Ground-Truthing the Habitat Inventory for the Fraser River: Status Report and Lessons Learned March 2007 Fraser River Estuary Management Program.

Ground-Truthing the Habitat Inventory for the Fraser River:

Status Report and Lessons Learned

March 2007

Fraser River

Estuary

Management

Program

Presentation Outline FREMP Background Habitat and Planning Tools Groundtruthing Project 2006

Methodology Findings Database development & products Lessons Learned Next Steps

FREMP Background

Intergovernmental partnership program to coordinate the environmental management of the Fraser River estuary

Partners are federal, provincial and regional governments and port authorities; work with local govts

Established in 1985

FREMP Area=

Wetted side of dike, 540km of shoreline

FREMP Vision:

A sustainable Fraser River estuary characterized by a

healthy ecosystem, economic development opportunities

and continued quality of life in and around the estuary.

Two Main Roles:

1. Policy Coordination• Estuary Management Plan, 2003• Habitat & Planning Tools• Water and Land Use Committee

2. Coordinated Project Review• One-window environmental review of

physical works in riparian area• FREMP Environmental Review Committee

Habitat & Planning Tools

FREMP Habitat InventoryHabitat features of estuary (intertidal and riparian habitat)

FREMP Habitat ClassificationsMeasure of shoreline habitat productivity (red, yellow and green “colour codes”)

Area DesignationsAgreements with local govts to link habitat classifications with upland planning

2003 Habitat Inventory Update of 1988 inventory Developed from photo interpretation

using aerial photos Limited groundtruthing was possible 10,000+ polygons mapped in FREMP area Ecological Features and Functions

Approach used

2003 Habitat Inventory First Order Habitat (riparian and intertidal) Second Order Habitat (intertidal marsh,

sandflat, mudflat, riparian trees, riparian grasses and shrubs)

Community Dominant species Other information (e.g. bank type)

Groundtruthing Project 2006

BC Conservation Corps provided grant for two-person groundtruthing crew May-Oct 06

Project objectives were to: Verify accuracy of the 2003 inventory Apply a more refined inventory framework Gather additional field data, including observations of birds and

invasive species

Methods

Developed data dictionary for use in field, based on refined inventory

Identified technical needs/options Identified basic procedures Basic plant i.d. Undertook training

Data Collection ProceduresAccess polygon on foot, or by vehicle, boat

I

ID polygon on Archer/ paper maps & observe vegetation

I

Polygon Check Point: polygon is True, False or Change(and % vegetation cover noted where appropriate)

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Add Community Point to describe community and dominant speciesI

Add supplemental information if necessary:Birds, Invasive Species, Wildlife, Wildlife Trees

Highlighted areas were groundtruthed in 2006

Database Development Inputs:

2003 Habitat Inventory polygons Refined habitat inventory 2006 field survey data – points and lines

Field crew identified 2003 polygons as “True”, “Change” or “False”

Examples of “Change” included: Vegetation of previously unvegetated areas Natural growth or succession (most common

reason) Cleared, developed or under construction

Database Development Step 1: Modify 2003 Habitat Inventory

Apply updated classification Drop some attributes

Step 2: Process 2006 Field Survey Data Check for ambiguities and errors Convert to scientific species names Modify 2003 polygon boundaries Determine which data will be used for direct

updates to polygons Overlay with 2003 polygons to establish link

Database Development Step 3: Merge 2003 and 2006 Data

2003 data overwritten or appended, depending on whether polygon was True, Change or False

Some True and all Change polygons were updated False polygons were revised using new information up

to level of dominant species

Remaining polygons classified as “Unverified” Result characterized as a “2006 Habitat

Inventory”, not as an update

Findings 26.2 % of 2003 habitat inventory was

groundtruthed (2776 polygons total; 728 on dry side of dike and 2048 on wetted side of dike)

Polygon boundaries generally correct 92.3% of polygons were correctly

classified up to community level67.6% were “True” polygons24.7% were “Change” polygons

Findings For polygons on wetted side of dike:

74.5% were classified as True (and in some cases, were updated)

17.0% were classified as Change and were updated

8.4% were classified as False and were amended based on refined habitat inventory

Final Products

2006 FREMP Habitat Inventory Metadata based on a standardized

template GIS data layers: Habitat polygons plus

point observations of Birds, Wildlife and Wildlife Trees

Installed on in-house FREMP GIS and on FREMP Atlas

http://www.shim.bc.ca/FREMP/main.cfm

Lessons Learned Improve pre-field work preparation:

Test field equipment (Archer-GPS) Finalize data dictionary format Familiarize field crew with original

dataset, field equipment and software Ensure field crews skilled in flora and

fauna identification (botanist) Field crew familiarity with land uses

before commencing groundtruthing

Lessons Learned In the field:

Observe polygons at low tide and consider boat access to some areas

Consider seasonal variability and blooming times

Ensure regular team feedback/check in Higher quality GPS (such as Trimble)

could provide more accurate spatial data and allow mapping of new polygons in field

Lessons Learned

Database development Database and GIS expertise critical Take the time to “clean up” field data Emphasize importance of database

integrity (typos, domains) Partner involvement key to success Allocate adequate time for project

Next Steps BCCC project in

summer 2007 Remap/map areas Promote dataset

as mgmt tool Invasive species

observations and management

www.bieapfremp.org

Fraser River

Estuary

Management

Program