsu.edu/esaveg/ for more details on NVC LEVEL3 Code used to identify the Ecological System/ Land use. Highest level of thematic resolution in data. Was used as the grid value in Version 1 of the National Gap Land Cover Data ECOLSYS_LU Textual description of the Ecological System or Land Use Class see http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/ and http://www.natureserve.org/publications/usEcologicalsystems.jsp for details NVCMES code combining all NVC codes and Ecological systems codes into one value GAP National Gap Analysis Program Anne Davidson Spatial Ecologist 208 885-3720 8-5 PST See access and use constraints information. 20111004 National Gap Analysis Program Anne Davidson Spatial Ecologist Unknown

530 S. Asbury Suite 1

Moscow Idaho 83843 208 885-3720 adavidson@uidaho.edu 8 a.m -5 p.m PST FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata FGDC-STD-001-1998 None The digital land cover dataset may be used for various purposes with user's discretion. Specifically, this dataset was created for regional terrestrial biodiversity assessment. These data are not intended to be used at scales larger than 1:100,000.