Ecosystem Inventory, Monitoring, and Assessment
Knowledge of local landscapes and their characteristics is critical to the success of making appropriate land management decisions, solving problems, and setting project priorities. Two major efforts in ecosystem inventory and mapping in the Southwest are the development of Ecological Response Units (ERUs) and the recently updated existing vegetation mapping that was completed in partnership with the Oregon State University’s Institute of Natural Resources.
Ecological Response Units
Ecological Response Units are a framework of ecosystem types to facilitate landscape analysis and strategic planning. The framework represents all major ecosystem types of the region, and a coarse stratification of biophysical themes. Each Ecological Response Unit combines finer scale vegetation classes that share similar potential vegetation and historic disturbance regimes as well as ecosystem processes and successional dynamics.
The Ecological Response Unit GIS data are available through our GIS page.
Existing Vegetation Mapping
The existing vegetation mapping provides basic information on the current condition of vegetation structure and composition. Working with the Oregon State University’s Institute of Natural Resources, these data were updated to be current as of 2016-2017 using updated satellite imagery and aerial photography. These data provide measures of life form, dominance type, canopy cover, and for forested areas measures on tree size and density. The INREV existing vegetation data are available through our GIS page.
Plant Association Guides
- Volume 1: Forests [PDF, 5.3 MB]
- Volume 2: Woodlands [PDF, 3.5 MB]
- Volume 3: Ecological Response Units [PDF, 592 KB]
- Order a hard copy of the guides