Idaho’s landscape-scale wetland condition assessment tool—methods and applications in conservation and restoration planning

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Abstract:

Landscape-scale land uses and stressors from human activities affect the integrity of ecosystems. The intensity of development and proportion of human land use interact to determine wetland condition at finer spatial scales. Based on this premise, Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG) received a Wetland Program Development Grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency to use GIS to build a statewide raster-based landscape integrity model to predict wetland condition. Existing spatial layers of stressors known to directly and indirectly affect wetland condition were used, including land use (e.g., urban, agriculture, forestry, etc.), development (e.g., roads, railroads, utilities, mining, industrial sites, dairies, recreation sites, etc.), and hydrologic alteration (e.g., density of canals, wells, reservoirs, etc.). We also created a map showing the potential distribution of wetland and riparian habitats in Idaho. This raster layer was built by compiling all existing wetland, riparian, and hydrographic maps (e.g., land cover, National Wetlands Inventory, National Hydrographic Dataset, etc.). This layer was combined with the landscape integrity model to create a landscape-scale wetland assessment tool for Idaho. Site level field-generated rapid assessments of wetland condition were used to test accuracy of landscape-scale assessment results. The wetland assessment tool correctly predicted condition of field assessed wetlands 63% of the time. The tool’s real-world application was demonstrated in 5 case studies of wetland conservation and restoration planning with governmental and nongovernmental partners.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Ecology

Note that page numbers are really 53 and there is only one appendix. (Notified C Murphy 6/16/16.) (Later replaced first doc with Murphy's tweaked copy.)

SWAP (2/19/2016) citation (revised):
Murphy C, Miller J, Schmidt A. 2012. Idaho’s landscape-scale wetland condition assessment tool—methods and applications in conservation and restoration planning. Boise (ID): Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Wildlife Bureau and Information Systems Bureau. 53 p. Report prepared for US Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10. Wetland Program Development Grant No.: CD–96072201-0

File(s): 

U12MUR04IDUS.pdf