Version 5 versus Version 6

The land cover was continually evolving, so version numbers were assigned to 
each new set of modifications.  For each new version, the vertebrate models 
had to be rerun, a process that was very time-consuming.  The last version 
of the vertebrate models was run on Version 5 of the land cover, but a few 
changes were made to the land cover after the last vertebrate models were 
run.  Version 6 of the land cover differs from Version 6 in two areas:

1) Southeastern Washington, especially the Grande Ronde valley, in Asotin 
County: A visit to the area in 1996 revealed fewer wooded areas than 
indicated in Version 5.  Many of the polygons were relabeled and refined to 
more accurately reflect ground information, and some polygons were 
delineated further.

2) Polygons adjacent to Ritzville (Adams County) were defined further.

The result is that Version 6 has 25 more polygons than Version 6, and three
land cover codes that do not occur in Version 5:

  Region 11, Zone 19, Cover 602
  Region 11, Zone 19, Cover 622
  Region 14, Zone 21, Cover 533

Note:  The hard copy metadata volume written to accompany the land cover 
CD-ROM mistakenly includes the coverage description for Version 5, not 
Version 6, as it should.