FIA AND REMOTE SENSING FOR LAND USE CHANGE John Coulston, Greg Reams 2015 FIA National User’s Group Meeting, San Antonio, TX April 1-2.

FIA AND REMOTE SENSING FOR LAND USE CHANGEJohn Coulston, Greg Reams

2015 FIA National User’s Group Meeting,

San Antonio, TX April 1-2

Rationale

•Farm Bill provision to ‘understand and report on changes in land cover and use’

•NASF recommendation to ‘Use of remote imagery to track harvest intensity, land-use change, and land cover change’

FIA Corporate Cover Products• 2011 National Land Cover Database Percent Tree

Canopy Cover (30m) complete and available at mrlc.gov• Canopy cover models based on % tree canopy cover photo

interpretation of FIA plot locations on ‘all’ lands

• 2016 % Tree Canopy Cover Product and 2011-2016 change product.• Research underway for delivery circa 2018.

• FIA partners (Remote Sensing Application Center, VA Tech, USGS)

• Funded by FS R&D, ST&PF, NFS

Land Use vs. Land Cover

• Land use is a function of the social and economic purposes for which land is managed.

• Land cover is a function of the biological and human-made cover classifications observed on the land.

• Land cover does not always equal land use.• This confounds the change issue particularly for forests

Forest Use and Forest Cover: definitions and drivers of change

• FIA Example forest land use definition: Land spanning more than 0.5 ha with trees higher than 5 m and a canopy cover of more than 10%, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. It does not include land that is predominately under agricultural or urban land use.

• NLCD Example forest land cover definition: Areas dominated by trees generally greater than 5 meters tall, and greater than 20 percent of total vegetation cover

Drivers of change• Conversion to developed• Natural conversion from

agriculture to forest• Tree planting• Harvesting• Severe fire and insect outbreaks• Some thinning operations

ForestUse

ForestCover

Forest Use & Cover

Quiz: Forest or not?

Remote Sensing Land Use Change: Aren’t a lot of people doing this?• Many organizations ‘say’ they do land use change but…• Efforts are often a mixture of land use and land cover.• Some efforts are intentionally misleading (e.g. gross

forest cover loss)• With the exception of FIA and NRI all other broad scale

efforts treat forest as a cover (rather than a use)• However, NRI land use change data do not cover all

lands and have not been available at either the State or County-level since the 1997 survey.

Needs

• We need to expand our thinking beyond just how much forest land we have.

• We need to understand the flows of land uses into and out of forest as well as flows among other uses.

• We need to understand the ‘ecosystem service’ impacts of these land use flows.

• We need to understand the management impacts of the changing land base

For example: Greenhouse Gas Inventories

• Background:• Accounting framework

• Tracks carbon emission and reductions by sector, source, and activity• Purpose

• Policy makers use inventories to • establish a baseline for tracking emission trends, • develop mitigation strategies and policies, • assess progress.

• Land use, land use change, and forestry (LULUCF) is a sector that covers emissions and removals of greenhouse gases resulting from direct human-induced land use, land-use change and forestry activities.

• Unambiguously separating land use change effects from forest management effects is key to informing both forestry and land use policies.

A Southern Example

Coterminous United States• Over the past 10 years

we seen a reduced amount of land transitioning into forest land use.

• This substantially impacts land use carbon transfers into forests.

• We need work with our partners at EPA and CEQ to ensure a complete accounting of land uses and associated carbon stocks.

Harvest Reduction

ReducedAfforestation

Remote Sensing for land use change• Previous (circa 2011) initiatives of the FIA program called for a classification of each FIA plot (forest and non-forest).

• The classification includes a determination of • Land use• Land cover• Percent tree canopy cover.

• These classifications are performed using either field observation or photo interpretation of high resolution imagery based on the rotating panel design and schedule.

But Wait --- FIA plots are only in forest?

• A common misconception• FIA is a longitudinal study over space and time across all

land uses and covers.• Plot locations are permanent.

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Remote Sensing for land use change

• Current efforts implement the land use, land cover, and agent of change information using photo interpretation of National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery (1m).

• The land use, land cover, and change classification would be done for all FIA plots (forest and non-forest) on the NAIP schedule (~ every 3 years).

• Image Change Estimation (ICE)

Why Use Photo Interpretation• The classification of use requires an interpretation of

intent. • This is best done on the ground (but most expensive too)• High resolution imagery can provide an alternative but QA

on photo work will be important• Manual interpretation of high resolution imagery is a

common way to develop response variable for remote sensing products.

• Because we have tied this PI work to the original sample data arising from this work can be used for ‘estimation’ or for subsequent geospatial product development.

Image Change Pilot Efforts

Land Use ClassificationLand Use Classification SystemGeneral Classification

Intermediate Classification

Detailed Classification

100 Natural/Semi-Natural (MMU)

110 Forest (MMU)

111 Natural Forest (MMU)112 Artificial Forest (MMU)

120 Other Natural/Semi-Natural (MMU)

121 Wetland/Riparian (MMU)

122 Nonforest-Chaparral (MMU)

200 Water (MMU)

210 Noncensus Water (MMU)

211 Noncensus Stream/River (MMU)

212 Noncensus Lake (MMU)

213 Noncensus Canal (MMU)

214 Noncensus Reservoir (MMU)

215 Noncensus Coastal Water (MMU)

220 Census Water (MMU)

221 Census Stream/River (MMU)

222 Census Lake (MMU)223 Census Canal (MMU)224 Census Reservoir

(MMU)

225 Census Coastal Water (MMU)

300 Agricultural (some MMU)

310 Farmland (MMU)

311 Cropland (MMU)312 Pasture (MMU)313 Idle Farmland (MMU)

320 Agricultural Trees (some MMU)

321 Orchards, Groves, Nurseries (MMU)

322 Christmas Tree Plantation (MMU)

323 Windbreak/Shelterbelt

330 Other Agricultural (some MMU)

331 Maintained Wildlife Opening (MMU)

332 Vineyard (MMU)333 Confined Feeding

Operations (MMU)

400 Developed 410 Cultural 411 Residential412 Commercial and

Services413 Industrial414 Mixed Urban/Built-up

land420 Right-of-

Way421 Road422 Railway423 Utility/Communication

Lines and Areas424 Maintained Canal425 Airport Facility

430 Recreation

431 Park432 Ski Area433 Golf Course434 Athletic Fields and

Tracks435 Camp Ground

440 Strip Mines, Quarries, and Gravel Pits500 Rangeland (MMU)900 Other 910 Nonvegetated (MMU)

920 Beach (MMU)999 Uninterpretable

Agent of Change Classification System

0 No Change

11 Development

21Harvest (Forested: >10% canopy cover visible on T2)

22Harvest (Forested: <10% canopy cover visible on T2)

31Natural Regeneration of Vegetation

32Artificial Regeneration of Vegetation

33Removal or Loss of Vegetation

34Stress or Mortality - Insect/Disease/Drought

35Channing

41Fire

42Erosion

43Landslide

44Avalanche

45Weather Event

46Animal Damage

91Crop Rotation

92Leaf on vs. Leaf off imagery

93Seasonal Snow Cover

94Seasonal High Water

Photo Interpretation

Time 1 Time 2

• Land use and land cover are classified at time 1 and time 2 (5dots)• If change observed land use, land cover, and change agent classified (45 dots)

Georgia Example

Agent of Change (% of total)

Getting it done

• Funding vehicle –• Remote Sensing Application Center (RSAC) is a key Forest Service Partner

• In the South the States are key partners• Texas pilot being done by Texas A&M Forest Service in coordination with FIA and RSAC.

• Other regions may choose to do work ‘in house’ or contract with RSAC.

Still work to be done• Initiate field protocols to ensure adequate QA information

available for photo work.• Some estimation work – there is a need to incorporate

both the field observed information with the photo information in the estimation phase

• Funding – securing of additional funds to move effort to production

• Additional Research• Using Image Change data as bases for land use projections (RPA)• Working with EPA to have a more consistent view of land use and

land use change for carbon reporting• Modeling of land use dynamics impact on timber availability and

harvest probability

Questions?