A screening procedure for prioritizing riparian management.
A spatially explicit linear, additive model was developed for quantifying site characteristics of riparian areas of the lower Cedar River, Washington, USA. The spatial complexity and distribution of combined habitat and anthropogenic landscape features were used to define habitat "indices" that indicate the relative quality of riparian habitats. Patches of contiguous grid cells were measured in terms of their locations, sizes, and relative degree of fragmentation. Additionally, intrapatch heterogeneity was measured to identify unique combinations of habitat and anthropogenic factors for individual grid cells within patches. Model verification indicated that existing floodplain riparian habitats received positive indices more than 90% of the time. Mean patch sizes and fragmentation indices were similar for all positive indices throughout the reaches in the valley floor. Among all reaches, reach 7 had the highest number of positive patches due to a higher degree of meandering in this reach. This procedure and model outputs provide unique screening opportunities for prioritizing management of riparian areas (e.g., conservation, restoration and enhancement).
Timm
Raymond K
RK
Univeristy of Washington-Fishery Sciences Building, Box 355020 Seattle, Washington 98195-5020, USA. ratimm@ug.washington.edu
Wissmar
Robert C
RC
Small
John W
JW
Leschine
Thomas M
TM
Lucchetti
Gino
G
D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D004777:Environment; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D045483:Rivers; D014197:Trees / Q000145:classification*; D014861:Washington; D014881:Water Supply