Landsat-based monitoring of landscape change in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park: 1985–2011
Copass C and Antonova N . 2019. Landsat-based monitoring of landscape change in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park: 1985–2011. Natural Resource Data Series. NPS/NCCN/NRDS—2019/1206. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
As part of Vital Signs Monitoring, the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) of the National Park Service (NPS) developed a protocol for monitoring landscape dynamics using Landsat satellite imagery. The protocol was implemented at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park (LEWI) in 2016 using LandTrendr (Landsat-based Detection of Trends in Disturbance and Recovery) algorithms developed by the Laboratory for Applications of Remote Sensing in Ecology (LARSE) at Oregon State University. We mapped ten categories of landscape change that occurred at LEWI and surrounding areas from 1985 to 2011: Agricultural Clearing, Clearing, Coastal, Development, Fire, Mass Movements, Progressive Defoliation, Riparian, Tree Toppling, and Windthrow Salvage. Agricultural Clearing captures an initial and permanent transition from vegetated to cleared for agricultural purposes. Clearings are areas under forest management where practices vary from thinning to clearcuts. The Development category captures changes associated with complete and persistent removal of vegetation and transformation to a built landscape. The Mass Movement category includes both landslides and debris flows. Progressive Defoliation is a change type in which the vegetation cover remains but vigor has declined due to inundation, insect infestation, disease or drought. Change due to Tree Toppling is evidenced by fallen, broken or topped trees, generally due to wind but sometimes to root rot. Only changes larger than 0.8 ha (2 ac) and for which the duration of the period of landscape change was less than 4 years were mapped. The LEWI study area is 70,587 ha (174,428 ac), of which 2% (1,436 ha, 3,548 ac) is within the park legislative boundary. Approximately 23,365 ha (57,736 ac) (33 %) of the study area underwent detectable change at some point during the 26 year period of analysis. The annual average area affected by landscape change within the study area was about 857 ha (2,118 ac). Within the park boundary, the annual average area undergoing change was about 7 ha (17 ac). Clearing was the major change type within the study area over the last 26 years, followed by Windthrow Salvage, Tree Toppling and Development. Inside LEWI, Tree Toppling was the most significant agent of landscape change, affecting 161 ha (398 ac) representing 75% of the total change detected. The inter-annual variability in the total area experiencing landscape change was considerable. 2008 was a peak year due to “The Great Coastal Gale” which occurred the previous winter and impacted a total of 4,413 ha (10,905 ac) of change directly through Tree Toppling and indirectly through subsequent Windthrow Salvage in managed forests.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Copass, Catharine; Antonova, Natasha
- Date of Issue
- 2019-02
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- LEWI , NRSS
- Keywords
- Agricultural Clearing, clearing, Coastal, Development, Laboratory for Applications of Remote Sensing in Ecology, Landsat, Landsat-based Detection of Trends in Disturbance and Recovery, Landscape, landscape change monitoring, LandTrendr, LARSE, Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, mass movement, Monitoring, North Coast and Cascades Network, progressive defoliation, randomForest, Remote Sensing, Riparian, tree toppling, Wetland Restoration, Windthrow Salvage
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Landscapes | Landscape Dynamics | Land Cover and Use