NPS: Nature&Science»Networks: San Francisco Bay Area Network»Monitoring

Landscape Dynamics

Key reasons for monitoring regional landscape & land use change are:

The rapid development of neighboring lands
The fragmentation of wildlife habitat
The need to detect life-form change within parks
To provide early warning of large-scale community shifts.

Reports & Resources

Landscape monitoring will begin in FY08.

Contact Information

Marcus Koenen
I&M Coordinator
415-331-5734

Link to Intranet Page (NPS only)

Monitoring Objectives

Determine status and trends in the aerial extent and configuration of land-cover types (Anderson Level II) on park lands in order to evaluate large scale changes affecting park resources.

Determine status and trends of key landscape metrics (e.g. proportion of area in different cover types, number and density of patches, mean patch size) of park lands and a ½ mile buffer in order to determine land use patterns in the parks.

Monitoring Protocol

Monitoring landscape dynamics would use two basic approaches. The first approach would focus on using a retrospective analysis in order to evaluate historic changes of landscape patterns and conditions. The second would focus on current through future conditions by obtaining current satellite imagery. Minimum resolution of imagery used would be comparable to Landsat or IKONOS.
Available information concerning landuse/landscape change work already being conducted in the Bay area would be gathered prior to initiating any new work. All historic interpretation would be conducted as funding became available. Analysis of wetlands would include change in type, structure, and extent.
Frequency: Every 10 years analysis would be conducted for all network parks
Timing: Seasonality of images would be selected to maximize identification of major community types.

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