Department of Agriculture, restoration project supported by the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program (CFLRP). The objective of the 4FRI is to restore fire-adapted conditions on 2.4 million acres of ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) spanning four National Forests. Robust monitoring techniques are needed to assess the impacts of landscape-scale management and progress toward desired conditions, and to facilitate adaptive management. Remotely sensed information was identified as a major source of pre- and post-treatment data useful for evaluating changes in horizontal forest structure (or landscape pattern) at multiple spatial and temporal scales. With sponsorship from the Remote Sensing Steering Committee, the Remote Sensing Applications Center developed and tested a workflow and methods for assessing and monitoring landscape pattern using high-resolution imagery. The workflow and methods, which are applicable to other forests, consist of 1) creating a tree/nontree patch map of the analysis area from high-resolution imagery, 2) dividing the patch map into sublandscapes and computing landscape pattern indices (LPIs) for each one, 3) assessing the accuracy of the LPIs and calibrating them, and 4) summarizing and analyzing the LPIs at multiple scales to track change through time. In addition to describing the workflow and methods, this report also provides a comprehensive discussion of special considerations for implementing a landscape pattern monitoring program for other large geographic areas.

This book provides the practical basis for the use of remote sensing to accomplish landscape ecological projects, through the merging of theory and practice, with examples. This is a specialized application and both these topics have evolved rapidly in the past decade. This evolution is not in the previous edition, and indeed this update provides much new information and valuable ideas for the professional and assist in directing the training of new personnel. The new edition will feature a combination of landscape ecology metrics, quantitative field measurements, and geospatial analyses.

These protocols describe the application of remote sensing imagery for monitoring spatially explicit ecological indicators (vital signs) of landscape pattern that have been identified for the National Capital Region Network (NCRN). The protocols employ land-cover data from multiple remote sensing platforms, including aerial photography, IKONOS satellite imagery, SPOT Imagery, and Landsat ETM+ imagery. The multi-scale approach facilitates the acquisition of fine-scale data suitable for detailed analyses of small areas (1-m resolution or smaller) and coarser data (e.g., up to 15 and 30m resolution) for repeat characterization of larger areas. For most applications, the coarser scale data are adequate for characterizing landscape pattern, although ultimately data from multiple sensors may be appropriate or necessary based on different objectives of landscape monitoring (e.g., mapping single trees vs. forest stands) and the scale at which a resource of interest interacts with the larger landscape (e.g., birds vs. herptiles). Eight Standard Operating Procedures are provided that document methods for the acquisition (SOP 1) and pre-processing of satellite imagery (SOP 2), the development of land cover maps from remotely sensed data (SOP 3), the processing of those maps in preparation for analyses of landscape patterns (SOP 4), calculation of landscape pattern metrics (SOP 5), graph analysis of landscape connectivity (SOP 6), stream buffer delineation (SOP 7), and image-to-image or mapto- map change detection (SOP 8). SOPs have been tested for 4 parks in the NCRN, Antietam National Battlefield (ANTI), Rock Creek Park (ROCR), Prince William Park (PRWI) and Catoctin Mountain Park (CATO) and the results of these analyses are Townsend et al (2009).

This book describes an integrated approach to using remotely sensed data in conjunction with geographic information systems for landscape analysis. Remotely sensed data are compressed into an analytical image-map that is compatible with the most popular geographic information systems as well as freeware viewers. The approach is most effective for landscapes that exhibit a pronounced mosaic pattern of land cover.

This book provides the practical basis for the use of remote sensing to accomplish landscape ecological projects, through the merging of theory and practice, with examples. This is a specialized application and both these topics have evolved rapidly in the past decade. This evolution is not in the previous edition, and indeed this update provides much new information and valuable ideas for the professional and assist in directing the training of new personnel. The new edition will feature a combination of landscape ecology metrics, quantitative field measurements, and geospatial analyses.

Landscape ecology is a rapidly growing science of quantifying the ways in which ecosystems interact - of establishing a link between activities in one region and repercussions in another region. Remote sensing is a fast, inexpensive tool for conducting the landscape inventories that are essential to this branch of science. However, anyone who has conducted studies in the field has already found that traditional landscape ecology metrics are not always reliable with remote images. Landscape Ecology: New Metric Indicators for Monitoring, Modeling, and Assessment of Ecosystems with Remote Sensing presents a new set of metrics that allows remotely sensed data to be used effectively in landscape ecology. This groundbreaking new work is the first to present new metrics for remote sensing of landscapes and demonstrate how they can be used to yield more accurate analyses for GIS studies. The new metrics expand the capabilities of GIS, reduce interference and incorrect readings, help ecologists better understand ecosystem relationships, and reduce study costs. This set of metrics should be adopted by the EPA and will be the standard measure for future landscape analysis. This authoritative guide assesses the current state of the field and how remote sensing and landscape metrics have been used to date. It also explains how some of the traditional metrics were developed and how they can fail in landscape studies. Once this background has been established, the new metrics are introduced and their benefits and uses explained. The information in this book has previously been available only in scattered journal articles; this is the first single source for complete background information and instructions on using the new metrics.