Data Package Metadata   View Summary

Settlement Trees, Illinois Level 0, 1804-1849

General Information
Data Package:
Local Identifier:msb-paleon.28.3
Title:Settlement Trees, Illinois Level 0, 1804-1849
Alternate Identifier:DOI PLACE HOLDER
Abstract:

We provide a Level 0 record of trees in Illinois transcribed from Public Land Surveys conducted by surveyors from the General Land Office of the United States in the 1800s. Posts were set every half mile in townships that were typically 6 miles by 6 miles square. Surveyors recorded details about the one to four trees closest (but typically recorded information for the two closest trees) to the posts and included information about the tree name (taxonomic specificity ranged by surveyor), tree diameter (inches), and distance and bearing from the post. Our records include the tree information and the location of the posts from which the tree information came from. For the msb-paleon.28.0 package, these Level 0 tree data were aggregated to the 8km grid resolution Level 1 product (see msb-paleon.26 package). That product was then statistically smoothed using a statistical model that accounts for zero-inflated continuous data with smoothing based on generalized additive modeling techniques and approximate Bayesian uncertainty estimates for the Level 2 products estimating aboveground biomass (msb-paleon.23), density (msb-paleon.24), and basal area (msb-paleon.25). The data processing steps and associated code are available in the GitHub repository: https://github.com/PalEON-Project/PLS_products.

These products are used in the manuscript, Paciorek et al., 2021, The forests of the midwestern United States at Euro-American settlement: spatial and physical structure based on contemporaneous survey data. PLoS ONE 16(2):e0246473 (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246473).

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants #DEB-2213579 and 1241874.

Publication Date:2024-10-29
For more information:
Visit: DOI PLACE HOLDER

Time Period
Begin:
1804
End:
1849

People and Organizations
Contact:Peters, Jody (University of Notre Dame) [  email ]
Creator:McLachlan, Jason (University of Notre Dame)

Data Entities
Data Table Name:
PLS_Illinois_trees_Level0_v1.1
Description:
Illinois Public Land Survey Tree Records from 1804 to 1849
Detailed Metadata

Data Entities


Data Table

Data:https://pasta-s.lternet.edu/package/data/eml/msb-paleon/28/3/902020df3a41c0efbaa4d5aa2752308e
Name:PLS_Illinois_trees_Level0_v1.1
Description:Illinois Public Land Survey Tree Records from 1804 to 1849
Number of Records:82157
Number of Columns:88

Table Structure
Object Name:PLS_Illinois_trees_Level0_v1.1.csv
Size:39872086 byte
Authentication:02ba3039ebdd1a9f2446c0537318eeb7 Calculated By MD5
Text Format:
Number of Header Lines:1
Record Delimiter:\r\n
Orientation:column
Simple Delimited:
Field Delimiter:,
Quote Character:"

Table Column Descriptions
 
Column Name:TRP  
x  
y  
version  
entry_id  
timestamp  
reader_initials  
surveyor_name  
volume  
page  
year  
state  
hubtack_county  
baseline  
meridian  
township  
townshipdir  
rangenum  
rangedir  
sectiona  
sectionb  
interiorsection  
interiordir  
refcorner  
traveldir  
secondpass  
chains  
typecorner  
cornerid  
species  
speciescode  
verbatim  
L1_tree1  
L3_tree1  
diameter  
bearing  
degrees  
bearingdir  
chainstree  
species2  
speciescode2  
verbatim2  
L1_tree2  
L3_tree2  
diameter2  
bearing2  
degrees2  
bearingdir2  
chainstree2  
species3  
speciescode3  
verbatim3  
L1_tree3  
L3_tree3  
diameter3  
bearing3  
degrees3  
bearingdir3  
chainstree3  
species4  
speciescode4  
verbatim4  
L1_tree4  
L3_tree4  
diameter4  
bearing4  
degrees4  
bearingdir4  
chainstree4  
ecotype  
ecotypenotes  
ecotype2  
ecotypenotes2  
ecotype3  
ecotypenotes3  
water  
nodata  
notree  
feature  
featurenotes  
timbernotes  
understorynotes  
landnotes  
landnotesvb  
generalnotes  
recheck  
reason  
fixed  
Definition:The township, township direction, range, range direction and primemeridian concatenated for each cornerThe x –coordinates in meters for the location of the corner the tree data is associated with. These coordinates come from the NAD 1983 Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Albers (epsg:3175) projection.The y –coordinates in meters for the location of the corner the tree data is associated with. These coordinates come from the NAD 1983 Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Albers (epsg:3175) projection.This is the version number as the data was entered into Notre Dame's data entry system and then subsequently georeferenced. The individual corner and tree entries have been entered into Notre Dame's database starting in 2013 and go up to version 2.0, which was renamed version 1.0 when it was archived in NIS as package msb-paleon.28. Data entry for Illinois is ongoing so additional data will be added in the future until data from all townships have been entered.Unique identification number given each entry when entered into ND’s MySQL (values range from 421460-714173)or Qualtrics (values start with "R", followed by a random alpha-numeric value, e.g., R_3iEDyGzsS632hUU) databases.The date and time when the entry was entered or modified. When making the shapefile for GIS, this data does not convert, so many of these entries are removed here. If you need this information, Jody Peters can get it from Notre Dame's MySQL or Qualtrics database.Initials/name of person who entered the data. Depending on the data entry system sometimes the names match the Notre Dame id system and sometimes they are the students name.Name of surveyor from PLS notes. 99999 represents missing namePLS volume data came from. Illinois has volume numbers (unlike Indiana which does not).Page in the PLS notes data came fromYear of PLS surveyState (IL) the survey was conducted in. There are some corners in townships 10N11W2, 9N11W2, and 8N11W2 on the border with Indiana where notes may be from Indiana records, but are physically located within Illinois. The state listed in this column are where the corners are physically located. The state where the notes were read from are listed in the General Notes section.The county the township is located. Hubtack is the resource Notre Dame uses to get PLS records for Illinois and since our database was set up to first record data from Illinois, this column is still labeled as Hubtack_county.Baseline number (1-4) of the township. These were entered the same as the prime meridian values so may not actually be the true baseline numbers.Prime meridian number (1-4) of the townshipThe township numberTownship direction (N or S)Range number of the townshipRange direction (E or W)One of two interior sections the surveyor was traveling between (values range from 1-36).The other of the two interior sections the survey was traveling betweenThe southern (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, ,36) or eastern (1, 12, 13, 24, 25, 36) township boundary section numbers. The name is a bit misleading because these sections are on the boundaries not on the interior of the township.The township border that was entered. Typically the data was only entered for the southern and eastern borders for each township, not the northern and western borders.Notre Dame has a standard numbering system for the 1/4 and section corners in a township. You can find the map here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/r0x3c9bf9vci02v/PLS%20Township%20Grid%20PalEON.pdf?dl=0. The refcorner is the corner ID number from this map that the surveyors were traveling fromThe direction the surveyors were traveling (E, W, N, S)This denotes whether the surveyors were traveling over that portion of the township a second time. Y (yes) is used in cases when the surveyors have set a temporary post going one direction on a random line (typically when they travel east or west) and have come back on a true line and set the actual post and recorded trees. N (no) is used when the surveyors travel over a line only once (typically when they travel north or south).The chains the section or 1/4 section corners were recorded at. Typically corners are 80.00 chains (or very close to 80) and 1/4 section corners are 40.00 chains (or very close to 40).Labels are (¼) Section (i.e., corners set at the ½ mile, 40 chains), Section (i.e., points on the mile, 80 chains) or Township (i.e., the most NE, SE, and SW corners on the Township which are corners that could be found in adjacent townships). The township corners are labeled 100100, 700100, or 700700 on the corner map linked in the reforner description above.The corner ID where the corner posts were set. These ID numbers come from the corner map linked in the refcorner description above.This is the species for the first tree the surveyor recorded. The species name comes from a drop down list of options in the data entry form. DO NOT USE THIS OR THE SPECIES TO ASSESS TREE SPECIES, INSTEAD USE THE VERBATIM, LEVEL 1 OR LEVEL 3 TREE NAMES.2 letter abbreviation used for the first tree the surveyor recorded. These typically correspond with the species codes used by David Mladenoff from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. DO NOT USE THIS OR THE SPECIES TO ASSESS TREE SPECIES, INSTEAD USE THE VERBATIM, LEVEL 1 OR LEVEL 3 TREE NAMES.This is the tree name as written in the PLS notes for the first tree listed in the notes.Level 1 tree names. These are the names written verbatim, unless the verbatim entries have a ditto (also written do or ", etc). For example, if the verbatim notes say “ditto" and the previous tree surveyed was a beech, then L1_tree1 will be beech.Level 3 tree names. These are standardized tree names that convert the Level 1 names to a genera level common name. e.g., Level 1 = White Oak, Level 3 = Oak. The conversion files can be found in the GitHub repository: https://github.com/PalEON-Project/PLS_productsDiameter in inches of the first tree the surveyor recorded. NOTE: there are some trees that have very large diameters (greater than 60 in). If you have a question about the size of the tree, check the "fixed" column to see if the notes have been double checked.First bearing direction of the first tree the surveyor recorded (N, S, E, W – typically N or S unless a tree was set on the E or W cardinal direction).Bearing degrees of the first tree the surveyor recorded (0-90; NOTE: degrees greater than 90 were double checked by Jody - see the notes for information about these entries).The second bearing direction of the first tree the surveyor recorded (E, W).Although this says “chains” this is the distance in links (NOT chains) from the post to the first tree the surveyor recorded.This is the species for the second tree the surveyor recorded. The species name comes from a drop down list of options in the data entry form. DO NOT USE THIS OR THE SPECIES TO ASSESS TREE SPECIES, INSTEAD USE THE VERBATIM, LEVEL 1 OR LEVEL 3 TREE NAMES.2 letter abbreviation used for the second tree the surveyor recorded. These typically correspond with the species codes used by David Mladenoff from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. DO NOT USE THIS OR THE SPECIES TO ASSESS TREE SPECIES, INSTEAD USE THE VERBATIM, LEVEL 1 OR LEVEL 3 TREE NAMES.This is the tree name as written in the PLS notes for the second tree listed in the notes.Level 1 tree names. These are typically the names written verbatim, unless the verbatim entries have a ditto (also written do or ", etc). For example, if the verbatim notes say “ditto" and the previous tree surveyed was a beech, then L1_tree2 will be beech.Level 3 tree names. These are standardized tree names that convert the Level 1 names to a genera level common name. e.g., Level 1 = White Oak, Level 3 = Oak. The conversion files can be found in the GitHub repository: https://github.com/PalEON-Project/PLS_productsDiameter of the second tree the surveyor recorded. If you have a question about the size of the tree, check the fixed column to see if the notes have been double checked.First bearing of the second tree the surveyor recorded (N, S, E, W – typically N or S unless a tree was set on the E or W cardinal direction).Bearing degrees of the second tree the surveyor recordedThe second bearing direction of the second tree the surveyor recorded (typically, E or W).Although this says “chains” this is the distance in links (NOT chains) from the post to the second tree the surveyor recordedThis is the species for the third tree the surveyor recorded. The species name comes from a drop down list of options in the data entry form. DO NOT USE THIS OR THE SPECIES TO ASSESS TREE SPECIES, INSTEAD USE THE VERBATIM, LEVEL 1 OR LEVEL 3 TREE NAMES.2 letter abbreviation used for the third tree the surveyor recorded. These typically correspond with the species codes used by David Mladenoff from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. DO NOT USE THIS OR THE SPECIES TO ASSESS TREE SPECIES, INSTEAD USE THE VERBATIM, LEVEL 1 OR LEVEL 3 TREE NAMES.This is the tree name as written in the PLS notes for the third tree listed in the notes.Level 1 tree names. These are typically the names written verbatim, unless the verbatim entries have a ditto (also written do or ", etc). For example, if the verbatim notes say “ditto" and the previous tree surveyed was a beech, then L1_tree3 will be beech.Level 3 tree names. These are standardized tree names that convert the Level 1 names to a genera level common name. e.g., Level 1 = White Oak, Level 3 = Oak. The conversion files can be found in the GitHub repository: https://github.com/PalEON-Project/PLS_productsDiameter of the third tree the surveyor recorded. If you have a question about the size of the tree, check the fixed column to see if the notes have been double checked.First bearing of the third tree the surveyor recorded (N, S, E, W – typically N or S unless a tree was set on the E or W cardinal direction)Bearing degrees of the third tree the surveyor recorded (0-90)The second bearing direction of the third tree the surveyor recorded (E, W).Although this says “chains” this is the distance in links (NOT chains) from the post to the third tree the surveyor recordedThis is the species for the fourth tree the surveyor recorded. The species name comes from a drop down list of options in the data entry form. DO NOT USE THIS OR THE SPECIES TO ASSESS TREE SPECIES, INSTEAD USE THE VERBATIM, LEVEL 1 OR LEVEL 3 TREE NAMES.2 letter abbreviation used for the fourth tree the surveyor recorded. These typically correspond with the species codes used by David Mladenoff from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. DO NOT USE THIS OR THE SPECIES TO ASSESS TREE SPECIES, INSTEAD USE THE VERBATIM, LEVEL 1 OR LEVEL 3 TREE NAMES.This is the tree name as written in the PLS notes for the fourth tree listed in the notesLevel 1 tree names. These are typically the names written verbatim, unless the verbatim entries have a ditto (also written do or ", etc). For example, if the verbatim notes say “ditto" and the previous tree surveyed was a beech, then L1_tree4 will be beech.Level 3 tree names. These are standardized tree names that convert the Level 1 names to a genera level common name. e.g., Level 1 = White Oak, Level 3 = Oak. The conversion files can be found in the GitHub repository: https://github.com/PalEON-Project/PLS_productsDiameter of the fourth tree the surveyor recorded. If you have a question about the size of the tree, check the fixed column to see if the notes have been double checked.First bearing of the fourth tree the surveyor recorded (N, S, E, W – typically N or S unless a tree was set on the E or W cardinal direction).Bearing degrees of the first tree the surveyor recorded (0-90)The second bearing direction of the fourth tree the surveyor recorded (E, W).Although this says “chains” this is the distance in links (NOT chains) from the post to the fourth tree the surveyor recorded.When Notre Dame had used the GLO form/MySQL database to enter data, this had been the letter abbreviations regarding ecotypes. For example – G = grove, L = lake, P = prairie. When we switched to using the Qualtrics form to enter data, the ecotype names were no longer abbreviated. Although this wasn’t used extensively, there are some corners where students noted this. Corners in townships that were part of the Kankakee project are the most likely to have entries in this column with a focus on water notes. When we switched to entering data using the Qualtrics form in Fall 2017, ecotypes was used to describe corners with water/wet features.Verbatim notes regarding the ecotype abbreviationAnother option to add more ecotype informationAnother option to add more ecotype informationAnother option to add more ecotype informationAnother option to add more ecotype informationAttribute that characterized if corner post was set in Water or a Wet location. Water = a perpetually wet spot in a lake, creek, river, marsh, swamp, etc. Wet = a location that was noted as seasonally wet. See the generalnotes, features or ecotype columns to see why these corners were classified as water or wet.A “Yes” entry means there was no data available for this corner (data was missing from the notes because the page was missing or the entry was just not written in. See the description in the general notes about why there was no data)A “yes” entry means there was no tree listed at this corner either because it was water/wet or was in prairie. See the description in the generalnotes, ecotype or features to see why there was no tree.Attribute for entering notes about non-ecological features. Examples include Post, Post in Mound, Road, House, etc. This was mainly used to note when there are no trees and surveyor sets a “post in mound”.Verbatim description of the featuresNotes about the type of timber for the past mile or 1/2 mile survyed getting to this corner. Students entered this data early in the data entry process, but stopped doing it around the summer of 2013.Notes about the understory vegetation for the past mile or 1/2 mile surveyed gettin to this corner. Students entered this data early in the data entry process, but stopped doing it around the summer of 2013.Drop down list of general landnote features. The surveyors often provided a general description of the land for the preceding half mile (notes are included with the tree information for the 1/4 section corner at 40 chains) or mile (notes are included with the tree information for the section corner at 80 chains). Notes often included information about the potential for cultivation or natural resources. NOTE: this description is for the land for the last half to one mile, so it does not necessarily pertain to the land specifically at the post. For example, there could be water features in the 1/2 mile surveyed, but that doesn't mean the post is set in water.Verbatim land notes. This is used when the notes are more detailed or complicated or cannot be summarized with the options provided in the dropdown menu in Notre Dame's data entry system.Attribute for general notes notes about this corner.If data enterer was unsure of one of the aspects in this entry ID they could request that the person that did a double check on the data look over this entry.Description of what needs to be rechecked in this entryDescription of anything that was changed from what was originally entered. If any entry looks questionable, check this column first to see if it has already been checked. If it hasn’t or if you still have questions about the entry, send Jody an email: peters.63@nd.edu
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CodeNA
ExplIf the survey was going on the S or E border of the township, "sectiona" is listed as NA.
CodeNA
ExplIf the survey was going on the S or E border of the township, "sectionb" is listed as NA.
CodeNA
ExplThis will be NA if the survey is on the interior of the township. "interiorsection" is only used to provide information about corners surveyed on the S or E border.
CodeNA
ExplThis will be NA if the survey is on the interior of the township. 'interiordir" is only used to provide information about corners surveyed on the S or E border.
CodeNA
ExplThe reference corner information was not transcribed in the data entry process
CodeNA
ExplThere is no information about the direction of travel
CodeNA
ExplInformation about whether the survey went on a second pass was not transcribed in the data entry process.
CodeNA
ExplThe information about the chains was not transcribed in the data entry process
   
CodeNA
ExplThis entry was a "No tree", "No data", "Water", or "Wet" entry. You can find out what it is by looking at the L1_tree1 and L3_tree1 columns
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThis entry was a "No tree", "No data", "Water", or "Wet" entry. You can find out what it is by looking at the L1_tree1 and L3_tree1 columns
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThis entry was a "No tree", "No data", "Water", or "Wet" entry. You can find out what it is by looking at the L1_tree1 and L3_tree1 columns
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
Code88888
ExplPLS notes illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is either no tree at this corner entry or there is a tree but it is set for the corner post so the bearing/degrees/links info is NA 0 NA 0
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree at this corner entry, or there is a tree but it is set for the corner post so the bearing/degrees/links info is NA 0 NA 0, or there is a tree but it is on a cardinal direction so there is no bearingdir only a bearing
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 2 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 2 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 2 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 2 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 2 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThe tree is set for the corner post so has entry NA 0 NA 0 for bearing2, degrees2, bearingdir2, and chainstree2 or there is no tree at this corner entry
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree2 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThe tree is either set for the corner post so has entry NA 0 NA 0 for bearing, degrees, bearingdir, and chainstree or the tree is located on a cardinal direction (E,W,S,N) from the post with no degrees or bearingdir or there is no tree 2 at this corner entry
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 3 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 3 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 3 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 3 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
 
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree3 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 3 at this corner entry
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 3 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 3 at this corner entry or the tree is located on a cardinal direction (E,W,S,N) from the post with no degrees or bearingdir
Codeblank
ExplThere is no tree 3 at this corner entry
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 4 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 4 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 4 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 4 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 4 at this corner entry
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 4 at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 4 at this corner entry or the tree is located on a cardinal direction (E,W,S,N) from the post with no degrees4 or bearingdir4
Codeblank
ExplThere is no tree 4 at this corner entry
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree 4 at this corner entry or the tree is located on a cardinal direction (E,W,S,N) from the post with no degrees4 or bearingdir4
CodeNA
ExplThere is no tree at this corner entry
Code88888
ExplPLS notes Illegible
Code99999
ExplMissing from PLS notes
CodeNA
ExplThere is no ecotype information at this corner
CodeNA
ExplThere is no ecotype information at this corner
CodeNA
ExplThere is no additional ecotype information at this corner
CodeNA
ExplThere is no additional ecotype information at this corner
CodeNA
ExplThere is no additional ecotype information at this corner
CodeNA
ExplThere is no additional ecotype information at this corner
CodeNA
ExplThis corner does not have a water feature
CodeNA
ExplThis corner has data
CodeNA
ExplThis corner does not have no tree (it either has trees or has no data)
CodeNA
ExplThere is no feature information for this corner
CodeNA
ExplThere is no feature information for this corner
CodeNA
ExplThere is no information about the timber listed on this line of the survey
CodeNA
ExplThere is no information about the understory listed on this line of the survey
CodeNA
ExplThere are no land notes for this corner.
CodeNA
ExplThere are no land notes for this corner.
CodeNA
ExplThere are no general notes provided for this corner.
CodeNA
ExplThere was nothing to recheck
CodeNA
ExplThis corner did not need to be rechecked or there was no description given about what needed to be rechecked.
CodeNA
ExplThis corner did not have anything that was rechecked that was fixed.
Accuracy Report:                                                                                                                                                                                
Accuracy Assessment:                                                                                                                                                                                
Coverage:                                                                                                                                                                                
Methods:                                                                                                                                                                                

Data Package Usage Rights

PalEON uses the CC-BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International) License for data products that get archived on EDI or elsewhere. Details of this license can be found here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Keywords

By Thesaurus:
(No thesaurus)Public Land Survey (PLS), forest, Pre-EuroAmerican Settlement, witness trees, Illinois

Methods and Protocols

These methods, instrumentation and/or protocols apply to all data in this dataset:

Methods and protocols used in the collection of this data package
Description:

The PLS Surveys were conducted from 1804-1849 in Illinois. These records were acquired from Hubtack Document Resources (https://new.hubtack.com/).

The PLS data from the records were transcribed by 43 individuals at Notre Dame from June 2013 to November 2022.

Individuals from Notre Dame who entered the data are: Gabrielle Acampora, Kate Augustine, Kim Bauer, Amanda Buerger, Garret Blad, Caitlin Broderick, Briget Bruns, Will Chronister, Jaclyn Cooney, Margaret Corcoran, Mariel Cuellar, Jill Deines, Matthew Donahue, Isaac Evans, Nicole Fantozzi, Benjamin Foster, Quercus Hamlin, Annie (Ye Na) Han, Alec Helmke, Da Som Kim, Marissa Kivi, Hannah Legatzke, Anna Levesque, Claire Mattison, Kyle McAvoy, Emily Mears, Nicole Micelotta, Emily Miller, Michelle Mueller, Alex Muench, Erin Nguyen, Rebecca O'Neil, Luke Onken, Jody Peters, Annie Pappas,Sam Pecoraro, Kaitlin Powers, Grace Saalman, Ian Shuman, Michael Spoltore, Will Tintor, Zoe Volonec, Christina Wiech.

The notes were originally entered into Notre Dame's online GLO form (http://www3.nd.edu/~paleolab/GLO/) connected to a MySQL database. This online form was disabled in Summer 2017 and data entry was moved to a form connected to a Qualtrics project. After data for each township were entered, the individual who entered the data, double checked for any discrepancies in tree names, diameters, bearing degrees or links distance, and the number of corners expected were entered. A separate individual then did a second check of the data looking again for any discrepancies or unexpected entries that needed double checking. Contact Jody Peters (peters.63@nd.edu) to see protocols for these data checks. Data in the MySQL or Qualtrics database were then exported to a csv, double checked and used to georeference the corners to the x,y coordinates for each corner from a GIS shapefile. For version 1.8 and later (see the version column in the dataset) the georeferencing and quality control checks were done using the Georef_R.R and PLS Summary Code.R code found in this GitHub repository: https://github.com/PalEON-Project/IN_ILTownshipChecker

For versions 1.7 and lower (see the version column in the dataset), the following is the set of quality control checks conducted.These checks were transferred to the Georef_R.R code checks.

The PLS Summary Code.R had additional checks added after it was run on version 1.8-1 so was run again for version 1.8-2 and corrections were made.

Data Processing Steps for version 1.5-1, 1.6, and 1.7

1. Added GIS pointX and pointY using the entryID and UniqueID for the corners.

2. Left in Understory notes. [Note these are no longer being entered in versions 1.8 and above) 3. Added column for the TRP (township, range, primemeridian concatenated)

4. Added column for the version number

5. We had added the waterwet column after the v1.5 data was entered, so went back and checked all No tree/No data in each township grouping to entries to make sure they were labeled correctly and labeled if they were Water or Wet.

6. Removed preceding spaces. Make new column (i.e., verbatim_b, verbatim2_b, etc). Sort by verbatim, then use formula =trim(cell#). Don’t use this formula for the 88888s and 99999s. Just copy those over. Copy full column, then paste special. Then delete old verbatim column and rename verbatim_b as verbatim.

7. Sort by verbatim, then copy verbatim to L1_tree1 column, then sort by verbatim2 (and 3 and 4) then create L1_tree2 (and 3 and 4) by doing an if statement that changes “dittos”s (“, Do, etc) to the tree in the L1_tree1 column for that corner.

8. L3_tree1, tree2, tree3 and tree4: convert Trees 1, 2, 3, and 4 into Level 3 tree names

9. Put No Tree and No Data and Water in the L1_tree1 column (But not in the other 3 tree columns. Put in NAs in for the other 3 columns in step 12).

10. Put in NAs in L1_trees, L3_trees, diameter, degrees, chainstrees for Tree 2, 3, 4 with No Trees and for Tree 1,2,3,4 with No Trees, No Data, and Water.

11. Remove “Null” entries which will mainly be found in ecotype notes through the fixed column 12. Create Pivot Table in new worksheet with Summary of a. TRP counts b. L3 then L1 trees (nested) with counts of L1 trees for all 4 trees (to make sure the L1 trees are in the correct L3 tree categories) (make sure all L1 trees are in the correct L3 category) c. Diameter counts for all 4 trees (make sure there aren’t any weird diameters – check diameters 60 or greater) d. Degrees counts for all 4 trees (make sure no degrees >90 or if so include a note) e. Chainstrees counts for all 4 trees (look for any weird tree distances) f. Check that all the pivot table counts are the same for diameter, degrees, chainstrees g. Get counts of x and y coordinates. Make sure there is the same number of unique coordinates as there are TRPs. Then make sure the counts for the TRPs, x and y coordinates match up.

13. NOTE: There are 2 pairs of corners (4 individual corners) where the tree information is identical in each pair of corners. The notes for these corners were double checked and it was not a data transcription error on our part, this was how the notes were written from the PLS records. We are leaving these corners in the dataset as of now since we assume that one of the corners did have the trees recorded, we just aren't sure which corner it is. However, we removed these entries used for the biomass statistical analyses msb-paleon.26 package as described in the GitHub repository: https://github.com/PalEON-Project/PLS_products.

Here is the list of the 4 corners by listed by TRP and entry_id for corners that have identical tree information:

23N5W3 648480

23N5W3 648496

5N2E4 884

5N2E4 820

Additional details can be found in the methods sections in: Paciorek et al., 2021, The forests of the midwestern United States at Euro-American settlement: spatial and physical structure based on contemporaneous survey data. PLoS ONE 16(2):e0246473 (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246473) and analyses can be found on GitHub: https://github.com/PalEON-Project/PLS_products.

In the data labeled 2.1 in the version column there are 7,351 entries from 77 townships that were originally entered by Marlin Bowles at The Morton Arboretum. Bowles used a different data entry system than used by the McLachlan lab at the University of Notre Dame. Three individuals from Notre Dame, Jody Peters, Ian Shuman, and Annie Pappas checked the data from Marlin against the PLS notes and made updates where needed and formatted the data to match the current dataset.

Records that have NA values for all entries in the following columns are from the Marlin database. The columns include: page, sectiona, sectionb, interiorsection, interiordir, refcorner, traveldir, secondpass, and chains.

The 77 townships are:

42N6E3, 42N8E3, 45N12E3, 46N12E3, 45N10E3, 45N11E3, 44N11E3, 44N12E3, 43N10E3, 43N12E3, 43N13E3, 45N9E3, 46N9E3, 46N5E3, 41N6E3, 41N7E3, 41N8E3, 41N9E3, 42N13E3,

42N12E3, 42N11E3, 42N9E3, 41N14E3, 41N10E3, 41N11E3, 46N10E3, 41N12E3, 38N13E3, 38N14E3, 37N11E3, 38N15E3, 40N9E3, 40N11E3, 40N12E3, 39N8E3, 39N7E3, 40N8E3, 40N6E3,

39N6E3, 39N9E3, 39N10E3, 40N13E3, 40N14E3, 39N11E3, 39N12E3, 39N14E3, 38N6E3, 38N7E3, 38N9E3, 38N12E3, 41N13E3, 37N7E3, 37N8E3, 36N7E3, 36N6E3, 35N6E3, 35N7E3, 35N8E3,

37N10E3, 37N9E3, 36N10E3, 36N9E3, 35N9E3, 35N10E3, 35N11E3, 35N12E3, 37N13E3, 37N14E3, 37N15E3, 36N12E3, 36N13E3, 36N15E3, 35N13E3, 35N14E3, 35N15E3, 37N12E3, 38N10E3

If you would like to see the Bowles data on its own, contact Jody Peters at peters.63@nd.edu

People and Organizations

Publishers:
Organization:Environmental Data Initiative
Email Address:
info@edirepository.org
Web Address:
https://edirepository.org
Id:https://ror.org/0330j0z60
Creators:
Individual:Dr. Jason McLachlan
Organization:University of Notre Dame
Email Address:
Jason.S.McLachlan.2@nd.edu
Id:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6771-0304
Contacts:
Individual:Dr. Jody Peters
Organization:University of Notre Dame
Email Address:
peters.63@nd.edu
Id:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9165-1508

Temporal, Geographic and Taxonomic Coverage

Temporal, Geographic and/or Taxonomic information that applies to all data in this dataset:

Time Period
Begin:
1804
End:
1849
Geographic Region:
Description:Midwestern United States, Illinois
Bounding Coordinates:
Northern:  42.6Southern:  36.5
Western:  -91.7Eastern:  -87.25
Taxonomic Range:
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Acer
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp
Common Name:Maple
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Aesculus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:glabra
Common Name:Buckeye
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Betula
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp
Common Name:Birch
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Carpinus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:caroliniana
Common Name:Ironwood
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Carya
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp
Common Name:Hickory
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Celtis
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:occidentalis
Common Name:Hackberry
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Cornus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp
Common Name:Dogwood
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Fagus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:grandifolia
Common Name:Beech
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Fraxinus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp
Common Name:Ash
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Gleditsia
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:triacanthos
Common Name:Locust
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Juglans
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp
Common Name:Walnut
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Juniperus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:virginiana
Common Name:Cedar/juniper
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Liquidambar
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:styraciflua
Common Name:Sweet gum
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Liriodendron
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:tulipifera
Common Name:Tulip poplar
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Morus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp
Common Name:Mulberry
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Nyssa
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:sylvatica
Common Name:Black gum
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Ostrya
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:virginiana
Common Name:Ironwood
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Pinus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp
Common Name:Pine
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Platanus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:occidentalis
Common Name:Sycamore
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Populus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp
Common Name:Poplar
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Prunus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp
Common Name:Cherry
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Quercus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp
Common Name:Oak
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Salix
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp
Common Name:Willow
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Taxodium
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:distichum
Common Name:Bald cypress
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Thuja
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:occidentalis
Common Name:Cedar/juniper
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Tilia
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:americana
Common Name:Basswood
Classification:
Rank Name:Genus
Rank Value:Ulmus
Classification:
Rank Name:Species
Rank Value:spp
Common Name:Elm

Project

Parent Project Information:

Title:Paleo-ecological Observatory Network (PalEON)
Personnel:
Individual: Jason McLachlan
Address:
100 Galvin Life Sciences,
Notre Dame, IN 46615 USA
Phone:
(574) 631 1850 (voice)
Email Address:
jmclachl@nd.edu
Id:https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6771-0304
Role:Lead PI
Individual: Jody Peters
Address:
100 Galvin Life Sciences,
Notre Dame, IN 46615 USA
Email Address:
peters.63@nd.edu
Id:https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9165-1508
Role:Co - Information Manager
Abstract:

PalEON (the PaleoEcological Observatory Network) is an interdisciplinary team of paleoecologists, ecological statisticians, and ecosystem modelers. Our goal is to reconstruct forest composition, fire regime, and climate in forests across the northeastern US and Alaska over the past 2000 years and then use this to drive and validate terrestrial ecosystem models. We will develop a coherent spatiotemporal inference framework to quantify trends and extreme events in paleoecological and paleoclimatic time series. Variables such as forest composition, fire regime, and moisture balance will be inferred from corresponding paleoecological proxies, with rigorous estimates of uncertainty.

These datasets will be applied to improve terrestrial ecosystem models in two contexts. First, we are developing specific data products, such as high- resolution settlement-era forest composition maps from witness tree and General Land Office data, that can be used to drive ecosystem models. PalEON will develop formal data assimilation tools that will allow the models we use to forecast on centennial scales to be informed by decadal- to centennial-scale data. Second, are developing data products for the purpose of model validation (e.g. fire-frequency reconstructions from sedimentary charcoal data). These long-term validation datasets will help us assess the ability of these models to capture past dynamics correctly, and will help us understand why their future projections are so divergent.

Funding:

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants #DEB-1241874, 1241868, 1241870, 1241851, 1241891, 1241846, 1241856, 1241930. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in the material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Additional Award Information:
Funder:National Science Foundation
Funder ID:MacroSystems Biology
Number:1241874
Title:Collaborative Research and NEON: MSB Category 2: PalEON - a PaleoEcological Observatory Network to Assess Terrestrial Ecosystem Models
Additional Award Information:
Funder:National Science Foundation
Funder ID:MacroSystems Biology
Number:2213579
Title:Collaborative Research: MRA: Evaluating hypotheses of long-term woody carbon dynamics with empirical data

Maintenance

Maintenance:
Description:

The McLachlan lab at the University of Notre Dame is continually entering PLS data for Illinois. When data have been entered, georeferenced, and quality checked for a group of new townships (typically in the range of ~50-150 townships) or when a new analysis is conducted or data processing step is updated, a new version is created (see the version number in the data table). As new analyses are conducted or as questions come up about specific data entries, those entries will be checked in the notes and updated as needed in the data table with subsequent versions.

The original set of data listed through version 2.0 on the data table was archived in EDI as the msb-paleon.28.0 package. Data for an additional 36 townships were added for the msb-paleon.27.1 package.

The McLachlan lab will continue to enter data and update the msb-paleon.28 package as data are processed. This will take place as time is available to process the data to make these updates.

Frequency:
Other Metadata

Additional Metadata

additionalMetadata
        |___text '\n      '
        |___element 'metadata'
        |     |___text '\n         '
        |     |___element 'description'
        |     |     |___text 'Publications: Paciorek et al., 2020, Statistically-estimated tree biomass, stem, and basal area for the upper Midwestern United States at the time of Euro-American settlement (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/856526v1). Code for the data processing and analyses can be found on GitHub: https://github.com/PalEON-Project/PLS_products.'
        |     |___text '\n      '
        |___text '\n   '

Additional Metadata

additionalMetadata
        |___text '\n      '
        |___element 'metadata'
        |     |___text '\n         '
        |     |___element 'fetchedFromEDI'
        |     |        \___attribute 'dateFetched' = '2024-10-11'
        |     |        \___attribute 'packageID' = 'msb-paleon.28.0'
        |     |___text '\n      '
        |___text '\n   '

Additional Metadata

additionalMetadata
        |___text '\n      '
        |___element 'metadata'
        |     |___text '\n         '
        |     |___element 'importedFromXML'
        |     |        \___attribute 'dateImported' = '2024-10-11'
        |     |        \___attribute 'filename' = 'msb-paleon.28.0.xml'
        |     |___text '\n      '
        |___text '\n   '

Additional Metadata

additionalMetadata
        |___text '\n      '
        |___element 'metadata'
        |     |___text '\n         '
        |     |___element 'unitList' in ns 'http://www.xml-cml.org/schema/stmml-1.2' ('stmml:unitList')
        |     |     |___text '\n            '
        |     |     |___element 'unit' in ns 'http://www.xml-cml.org/schema/stmml-1.2' ('stmml:unit')
        |     |     |     |  \___attribute 'id' = 'chains'
        |     |     |     |  \___attribute 'name' = 'chains'
        |     |     |     |___text '\n               '
        |     |     |     |___element 'description' in ns 'http://www.xml-cml.org/schema/stmml-1.2' ('stmml:description')
        |     |     |     |     |___text 'Surveyors used chains to measure distances. 1 mile is 80 chains. There are 100 links per chain. 1 chain equals 66 feet or 20.1 meters. 1 link equals 7.92 inches.'
        |     |     |     |___text '\n            '
        |     |     |___text '\n            '
        |     |     |___element 'unit' in ns 'http://www.xml-cml.org/schema/stmml-1.2' ('stmml:unit')
        |     |     |     |  \___attribute 'id' = 'link'
        |     |     |     |  \___attribute 'name' = 'link'
        |     |     |     |___text '\n               '
        |     |     |     |___element 'description' in ns 'http://www.xml-cml.org/schema/stmml-1.2' ('stmml:description')
        |     |     |     |     |___text 'Length of measure used by surveyors. 1 link = 7.92 inches. 100 links = 1 chain = 66 feet = 20.1 meters'
        |     |     |     |___text '\n            '
        |     |     |___text '\n         '
        |     |___text '\n      '
        |___text '\n   '

Additional Metadata

additionalMetadata
        |___text '\n      '
        |___element 'metadata'
        |     |___text '\n         '
        |     |___element 'emlEditor'
        |     |        \___attribute 'app' = 'ezEML'
        |     |        \___attribute 'release' = '2024.10.09'
        |     |___text '\n      '
        |___text '\n   '

EDI is a collaboration between the University of New Mexico and the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Center for Limnology:

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