APPENDIX II - Description of the Florida Land Use, Land Cover Classification System (FLUCCS)

The Florida Land Use, Land Cover Classification System (FLUCCS) is a hierarchically- based configuration with four (4) different levels of categorization, each level containing information of increasing specificity. The following information has been acquired from the Florida Department of Transportation Land Use, Land Cover and Forms Classification System Manual - Procedure number 550-010-001-A (Department of Transportation, State Topographic Bureau, Thematic Mapping Section, 1985). This appendix describes the classification scheme used in conjunction with LANDSAT satellite imagery for the St. Marks and Wakulla Rivers watershed.

A LEVEL 1 classification contains broad classes of information which can be extracted from satellite imagery with minimal assistance from supplemental information. LEVEL 1 contains nine (9) categories of land use, vegetative cover and landform information, eight (8) of which were used for this project. This data is normally used for very large areas, typically at a scale of 1:1,000,000 or 1:500,000 (one-inch equals approximately 16 miles and eight miles, respectively). A LEVEL 1 classification may also be used for general planning purposes when more detailed data is not necessary.

The nature of the data in this class is more specific than the LEVEL 1 information. LEVEL 2 contains forty-two (42) sub-categories of land use, vegetation cover, and landform information of which twenty-eight (28) sub-categories of LEVEL 1 were used for St. Marks and Wakulla Rivers. This data is normally obtained from high altitude imagery (40,000 to 60,000 feet) and requires additional supplementary materials, such as other satellite imagery and topographic sheets. Mapping this level at a scale of 1:100,000 (one-inch equals 8,333 feet) is common practice. The St. Marks and Wakulla Rivers Project utilized 20 meter SPOT multispectral and ten meter SPOT panchromatic imagery, the combination of which enhanced the image to allow for a more accurate classification. As a supplemental data source, National High Altitude Photography (NHAP) was used to assist in the verification of the LEVEL 2 data.

This class of data is usually obtained at an altitude between 10,000 and 40,000 feet. LEVEL 3 data contains one-hundred and forty-seven (147) sub-categories of LEVEL 2, 11 of which were used for this project. It is typically mapped at a scale of 1:24,000 (one-inch equals 2,000 feet). The SPOT imagery was used to classify polygons to this level, and aerial photographs and topographic sheets were used to assist in the classification and verification process.

The following is an explanation of the major classes and sub-classes of the Florida Land Use, Land Cover and Forms (FLUCCS) Classification System. The St. Marks and Wakulla Rivers Project used a combination of LEVEL 2 and LEVEL 3 data to identify silviculture and wetlands sub-categories which allows for an accurate NPS assessment of the drainage basin.

100 - Urban and Built-Up

This class consists of areas of intensive use with much of the land occupied by man- made structures. This definition is for topographic and descriptive purposes, the very nature of which can give misleading information about why a polygon is classified the way it is classified. This category takes precedence over other categories when the criteria for more than one land use/land cover are met. For example, a polygon classed as a low density residential area (110) may also meet the same criteria for an Upland Hardwood forest.(420). Contained in this category are the following land uses: Residential, Commercial, Industrial, Extractive, Institutional, Recreation/Open land.

200 - Agriculture

Agricultural lands are those which are cultivated to produce food crops and livestock. Cropland/pastureland, Tree Crops (other than plantation monoculture), Feed Lots, Nurseries, Specialty Farms, and Rural Open Lands are sub-categories defined under Agriculture.

300 - Rangeland

The definition of Rangeland used in the FLUCCS is the same as that used by the departments of Agriculture and Interior. It describes the climax natural vegetation which includes Grassland, Shrub and Brushland, and Mixed Rangeland sub-categories. These areas become evident when larger-scale imagery is used and becomes significant to the project if used as wildlife forage areas.

400 - Upland Forests

This class is defined as an upland area with a tree canopy closure of greater than or equal to ten percent. Included in this category are pine, hardwood, and mixed forest and those areas where timber harvesting and subsequent regeneration are taking place. For a given forest stand to be classed as one particular species group, the polygon which contains the species must have a tree canopy comprised of 66 percent or more of the total canopy. Otherwise, the forest polygon will be classed as a mixed species. Classification of Upland Forests is most often supplemented through the use of aerial imagery.

500 - Water

The classification of a waterbody is dependent upon scale and resolution characteristics of the remote sensing imagery used for interpretation. In the case of the St. Marks and Wakulla Rivers Project, the 20 meter SPOT imagery was able to identify a water polygon of 2.5 acres or more or a linear water feature of at least 20 meters (approximately 66 feet). In some instances, a waterbody may be large enough to be identified as such or the waterbody may contain submerged or emergent vegetation. In this case, that waterbody will be identified under the Wetlands category. Streams and Waterways, Lakes, Reservoirs, Bays and Estuaries, Major Springs, and Slough Waters are included in this classification.

600 - Wetlands

Wetlands are those areas in which the surface of the land is at or near the water-table for most days of the year. These areas are able to support various species of aquatic and hydrophytic vegetation. Wetlands drained for any purpose belong to other land use categories, such as Silviculture or Residential land uses. If these areas are reestablished with wetlands vegetative cover, they are again classed as Wetlands. For more accurate classification supplements to imagery, the National Wetlands Inventory and low altitude aerial photography were used. Included in the Wetlands sub-class are Coniferous, Deciduous, and Mixed Forests, along with non-forested (emergent vegetation) and non-vegetated wetlands (tidal flats and shorelines).

700 - Barren Land

Barren Land has little or no vegetation and limited potential to support vegetative communities. Due to human activity, areas such as Agricultural, Extractive and Industrial land uses may be classed as Barren Land, therefore, these areas must be explored very closely through the use of supplementals such as aerial photographs and topographic sheets. Included in this category are the sub-categories of Beaches, Exposed Rock, and Disturbed Land.

800 - Transportation, Communication, and Utilities

Contained in this category are linear and point features such as highways, communication towers, and transmission lines. Satellite imagery can identify these features if minimal size of resolution (ten meters) is met. Therefore, certain secondary and tertiary roads, small transmission lines, and point features, such as communication towers, will not be identified by the SPOT imagery. Supplementals such as topographic sheets must be used to identify these features.