Citation:

Nash, M S., T G. Wade, D T. Heggem, AND J D. Wickham. DOES ANTHROPOGENIC ACTIVITIES OR NATURE DOMINATE THE SHAPING OF THE LANDSCAPE IN THE OREGON PILOT STUDY AREA FOR 1990-1997? Presented at North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) - Committee on the Challenge of Modern Organization (CCMS) and Science Committee Workshop on Desertification in the Mediterranean Region. A Security Issue, Valencia, Spain, December 2-5, 2003.

Impact/Purpose:

There are four basic objectives of the project:

Demonstrate the application of a comparative landscape assessment in analyzing the vulnerability of surface and coastal water conditions to declines based on landscape conditions (as estimated by landscape indicators as demonstrated in the mid-Atlantic landscape atlas) in western environments;

Develop and apply landscape assessment approaches relative to specific issues, including an ability to prioritize the vulnerability of areas relative to the Clean Water Act 303(d) designations; Quantify relationships between landscape conditions (as measured by landscape indicators) and surface and coastal waters in the west to reduce the uncertainty in comparative landscape assessments, and issue-specific, landscape assessments (e.g., Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDLs);

Complete a west-wide, comparative landscape assessment relative to surface and coastal water vulnerability;

Transfer landscape assessment technologies to Regional Offices so that they can conduct landscape assessments at many scales.

Description:

We developed a simple method to locate changes in vegetation greenness, which can be used to identify areas under stress. The method only requires inexpensive NDVI data, which can be derived from many sources, and basic statistical and mapping software. AVHRR data are useful for evaluating large areas , but finer scale studies can be performed using higher resolution imagery. The use of remotely sensed data are far more cost effective than field studies and can be performed much more quickly.

Record Details: