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VEGETATION AND LAND COVER MAP AND DATA FOR AN ENVIRONMENTAL 
IMPACT STATEMENT, ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, ALASKA: 
MULTISTAGE DEMONSTRATION ÜF AUTOMATION 
IN THEMATIC CARTOGRAPHY 
James R. Wray and Leonard Gaydos 
U.S. Geological Survey 
Reston, VA, and Menlo Park, CA, U.S.A. 
ABSTRACT 
The U.S. Geological Survey has published map 1-1443, 
Vegetation and Land Cover, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge 
Coastal Plain, Alaska. The map was prepared in cooperation 
with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and 
Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) for an environmental impact 
statement in anticipation of seismic oil exploration. 
Production of this map is a multistage demonstration of 
automated thematic cartography applied in an interagency 
approach to a problem in "Environmental Assessment and 
Resource Management," theme of the Auto-Carto 5/ISPRS IV 
Joint Symposium. Five stages begin with capture of spatial 
data in digital format and end with printing of the map 
and area statistical summary. A copy of the map is in the 
pocket inside the back cover of these proceedings. 
U.S. Geological Survey map 1-1443 depicts Vegetation and 
Land Cover on the coastal plain portion of the Arctic 
National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), Alaska. This area is 
bordered by the Beaufort Sea and the Arctic Ocean on the 
north. Its eastern limit (the Aichilik River) lies 50 km 
west of the Canadian border. Its western limit (the 
Staines and Canning River delta) lies 90 km east of 
Prudhoe Bay, present center of petroleum production and 
northern terminus of the Alaska Pipeline. The Arctic NWR 
coastal plain spans an area 170 km from west to east 
between the Staines and Aichilik Rivers, and 60 km from 
the Arctic Ocean southward. The area between covers 6,640 
sq. km (2,563 sq. mi.) and is shown on portions of the 
Barter Island, Demarcation Point, Flaxman Island, and 
Mt. Michelson 1° x 3° USGS topographic map quadrangles. 
The coastal plain serves as calving ground for the caribou, 
but other wildlife also call it home. The Arctic NWR, 
largest of such sanctuaries in the United States (36,000 
sq. km, or 13,900 sq. mi.), extends much farther southward 
to the mountains of the Brooks Range, and eastward to the 
Canadian border. 
The vegetation map measures 72 x 36 cm (28.5 x 14.3 in.), 
unfolded, and serves as Plate 1 in an environmental impact