The Ecology Program: Overview Mapping, description, assessment and analysis of wetlands and riparian areas Statewide and ecosystem- specific land cover mapping and modeling Description, assessment and analysis of upland plant communities and ecological systems
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The Ecology Program: Overview
Mapping, description, assessment and analysis of wetlands and riparian areas
Statewide and ecosystem-specific land cover mapping and modeling
Description, assessment and analysis of upland plant communities and ecological systems
Wetlands and wetland mapping
2,370 USGS 24K quads mapped;
3,192,485 total acres mapped;
2,523,183 wetland acres;
669,301 riparian acres.
LAND COVER/ LAND USE 2016 LAND COVER/ LAND USE 2016
Whitebark pine mapping
Partnership with USFS Region 1Goal is to map extent whitebark pine, emphasizing regeneration and persistencePresence-absence complete for Beaverhead-Deerlodge, Helena, Lewis and Clark, Gallatin-Custer NFs, Lolo and Bitterroot, and in progress for Kootenai and IP. Relative Abundance completed for several of the forests
Assessment and analysis: NWCA 2016
EPA-sponsored project to assess nation’s wetlands every 5 years
Revised from 2011 to include more western sites
24 sites in Montana
Opportunity to expand plant distribution records and revise field guide
Assessment and analysis: LLWW descriptors
Set of descriptors developed by Ralph Tiner with USFWS for the eastern U.S.
Based on geomorphic setting, water source, and hydrodynamics
Links wetland type with wetland function (biotic/abiotic)
Predict potential wetland function
Missouri River
Milk River
Yellowstone River
Powder
Riv
er
Musse lshell River
Marias River
Bighor
nR
iver
Madison
River
JudithRive
r
Smith R
iver
Blackfoot River
Clark Fork River
Ruby R
iver
Sw
an River
Big Hole River Jefferson River
South ForkFlathead
River
Montana State Library
0 150 30075
Kilometers
Text
% of wetlands by disturbance category
Assessment and analysis: Wetlands of
Special Significance Unit of analysis has
been the individual polygons
In real life, wetlands are often aggregations of polygons
We have begun using wetland mosaics or large, single-type wetlands as our units of interest in analysis
Wetlands of special significance
Red = WSS 1 Orange= WSS 2 Grey= WSS 3
WSS1 WSS2 WSS3
Mosaics N 1,050 3,351 7,425
Area (ha) 40,680 99,441 313,099
Non mosaics N 1,622 2,772 6,372
Area (ha) 7,840 12,765 178,384
Total area (ha) 48,520 112,206 491,483
Communities and ecological systems
The National Vegetation Classification standard is complete down to the group level, and we have crosswalked it to ecological systems for Montana.
The Montana Field Guide for Ecological Systems is currently being updated to include newly named alliances and associations, and the crosswalk with the NVC Standard
A full revision of forested ecological systems has been completed, with particular attention to disturbances and ecological dynamics, and will be online by the end of the year. Other systems will follow during the winter.
Current and ongoing core work/projects
BSLRPAssigning wetland mosaics and large wetlands to ecological systems to improve predictive modelling for wetland-dependent speciesIdentification of fire-affected wetlands to document change over timeSelection of “sentinel wetlands” that we expect will be susceptible to climate change impactsIndex of Alien InvasibilitySimplified FQAIsAutomated extraction of riparian areas from aerial imagery in places with only outdated NWI mappingChange detection to identify areas where new mapping may need revisionConsolidation of our assessment databases so that assessment data can be accessed through MapViewer
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