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NORTHWEST ORGEON PILOT STUDY AREA (USA): THE USE OF LANDSCAPE SCIENCE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PILOT STUDY
Citation:
Kepner, W G. AND D T. Heggem. NORTHWEST ORGEON PILOT STUDY AREA (USA): THE USE OF LANDSCAPE SCIENCE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PILOT STUDY. Presented at North Atlantic Treaty Organization Committee on the Challenges to Modern Society Plenary Meeting, Kiel, Germany, November 19-24, 2002.
Impact/Purpose:
The primary objectives of this research are to:
Develop methodologies so that landscape indicator values generated from different sensors on different dates (but in the same areas) are comparable; differences in metric values result from landscape changes and not differences in the sensors;
Quantify relationships between landscape metrics generated from wall-to-wall spatial data and (1) specific parameters related to water resource conditions in different environmental settings across the US, including but not limited to nutrients, sediment, and benthic communities, and (2) multi-species habitat suitability;
Develop and validate multivariate models based on quantification studies;
Develop GIS/model assessment protocols and tools to characterize risk of nutrient and sediment TMDL exceedence;
Complete an initial draft (potentially web based) of a national landscape condition assessment.
This research directly supports long-term goals established in ORDs multiyear plans related to GPRA Goal 2 (Water) and GPRA Goal 4 (Healthy Communities and Ecosystems), although funding for this task comes from Goal 4. Relative to the GRPA Goal 2 multiyear plan, this research is intended to "provide tools to assess and diagnose impairment in aquatic systems and the sources of associated stressors." Relative to the Goal 4 Multiyear Plan this research is intended to (1) provide states and tribes with an ability to assess the condition of waterbodies in a scientifically defensible and representative way, while allowing for aggregation and assessment of trends at multiple scales, (2) assist Federal, State and Local managers in diagnosing the probable cause and forecasting future conditions in a scientifically defensible manner to protect and restore ecosystems, and (3) provide Federal, State and Local managers with a scientifically defensible way to assess current and future ecological conditions, and probable causes of impairments, and a way to evaluate alternative future management scenarios.
Description:
The Northwest Oregon Pilot Study Area encompasses approximately 59,167 km2 and varies in elevation from sea level to 3,200 m. Annual precipitation varies with elevation and meridian and ranges from 25 - 460cm. The study area comprises a mixture of federal, state, and privately owned lands and includes estuarine, forest, and rangeland with both rural and metropolitan urban centers and agricultural areas. The pilot area supports 2.6 million inhabitants and the economy is primarily based on forest products, tourism, and agriculture. This project proposes to develop two digital land cover maps using a 2 1 -class system. Landsat TM satellite imagery for two periods, i.e. 1995 and 2000, will be converted into land cover and analyzed for change. Specific landscape metric and indicators will be developed related to important environmental endpoints, e.g. watershed condition, using spatial analysis tools developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and USDA Agricultural Research Service, e.g. ATtILA and AGWA. These analyses in addition to the change detection information will be summarized in an interpretative report, i.e. landscape assessment atlas. We anticipate that the digital land cover maps will be complete by January 2003 and the primary data acquisition will beorganized into a spatial data archive by that same period. Subsequently, indicator development and analysis will follow land cover production and data acquisition and should be completed by winter of 2004. Change detection analysis will be complete by June 2004 and the information from both the indicator and change analyses will be integrated into a final project report, i.e. landscape assessment, by December of 2004.