Alert:
Initiated in 2016, the Natural Vegetation Community Classification (NVCC) is an ongoing effort to map, classify and inventory vegetation communities within Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) properties. The goal of this field-based inventory is to develop a planning-level geographic database of vegetation resources across the FCPA park system.
The NVCC provides critical information on the type, location and quality of vegetation resources within county parks, which is currently used by county staff to:
This information also aids in strategic planning efforts, such as corridor planning. As the inventory progresses, updates are shared with county staff via the county’s enterprise geodatabase. With additional resources, this effort could be expanded to other parks and private lands across Fairfax County.
Vegetation communities are plant assemblages with similar species composition and structure, occurring in similar habitat conditions and repeating across the landscape.
FCPA ecologists use GIS software to map and inventory these communities on park properties. Based on observed plant composition and structure, each community occurrence is classified as one of the Natural Community Types described in The Natural Communities of Virginia: Ecological Groups and Community Types (Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, July 2021) or as a Successional Community Type as outlined by the United States National Vegetation Classification. Additionally, each community occurrence is assigned a quality ranking and deer browse rating.
Ecologists also inventory vascular plants within these vegetation communities, documenting each species’ relative abundance within four vertical strata: the canopy, understory, shrub, and herbaceous layers.
As of October 2024, over 14,000 acres of park property have been mapped and inventoried, resulting in the documentation of over 4,000 unique community occurrences across 85 different community types. Additionally, the botanical inventory has documented over 2,000 plant taxa, including:
Central Appalachian / Inner Piedmont Chestnut Oak Forests
Piedmont / Central Appalachian Rich Floodplain Forests
Tidal Freshwater Marshes (Arrow-arum – Pickerelweed Type)
Piedmont / Northern Coastal Plain Basic Seepage Swamps
Piedmont / Northern Coastal Plain Basic Seepage Swamps (Pin Oak – Swamp White Oak Type)
All photos were taken by Nelson DeBarros