Vegetation map for the Hakalau Forest Unit of the Big Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex on the Island of Hawaii

Abstract

This vegetation map was produced to serve as an updated habitat base for management of natural resources of the Hakalau Forest Unit (HFU) of the Big Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex (Refuge) on the island of Hawai‘i. The map is based on a vegetation map originally produced as part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Hawai‘i Forest Bird Survey to depict the distribution, structure, and composition of plant communities on the island of Hawai‘i as they existed in 1977. The current map has been updated to represent current conditions of plant communities in the HFU, based on WorldView 2 imagery taken in 2012 and very-high-resolution imagery collected by Pictometry International from 2010 to 2014. Thirty-one detailed plant communities are identified on this map, and fourteen of these units are found within the boundaries of HFU. Additionally, the mapped units can be displayed as five tree canopy cover units, three moisture zones units, eight dominant tree species units, and four habitat status units by choosing the various fields to group the units from the map attribute table. This updated map will provide a foundation for the refinement and tracking of management actions on the Refuge for the near future, particularly as the habitats in this area are subject to projected climate change.