Prairie Monitoring Protocol Development: North Coast and Cascades Network
McCoy A and Dalby C. 2009. Prairie Monitoring Protocol Development: North Coast and Cascades Network. USGS Open-File Report 2008-1168. United States Geological Survey. Reston, VA
The purpose of the project was to conduct research to guide development of a standard approach for monitoring several components of prairies within the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) parks. Prairies are an important element of the natural environment at many parks, including San Juan Island National Historical Park (SAJH) and Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve (EBLA). Forests have been encroaching on these prairies for many years, and so monitoring of the prairies is an important resource issue. This project specifically focused on SAJH. Although prairies at EBLA may be monitored in the future, this park was not mapped as part of this prototype project. In the interest of efficiency, the NCCN decided to investigate two main issues before launching a full protocol development effort: (1) the imagery requirements for monitoring prairie components, and (2) the effectiveness of software to assist in extracting features from the imagery. Several components of prairie monitoring were initially identified as being easily tracked using aerial imagery. These components included prairie/forest edge, broad prairie composition (for example, shrubs, scattered trees), and internal exclusions (for example, shrubs, bare ground). In addition, we believed that it could be possible to distinguish different grasses in the prairies if the imagery resolution was high enough. Although the areas in question at SAJH are small enough that mapping on the ground with GPS (Global Positioning System) would be feasible, other applications could benefit from aerial image acquisition on a regular, recurring basis and thereby make the investment in aerial imagery worthwhile. The additional expense of orthorectifying the imagery also was determined to be cost-effective.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- McCoy, Allen; Dalby, Craig
- Date of Issue
- 2009
- Publisher
- United States Geological Survey
- Units
- SAJH
- Keywords
- aerial imagery, American Camp, ArcGIS, bare earth, buildings, encroachment, English Camp, Feature Analyst, forest, land cover, natural color imagery, NCCN, North Coast and Cascades Network, prairie, prairie monitoring, roads, San Juan Island National Historical Park, shrubs, trees, water
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Grassland/Herbaceous Communities , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Forest/Woodland Communities , Ecological Framework: Landscapes | Landscape Dynamics | Land Cover and Use