Transcript Ground-Truthing the Habitat Inventory for the Fraser River Estuary

Fraser River
Estuary
Management
Program
Ground-Truthing the Habitat
Inventory for the Fraser River:
Status Report and Lessons Learned
March 2007
Presentation Outline
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FREMP Background
Habitat and Planning Tools
Groundtruthing Project 2006
Methodology
 Findings
 Database development & products
 Lessons Learned
 Next Steps
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FREMP Background
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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
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Estuary Management Plan, 2003
Habitat & Planning Tools
Water and Land Use Committee
2. Coordinated Project Review
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One-window environmental review of
physical works in riparian area
FREMP Environmental Review Committee
Habitat & Planning Tools
FREMP Habitat Inventory
Habitat features of estuary (intertidal and
riparian habitat)
FREMP Habitat Classifications
Measure of shoreline habitat productivity
(red, yellow and green “colour codes”)
Area Designations
Agreements with local govts to link habitat
classifications with upland planning
2003 Habitat Inventory
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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
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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
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BC Conservation Corps provided grant for
two-person groundtruthing crew May-Oct 06
Project objectives were to:
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Verify accuracy of the 2003 inventory
Apply a more refined inventory framework
Gather additional field data, including observations of
birds and invasive species
Methods
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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 Procedures
Access polygon on foot, or by vehicle, boat
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ID polygon on Archer/ paper maps & observe vegetation
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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 species
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Add supplemental information if necessary:
Birds, Invasive Species, Wildlife, Wildlife Trees
 Highlighted areas were groundtruthed in 2006
Database Development
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Inputs:
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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:
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Vegetation of previously unvegetated areas
Natural growth or succession (most common
reason)
Cleared, developed or under construction
Database Development
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Step 1: Modify 2003 Habitat Inventory
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Apply updated classification
Drop some attributes
Step 2: Process 2006 Field Survey Data
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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
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Step 3: Merge 2003 and 2006 Data
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2003 data overwritten or appended, depending on
whether polygon was True, Change or False
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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
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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 level
 67.6%
were “True” polygons
 24.7% were “Change” polygons
Findings
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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
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Final Products
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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
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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
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Lessons Learned
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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
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Database development
Database and GIS expertise critical
 Take the time to “clean up” field data
 Emphasize importance of database
integrity (typos, domains)
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Partner involvement key to success
Allocate adequate time for project
Next Steps
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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