Vegetation Survey of Campbell Tract Facility, Anchorage, Alaska

In 1965, construction began on the Bureau of Land Management's administrative offices and fire control center at Campbell Tract. Later, the Army determined that the 5,000-acre maneuver site was no longer necessary and in 1971 turned over administration of the area to the Bureau. In 1980, through the direction of the Congress of the United States, 4,325 of these acres were transferred to the State of Alaska, which later would become the Municipality of Anchorage's Far North Bicentennial Park (BLM retained 730 acres). Today Bureau and parklands are managed in harmony for non-motorized public recreation.

Vegetation inventories were conducted on the Campbell Tract in 1997, 1998 and 1999. The purpose of the surveys was to provide the BLM's Anchorage Field Office with baseline information about the types of vegetation present and to describe its distribution around Campbell Tract. This data will be useful for designing future management plans and to evaluate impacts from recreational activities. Aerial photographs at a scale of 1 :6,000 were examined and vegetation cover type boundaries were determined. Vegetation sample sites were selected and visited. Each species was recorded and its percentage cover per height class was estimated. After the fieldwork was completed vegetation classes were determined based on vegetative structure and composition.

Data from all field seasons contributed to the final classification. The final classification resulted in thirteen vegetation classes. The results showed that paper birch classes comprised 537.2 acres (82.4%) out of the 652 acres surveyed on Campbell Tract. The results of all vegetation classes are: 31.5% (206 acres) white spruce/paper birch forest, 23.5 % (153 acres) paper birch open forest, 12.8% (83 acres) paper birch closed forest, 12.6% (82 acres) spruce/moss forest, 8.6% (56 acres) paper birch/white spruce open forest, 6.0% (39 acres) paper birch woodland, 1.5% (10 acres) balsam poplar closed forest, 1.3% (8 acres) disturbed, 1.0% (6 acres) low shrub birch mixed scrub, 0.7% (5 acres) white spruce woodland, and 0.6% ( 4 acres) balsam poplar/willow scrub.