Short URL

Development of a GIS Level 1 Wetland Assessment Model for the Bayou Meto Watershed

 

Other Environmental Studies areas:

Loading, please wait...

CAST researchers are working on a pilot project which will develop a GIS model, using both on-site and off-site variables, to predict wetland condition at a landscape level (Level 1 Assessment Tool). The Arkansas Multi-Agency Wetland Planning Team (MAWPT) has previously evaluated the utility of the Landscape Development Intensity (LDI) index as an assessment tool in the Delta Ecoregion, but has deemed it insufficiently correlated with Level 2 and 3 assessments. The primary problem appeared to be that LDI only considered factors outside the wetland. This might correlate well if wetlands are otherwise pristine, and merely being encroached upon; however, in Arkansas, most wetlands are in private hands, and are routinely logged, ditched, impounded, or otherwise altered in a way that was invisible to LDI. In addition, the LDI coefficients were expensive to develop, and only seemed to predict edge effects that might just as well be predicted with more easily accessed data.

This project seeks to explore a model that would attempt to right both of these failings of LDI. First, the offsite data would be readily available from Census Data and other existing digital coverages. Second, newly developed remote sensing techniques will be employed to gage the condition of forest condition within the wetland. Multi-return LiDAR will be employed to create proxy variables for forest structure. In addition, spectral signatures of digitally collected aerial photography will be explored as a proxy for vegetation vigor. The model will combine these offsite and onsite factors to predict wetland health, and we will compare those results with the HGM assessments already completed throughout the project area under previous studies.