Monitoring Regional Riparian Forest Cover Change Using Stratified Sampling and Multiresolution Imagery†

  1. Peter R. Claggett1,
  2. Judy A. Okay2,
  3. Stephen V. Stehman3

Article first published online: 15 MAR 2010

DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00424.x

Issue

JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association

JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association

Volume 46, Issue 2, pages 334–343, April 2010

Additional Information

How to Cite

Claggett, P. R., Okay, J. A. and Stehman, S. V. (2010), Monitoring Regional Riparian Forest Cover Change Using Stratified Sampling and Multiresolution Imagery. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 46: 334–343. doi: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00424.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    Respectively, Research Geographer, U.S. Geological Survey, 410 Severn Avenue, Suite 109, Annapolis, Maryland 21403

  2. 2

    Riparian Specialist, Chesapeake Bay Program, 410 Severn Avenue, Suite 109, Annapolis, Maryland 21403

  3. 3

    Professor, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, 320 Bray Hall, Syracuse, New York 13210.

*(E-Mail/Claggett: pclaggett@usgs.gov)

  • †

    Paper No. JAWRA-09-0046-P of the Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA). Discussions are open until six months from print publication.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 31 MAR 2010
  2. Article first published online: 15 MAR 2010
  3. Received March 2, 2009; accepted December 23, 2009.

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Keywords:

  • riparian forest buffer;
  • Chesapeake Bay;
  • land use change;
  • probability sampling

Claggett, Peter R., Judy A. Okay, and Stephen V. Stehman, 2010. Monitoring Regional Riparian Forest Cover Change Using Stratified Sampling and Multiresolution Imagery. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 46(2):334-343. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00424.x

Abstract:  The Chesapeake Bay watershed encompasses 165,760 km2 of land area with 464,098 km of rivers and streams. As part of the Chesapeake Bay restoration effort, state and federal partners have committed to restoring 26,000 miles (41,843 km) of riparian forest buffers. Monitoring trends in riparian forest buffers over large areas is necessary to evaluate the efficacy of these restoration efforts. A sampling approach for estimating change in riparian forest cover from 1993/1994 to 2005 was developed and implemented in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, to exemplify a method that could be applied throughout the Bay watershed. All stream reaches in the county were stratified using forest cover change derived from Landsat imagery. A stratified random sample of 219 reaches was selected and forest cover change within the riparian buffer of each sampled reach was interpreted from high-resolution aerial photography. The estimated footprint of gross change in riparian forest cover (i.e., the sum of gross gain and gross loss) for the county was 1.83% (SE = 0.22%). Stratified sampling taking advantage of a priori knowledge of locations of change proved to be a practical and efficient protocol for estimating riparian forest buffer change at the county scale and the protocol would readily extend to much broader scale monitoring.

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