Kevin Hop
Kevin Hop is a Biologist (Vegetation Mapping) at the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center with areas of interest in vegetation and map classification, vegetation mapping, and final product development of vegetation mapping projects for the National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program.
Biography
Kevin Hop received his Bachelor of Science degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota. He has mapped vegetation from aerial photography and imagery since 1987, including five years of mapping wetlands for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Wetlands Inventory Program and over two decades of mapping vegetation communities for what is now known as the National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program. Kevin has been employed by the USGS since Fall of 1997 with most of his USGS time spent developing vegetation maps, reports, and GIS products of national park units across the United States.
Science and Products
Pre- and Post-Maintenance Aerial Imagery for Illinois River's Alton through Brandon Lock and Dams, 2019-2021
Most of the locks and dams on the Illinois River are scheduled for closure for repair during the summer of 2020. This project will use 4-band (natural color and color infrared) aerial imagery to document baseline aquatic vegetation and river conditions prior to the closures in the late summer of 2019, and once again in the later summer of 2021 after the locks are reopened.
2020 Systemic Land Cover/Land Use Aerial Imagery Acquisition, Image Interpretation, and Spatial Data Products for the Upper Mississippi River System
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) program, through its Long Term Resource Monitoring (UMRR-LTRM) element, will once again collect systemic imagery of the entire Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) in the summer of 2020. Development of the 2020 Land Cover/Land Use (LCU) database will provide a fourth systemic dataset to compare to the 1989,...
Exploring Invasive Plant Detection with Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems and Sensors
Spatial maps showing locations of invasive plants equip land managers with a valuable tool. Properly acquired aerial imagery provides vegetation mappers or machine learning software an efficient venue to map invasive plants, in contrast to the effort required for an on-the-ground census of plants. Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) can yield quick acquisition of aerial imagery over...
Small Unmanned Aircraft System Assets
This web page describes small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) assets available at the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC), current to May 1, 2020. These sUAS assets will change with project requirements and advancements in sUAS technology, in accordance with the Department of the Interior (DOI) Office of Aircraft Services (OAS) policy.
In accordance to DOI Secretarial...
National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program: Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve Vegetation Mapping Project
The National Park Service, Natural Resource Stewardship and Science office in Fort Collins, Colorado, publishes a range of reports that address natural resource topics. These reports are of interest and applicability to a broad audience in the National Park Service and others in natural resource management, including scientists, conservation and...
Hop, Kevin D.; Strassman, Andrew C.; Sattler, Stephanie; Pyne, Milo; Teague, Judy; White, Rickie; Ruhser, Janis; Hlavacek, Enrika; Dieck, Jennifer National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program: Appalachian National Scenic Trail vegetation mapping project
The National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Mapping Inventory (VMI) Program classifies, describes, and maps existing vegetation of national park units for the NPS Natural Resource Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program. The NPS VMI Program is managed by the NPS I&M Division and provides baseline vegetation information to the NPS Natural...
Hop, Kevin D.; Strassman, Andrew C.; Hall, Mark; Menard, Shannon; Largay, Ery; Sattler, Stephanie; Hoy, Erin E.; Ruhser, Janis; Hlavacek, Enrika; Dieck, Jennifer National Park Service Vegetation Mapping Inventory Program: Natchez Trace Parkway vegetation mapping project report
The National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Mapping Inventory (VMI) Program is an effort to classify, describe, and map existing vegetation of national park units for the NPS Natural Resource Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program. The NPS VMI Program is managed by the NPS I&M Division and provides baseline vegetation information to the NPS...
Hop, Kevin D.; Strassman, Andrew C.; Nordman, Carl; Pyne, Milo; White, Rickie; Jakusz, Joseph; Hoy, Erin E.; Dieck, Jennifer National Park Service vegetation inventory program: Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, Minnesota
The Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MISS) vegetation mapping project is an initiative of the National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Inventory Program (VIP) to classify and map vegetation types of MISS. (Note: “MISS” is also referred to as “park” throughout this report.) The goals of the project are to adequately describe and map...
Hop, Kevin D.; Drake, Jim; Strassman, Andrew C.; Hoy, Erin E.; Jakusz, Joseph; Menard, Shannon; Dieck, Jennifer National Park Service Vegetation Inventory Program, Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Ohio
The National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Inventory Program (VIP) is an effort to classify, describe, and map existing vegetation of national park units for the NPS Natural Resource Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program. The NPS VIP is managed by the NPS Biological Resources Management Division and provides baseline vegetation information to...
Hop, Kevin D.; Drake, J.; Strassman, Andrew C.; Hoy, Erin E.; Menard, Shannon; Dieck, J.J.; Jakusz, J.W.