The US Forest Service retained VESTRA to complete vegetation mapping for 473,535 acres located in the Truckee, American River, and Yuba River ranger districts. This mapping was accomplished via aerial photograph interpretation using a combination of 1998 black and white orthophotography and NAIP 2005 color orthophotos.

Polygons are delineated and attributed regarding vegetation class, vegetation type, the three dominant tree and shrub species types, tree crown size class, tree or shrub canopy cover, landuse, and wetland status. After being delineated and attributed, the polygons were captured into a GIS database using the ortho-rectified imagery as a base. VESTRA uses ESRI ArcGIS products.

In addition, the project involved rigorous quality assurance testing that includes in-office review, field survey, and comparative data analysis.