Date of Award
2015
Document Type
Master's report
Degree Name
Master of Science in Applied Ecology (MS)
College, School or Department Name
School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science
Advisor
Ann L. Maclean
Abstract
For landowners, knowing the contents of their land is always a primary concern. Traditional field based assessments can be challenging and expensive for large landholdings as well. However, by utilizing remote sensing and GIS models the land cover/land use and riparian areas can be more easily identified on a larger landscape level. To this end two remote sensing techniques were explored to create a land cover/land use map for the study area. The first, utilizing object-oriented techniques and high spatial resolution generated an overall accuracy of 71.97% which indicated a moderate agreement with the classified image and the field truthed ground data. The second method which utilized Landsat 5 TM multi-temporal imagery and more traditional classification techniques had an overall accuracy of 75.05%. Lastly a GIS model for finding the delineated border of riparian areas was run to determine the extent of riparian zones on the Ford Research Forest. The results of this indicated that utilizing a flood height of 1 meter and incorporating hydric soil and wetland data into the model generated the most conservative model results.
Recommended Citation
Dearing, Fay, "ASSESSMENT OF LAND COVER AND RIPARIAN ZONES FOR THE FORD RESEARCH FOREST - HICKEY CREEK/STURGEON RIVER AND FALLS RIVER SUBWATERSHEDS", Master's report, Michigan Technological University, 2015.