Describing vegetation quantitatively in Niger bas been difficult because no standard technique has been advanced, and the ecologist has had to "reinvent the wheel" with each new project. The results are that each survey has a varying degree of quality and precision, the documentation of the techniques is lost and, hence, comparisons with historical records are impossible. The primary objective of the techniques presented in this paper is to describe the ecosystem for long-term monitoring purposes or for comparisons between current sites.