Title

Successional Stages on Freehold Land for CRA Lower North East NSW. VIS_ID 3888

Data Quality Statement

Name: Data Quality Statement

Protocol: WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-http--download

Description:

Data quality statement for Successional Stages on Freehold Land for CRA Lower North East NSW. VIS_ID 3888

Function: download

Vegetation SStagesFreehold LNE E 3888

Name: Vegetation SStagesFreehold LNE E 3888

Protocol: WWW:DOWNLOAD-1.0-http--download

Function: download

Code

721e057d-2fa5-4691-9857-acc157db665f

Name

ISO 19115

Edition

2016

Type

vector

Code identifying the spatial reference system

4283

Topic category

Title

ANZLIC Search Words

Reference date

2008-05-16

Coordinate reference system

Authority code

urn:ogc:def:cs:EPSG::

Code identifying the coordinate reference system

5711

End position

N/A

Contact info

Contact position

Data Broker

Organisation name

NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Telephone number

131555

Email address

data.broker@environment.nsw.gov.au

Web address

https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/dcceew

Responsible party role

pointOfContact

Lineage

The following source data were integrated to derive Successional Stages. ; ; 1. Forest structure mapped using 1:25,000 scale API during the UNE and LNE CRAFTI project. The relative crown cover percentage of regrowth, mature and senescent eucalypt crowns was recorded.; ; 2. A classification of forest disturbance level based on the following:; ; i. CRAFTI Relative Stand Density, which is the combined mature and senescent crown cover expressed as a percentage of natural stand density for that particular forest type;; ; ii. CRAFTI disturbance indicators; and; ; iii. State Forests NSW forest management history (MANHIC) digital data for disturbance history such as logging, grazing and wildfire. MANHIC was digitised by SFNSW from hard copy maps of various scale.; ; 3. Interpretability of growth stages from API in different forest communities using a classification based on modelled UNE/LNE Forest Ecosystems (raster), UNE/LNE CRAFTI Floristics (vector), and post-CRA ancillary vegetation data (vector). The interpretability classes were: Easy, Difficult, and Special Case for non-eucalypt dominant communities. The ancillary vegetation data came from: Tweed Shire Council (Kingston et al 1999), Lismore City Council (Turnbull and Boulton 2000), and Byron Shire Council (Landmark et al 1999). ; ; 4. The successional stage "Rainforest" is a direct translation of rainforest from the UNE/LNE Forest Ecosystem layer (RACD 1999b). The Forest Ecosystem "Rainforest" was not modelled but is an amalgamation of mapped data from SFNSW Forest Typing (FCNSW 1989) and CRAFTI. ; ; 5. State Forests NSW Post-Photo Logging digital data were applied to derive Recently Disturbed areas. ; ; Tables explaining the attributes of the CRAFTI data are provided with the digital CRAFTI layer and in the report "Completion of GIS Products for the Lower North East CRAFTI Structural and Floristic Layers" (RACD 2000). The rules and process used to derive Successional Stages are explained in detail in the old growth report (RACD 1999). Tables showing growth stage interpretability classes for each floristic community are provided in the Re-derivation of Successional Stages report (NPWS 2002).; ; Derivation of Successional Stages varied between Public Lands and Private Lands. NSW NPWS Tenure, NSW State Forests Tenure & Crown Lands Information Database (CLID) spatial data available at Sept. 2001 were used to define 'public land' extent, the remainder being 'freehold'.

Limitations on public access

Effective date

2001-01-01

Explanation

The Successional Stages layer covers all of UNE and LNE with the following exceptions. Private land west of the New England Highway in UNE was not mapped and subsequently growth stage data are available for public land only in that area. In LNE, CRAFTI mapped south to the following boundary: the Hunter River between Nobby's Head and Singleton; the New England Highway between Singleton and Muswellbrook; the railway line between Muswellbrook and Denman; the main road between Denman and Sandy Hollow; and Halls Creek north west from Sandy Hollow. ; ; Some forested areas are not represented due to their restricted size. Minimum mapping areas were:; ; CRAFTI structure: isolated patch of eucalypt within a clearing: >10ha; ; CRAFTI structure: older growth stages ie tA, tB and sA within larger forested area: >5ha; ; CRAFTI floristics: >10ha; ; SFNSW and CRAFTI rainforest: >2ha; ; Forest Ecosystems: 1ha grid (raster); ; Ancillary data: ,1ha; ; MANHIC: unsupplied.

Effective date

2001-01-01

Explanation

The Successional Stages layer covers all of UNE and LNE with the following exceptions. Private land west of the New England Highway in UNE was not mapped and subsequently growth stage data are available for public land only in that area. In LNE, CRAFTI mapped south to the following boundary: the Hunter River between Nobby's Head and Singleton; the New England Highway between Singleton and Muswellbrook; the railway line between Muswellbrook and Denman; the main road between Denman and Sandy Hollow; and Halls Creek north west from Sandy Hollow. ; ; Some forested areas are not represented due to their restricted size. Minimum mapping areas were:; ; CRAFTI structure: isolated patch of eucalypt within a clearing: >10ha; ; CRAFTI structure: older growth stages ie tA, tB and sA within larger forested area: >5ha; ; CRAFTI floristics: >10ha; ; SFNSW and CRAFTI rainforest: >2ha; ; Forest Ecosystems: 1ha grid (raster); ; Ancillary data: ,1ha; ; MANHIC: unsupplied.

Explanation

The Successional Stages data are stored both as Arc/Info coverages and ArcView Shapefiles. Arc/Info versions are topologically correct with all polygons containing labels but only those relevant being labelled with Successional Stage tags. Blank label polygons are areas of clearing or areas where mapping did not occur. The ArcView shapefiles do not contain the blank polygons; they only contain polygons tagged with a Successional Stage.

Explanation

The positional accuracy of the linework is dependent upon the scale of the source data. CRAFTI information was derived at a scale of 1:25,000 and positional accuracy is estimated to be within 10 m to 100 m. SFNSW MANHIC data was collated from maps of various scale and is of unknown positional accuracy. The positional accuracy of the Forest Ecosystem layer is estimated at 100 metres.

Explanation

The derivation of the seven Successional Stages was the result of continuous refinement through research, field work, discussion and analysis by the inter-agency expert working group with approval by the NSW Environment and Heritage Technical Committee. While the methodology is rigorous and the Successional Stage attributes, even though broad, are widely accepted, the limitations of the source data affect the accuracy of the attributes on the ground. ; ; All of the rules used to derive Successional Stages have also been questioned in one way or another. For example, the application of CRAFTI point disturbance indicators, in the absence of MANHIC, to disqualify forest that would otherwise meet the requirements of Candidate Old Growth on freehold land. ; ; Preliminary field validation of the original Successional Stage layer was conducted in 1998 on public land in UNE only. For the UNE assessment 56 sites were surveyed for API growth stage and other information. Of these, 41% indicated agreement with the API growth stage (59 % disagreement). However in only 22% of these cases would the discrepancy have led to a change of successional stage status (based on the field growth stage) ie 22% disagreement with the successional stage. This preliminary assessment is to be interpreted cautiously due to the low sample size, environmental heterogeneity and other sampling related issues.; ; During the original CRAFTI project, mappers were required to spend a minimum of 20% of their work time in the field to better inform their coding decisions. Mapping was conducted using the most recent 1:25,000 aerial photographs available. Dates of aerial photography ranged from 1991 to 1997. Photo quality also varied, with some being at a smaller scale than 1:25,000 and others having poor colour balancing, both of which affected clarity of the crowns. Desktop audits by senior API staff were conducted throughout the CRAFTI project to maintain mapping quality.; ; The CRAFTI Accuracy Assessment project (RACD 1998) checked agreement between the mapped CRAFTI structure and sample polygons in the field. The results were expressed as a percentage of agreement on a 1:100,000 mapsheet basis. The large area and restricted sample size means that the results of the Accuracy Assessment project are not conclusive in a statistically rigorous way. However, the findings of the project suggested the following general trends: the overestimation of regrowth and underestimation of senescence in LNE and the reverse of these trends in UNE (RACD 1998). ; ; For interpretability, CRAFTI mappers were required to classify floristic communities according to the ease with which growth stages could be determined on 1:25,000 aerial photographs. The two categories for eucalypt and related communities were "easy" and "difficult". Non-eucalypt communities were classed as "special case" and were converted to "difficult" in the matrix for modelling purposes. Interpretability classes were used to compensate for the recognised trend to overestimate regrowth and underestimate senescent crowns in certain forest types, especially in western or other areas of low site quality. ; ; For State Forests NSW logging history data, particularly in LNE, logging events were consistently recorded as covering whole compartments even when only a small coup within that compartment may have been logged (SFNSW 1997). Post-1998 MANHIC data for UNE was more detailed being at coup scale.; ; Landsat 2000 TM satellite imagery was used to rapidly check the CRAFTI layers for gross cleared versus non-cleared errors. The errors were identified, fixed, and incorporated into the Successional Stage derivation process. State Forests NSW Post-Photo Logging data were applied to the layer to derive Recently Disturbed areas.; ; As a final editing requirement from the original UNE Old Growth Report, all polygons that were not mapped as rainforest and had an area of less than one hectare were merged into the adjacent polygon with the longest shared border.

Contact position

Data Broker

Organisation name

NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Telephone number

131555

Email address

data.broker@environment.nsw.gov.au

Web address

https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/dcceew

Responsible party role

pointOfContact

Contact position

Data Broker

Organisation name

NSW Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water

Telephone number

131555

Email address

data.broker@environment.nsw.gov.au

Web address

https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/dcceew

Responsible party role

pointOfContact