U.S. National Vegetation Classification

"Classifying vegetation is a critical to sound ecological science and efficient land assessment, management and planning. The National Vegetation Classification (NVC) is a central organizing framework for how all vegetation in the United States is inventoried and studied, from broad scale formations (biomes) to fine-scale plant communities. The purpose of the NVC is to produce uniform statistics about vegetation resources across the nation, based on vegetation data gathered at local, regional, or national levels. The latest classification standard was published in 2008 by the Federal Geographic Data Committee and provides the basis for ongoing refinement of the NVC. We invite your participation in this dynamic process and hope you will make use of the considerable resources of this web portal."