| Contents Notes |
This report describes a portion of a large regional project undertaken by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and water-quality authorities in the States of Montana, Idaho, and Washington to identify and analyze factors which are affecting water quality in an interconnecting hydrologic system. To achieve this directive in Montana, a spatial database is being constructed which will contain satellite derived land cover, photo-interpreted macrophyte locations, climate data, topography, hydrography, and soils. The database will be used by EPA Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory (EMSL) to demonstrate the utility of a watershed scale information management system. This information management system is geared toward nonpoint pollution modeling and will evolve into a decision support mechanism capable of assessing the suitability and feasibility of various alternate management scenarios. The data layers focus on elements required for nonpoint source pollution modeling in which derivation of factors for soil erodibility, rainfall, topographic slope-length, and vegetation management are generated for the watershed. A Geographic Information System (GIS) in which to model alternative land management scenarios such as road building, logging, and fire/burn management. The vegetation management factor will be partially based on land cover derived from Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite imagery. Vegetative management factors combine vegetative cover and soil surface conditions into one numerical factor. This report will address only the generation of land cover maps for the Blackfoot River Watershed through quantitative remote sensing techniques. |
