Progress 04/01/06 to 12/31/09
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Task 1: Develop environmental quality data sets to use in NRCS program assessment derived through remote sensing & GIS In early years of the project we compiled a list of products to be developed under Task1. The outputs and products for the planned research activities listed in the year 2 report are as follows (*in preparation): * Soil erosion: Preliminary work to improve the STEPL model were not complete. o This sub-task resulted in no product. * Tillage Practice: o 1 internal report o 1 presentation o Submission of research proposal to USDA-AFRI to continue development of methods to remotely sense crop residue * Crop rotation history: o 2 presentations o Michigan-wide maps of crop rotation index * Lake clarity: o 1 presentation o 1 internal report o Michigan-wide map of lake clarity for c.1985 * Riparian buffers: o 2 presentations o 1 journal manuscript* o Map of effective buffers for 1 watershed (demonstration) * Land Habitat (fragmentation): o 2 presentations * Land Habitat (land change): o 1 presentation * Land cover impacts on water quality: (This is an additional activity completed under task demonstrates use of GIS and remote sensing for agricultural applications) o 2 presentations o 1 journal manuscript* Task 2: Describe/control for land cover/use influences in assessing NRCS program effectiveness This task was designed to demonstrate methods of controlling for land conditions within the context of an EQI-like program effectiveness assessment. The outputs are: o 2 presentations o 1 journal manuscript Task 3: Support planning and execution of Climate Change Research Program Workshop on Land Use and the Carbon Cycle This task was amended to the main project in late 2008 in order to help support the CCSP "Workshop on Land Use/Land Cover Change and the Carbon Cycle", June 8-9, 2009. Meeting outputs include: * Initial outcomes overview to the US Global Change Research Program Working Groups on Land cover/land Use, Carbon Cycling, and Ecosystems. * Workshop report on workshop activities and outcomes * Publication of a book with the theme of Land Use and the Carbon Cycle. PARTICIPANTS: Michigan Tech Research Institute -Nancy HF French, Principal Investigator, project manager -Richard Powell, remote sensing expert -Colin Brooks, GIS expert -Brian Thelen, statistical research expert on task 2 -Ben Koziol, research assistant -Traci Dajos, research assistant -Mike Billmier, research assistant (graduate student) University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Environment -Daniel Brown, Co-Investigator, project manager, task 2 -Karly Wentzloff, graduate student research assistant, task 2 -Hugh Stimson, graduate student research assistant, task 2 TARGET AUDIENCES: State NRCS and other USDA management agency personnel may be interested in some outcomes of this project PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
Task 1: Outcomes for each task: Soil erosion: Augmentation of the STEPL model for soil erosion with remote sensing-derived land cover was considered but not completed. Tillage Practice: The utility of current remote sensing systems and data analysis methods was explored and found to be less than optimal for management application; new methods of data exploitation are now under consideration. Crop rotation history: A two-step method of determining crop rotation using MODIS 250 meter resolution imagery was developed that provides a map of annual crop type and crop rotation index (level of crop rotation). Lake clarity: Lake clarity products derived form Landsat image hold great promise for use in assessing surface water quality over time. Refinement of the method to connect remote sensing to field measures was done under this project. Riparian buffers: A method has been developed to identify watershed catchments where riparian buffers may not be extensive enough for effective stream protection form agricultural runoff. The method was demonstrated within one watershed in Central Michigan but could feasibly be implemented at a statewide scale. Land Habitat (fragmentation): Fragmentation of natural habitats was investigated. Some progress was made in understanding how fragmentation metrics can be applied to assessing habitat quality. Land Habitat (land change): A review of the utility of C-CAP land cover data for assessing land cover change and developing environmental quality products was completed. Land cover impacts on water quality: Analysis of the impact of agricultural land cover type on stream water quality at a research site in southern lower Michigan. * This additional activity completed under task 1 demonstrates use of GIS and remote sensing for agricultural applications. Task 2: An analysis to control for land cover variability using clustering technique and multivariate analysis techniques was completed in an review of past NRCS practices compared with an EQI-based measure of water quality with limited success. Problems are attributed to poor data from past activities (NRCS implementations in the 1980's and 1990's) and limited environmental quality data. Promise is held for applying this methodology to new data sets in the future. Task 3: A successful workshop was held June 8-9, 2009 at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The purpose of the workshop was to bring together scientists in land use/land cover change science and carbon cycle science to share research results, identify uncertainties, caucus on approaches to reduce those uncertainties, and to foster collaboration in land use/land cover change and carbon studies across traditional disciplinary lines. The workshop was sponsored by the US Climate Change Science Program (CCSP), United States Geologic Survey (USGS), and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The workshop was organized by The University of Michigan and Michigan Tech Research Institute (MTRI). PI French served as co-host of the workshop with Co-I Brown. The workshop was well attended by over 60 participants. More information is available at http://ccsp-landuse-carbon.org/index.html.
Publications
- Billmire, M. G., B. W. Koziol, N.H.F. French, C.N. Brooks, R.B. Powell, T. Dajos. 2009. Trends in Michigan Land Cover Using C-CAP Land Cover Products: A Spatial and Temporal Analysis. Poster presentation. Soil & Water Conservation Society Annual Conference, Dearborn, MI. Billmire, M. G., C.N. Brooks, and N.H.F. French 2009. Remote Sensing of Crop Rotation in Michigan using Hybrid Classification Methods. Poster presentation. Soil & Water Conservation Society Annual Conference, Dearborn, MI. Brooks, C., R. Shuchman, N. French, T. A. Erickson, R. Powell, B. Koziol, V. Anderson, R. Shaffer. 2008. Integrating Geospatial Environmental Data to Assess the Impacts of NRCS Conservation Programs in Michigan. Oral Presentation. Soil & Water Conservation Society Annual Conference, Tucson, AZ. Brooks, C., Shuchman, R., Powell, R., Daining, C., Straub-Heidke, A., French, N., Liversedge, L., Schaub, D., Shaffer, R. 2007. Integrating geospatial algorithms for evaluating the effect of Michigans agricultural land use on water quality. Oral presentation. Water Conservation Society (SWCS) Conference, Tampa, FL. Brooks, C., R. Shuchman, C. Hatt, and T. Dajos. 2009. An Analysis of Three Years of In-Situ Water Quality Data Collected for the Upper Tiffin River, Michigan, and the Relationship to Land Use Data. Oral presentation. Soil & Water Conservation Society Annual Conference, Dearborn, MI. Brooks, C., C. Hatt, R. Shuchman, T. Dajos. Understanding the relationship between land use and water quality after storm events in a CEAP Special Emphasis Watershed An example for the Upper Tiffin River, Michigan. In prep. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. Koziol, B.W., N.H.F. French, C. Brooks, and M.C. Billmire. 2009. Multi-temporal Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) Land Cover Products for Assessment of Geospatial Wetland Distribution in Michigan. Oral presentation at Coastal Geotools, Myrtle Beach, SC. Koziol, B.W., M.C. Billmire, and N.H.F. French, in prep. Connectivity and Buffer Effectiveness Using Coarse- and Fine-Scale Land Cover: A Comparative Study in Michigan Watersheds. Journal of the Soil and Water Conservation Society. Powell, R.B., N.H. French, C. Brooks, M.G. Billimire, and V. Anderson. 2008. A multi-scale decision support system for the analysis of the effects of USDA NRCS conservation programs in Michigan. Eos Trans. AGU, 89(53), Fall Meeting Supplement, Abstract U41D-0031. Powell, R. B., NHF French, B. Thelen and T. Dajos. 2009. Assessment of Crop Residue Cover using Remote Sensing in the Tiffin River Watershed. Poster presentation. Soil & Water Conservation Society Annual Conference, Dearborn, MI.
- French, N.H.F., C. Brooks, B. Thelen, R. Shuchman, and K. Wickey. 2007. Development of an Environmental Quality Index (EQI) for State-level NRCS Program Evaluation. Poster presentation. Soil and Water Conservation Society (SWCS) Conference, Tampa, FL. French, N.H.F., B. Thelen, C. Brooks, R. Powell, D. Brown, K. Wentzloff, H. Stimson. 2009. Assessing NRCS program effectiveness using the Environmental Quality Index: Demonstration of todays approach and prospects for the future. Oral Presentation. Soil & Water Conservation Society Annual Conference, Dearborn, MI. French, N.H.F., D.G. Brown, B. Thelen, R.B. Powell, K. Wentzloff, H. Stimson, and R.A. Shuchman. in review. Index-based assessment of NRCS conservation program effectiveness: A framework, example, and way forward. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment.
- Brown, D.G., N.H.F. French, B.C. Reed, D.T. Robinson. 2009. Land Use/Land Cover Change and the Carbon Cycle. Report on workshop June 8-9, 2009, Ann Arbor, MI. Brown, D.G., N.H.F. French, B.C. Reed, D.T. Robinson, eds. In Preparation. Land Use and the Carbon Cycle. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK.
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Progress 04/01/07 to 03/31/08
Outputs
OUTPUTS: The work performed under this grant falls under two tasks: Task 1: Develop environmental quality data sets to use in NRCS program assessment derived through remote sensing & GIS We have compiled a list of products that will be provided through this grant for Task1. They are: - Soil erosion: Improve the EPA STEPL model outputs with C-CAP land cover & creating a GIS-based interface - Tillage practice: Develop tillage practice maps from RS - Crop rotation history: Develop crop rotation maps from MODIS - Lake clarity: Develop lake clarity maps from Landsat - Riparian buffers: Develop riparian buffer maps from C-CAP land cover product - Habitat area: Quantify habitat acres from C-CAP land cover product - Habitat improvement: Develop habitat change maps from C-CAP land cover product Preliminary products for this task are complete. We have been reported on these products via a final report generated for a related cooperative agreement and provided to the Michigan NRCS office. Final products will be provided to the Michigan NRCS as completed. Task 2: Describe/control for land cover/use influences in assessing NRCS program effectiveness A preliminary, demonstration result of a county clustering analysis was completed and reported to the Michigan NRCS via the cooperative agreement reports. The clustering allows for comparing counties that have similar land cover characteristics but differing levels of NRCS program effort. This framework was demonstrated and will be expanded and further demonstrated for the final report. A summary of progress and outputs was presented in a poster session at the NASA Carbon Cycle & Ecosystems Joint Science Workshop, College Park, MD April 28 - May2, 2008. (See: http://cce.nasa.gov/meeting_2008/). This summary will be available on the NASA LCLUC web site at: http://lcluc.umd.edu/Documents/results-USA.asp/ PARTICIPANTS: Michigan Tech Research Institute (formerly with Altarum) -Nancy HF French, Principal Investigator, project manager -Richard Powell, Remote Sensing expert -Colin Brooks, GIS expert -Ben Koziol, research assistant (graduate student) -Traci Dajos, research assistant -Erin Pettypiece (undergraduate student) -Mike Billmier, research intern (graduate student) -Rebecca Gajewski, research intern (graduate student) -Laura Thelen (high school student) University of Michigan, School of Natural Resources and Enviro. -Daniel Brown, Co-Investigator, project manager, task 2 -Hugh Stimson, research assistant (graduate student) Training/proferssional development opportunities included high school, undergraduate, and graduate student interns and research assistants as noted above. TARGET AUDIENCES: Not relevant to this project. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.
Impacts
Outcomes in the last reporting period includes: Task 1: Environmental measures - Preliminary versions of all measures listed complete. +Improved soil erosion model results from STEPL with improved land cover data +Maps of crop rotation across the crop regions of Lower Michigan using MODIS-derived crop type +Maps of lake clarity for all inland lakes in Michigan derived from Landsat images for 1985 complete +Riparian buffers mapped using 1978 MIRIS maps and 1995 C-CAP land cover +Mapped measures of land habitat and fragmentation using NOAA/C-CAP land cover data - Progress on developing a remote sensing-based map of crop residue has been made - Further progress on creating a set process to create products underway Task 2: Accounting for land cover: - Preliminary analysis to control for land cover variability complete using a clustering technique to identify counties with similar land cover characteristics - Additional variables will be considered via multivariate analysis techniques including: +Farming focus +Land cover change over time
Publications
- Shuchman, Robert, Nancy French, Colin Brook, and Tyler Erickson. 2008. "Evaluating the Impact of NRCS Programs: New Measures and Improved Communication: Overview of the Cooperative Agreement Project" Internal report Michigan Tech Research Institute, Ann Arbor Michigan, May 2008.
- Powell, Richard, Colin Brooks, Nancy French, and Robert Shuchman. 2008. "Remote Sensing of Lake Clarity" Internal report Michigan Tech Research Institute, Ann Arbor Michigan, May 2008.
- French, Nancy H.F., Tyler Erickson, Brian Thelen, and Robert Shuchman 2008. "The Environmental Quality Index Approach: Concepts, Methods, and Demonstration of the EQI Approach for NRCS Conservation Program Assessment", Internal report Michigan Tech Research Institute, Ann Arbor Michigan, May 2008.
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Progress 04/01/06 to 04/01/07
Outputs
The research conducted under our CSREES grant to date includes: 1) an assessment and study of the use of remote sensing for assessing crop residue; 2) development of object-based land cover map for study site in Lenawee County, Michigan; 3) an evaluation of MISR image products to assess air quality; and 4) assembling census and other demographic data for land cover change study by co-I Brown. For the crop residue work we have collected field measurements of crop residue using established methodologies at a test site in southern Lower Michigan. We performed two field data collections, one in November 2006 and one in April 2007. Ocular assessment of residue cover was recorded for 6 fields in November and 6 fields in May within the Tiffin River study area in Lenawee County, Michigan. We obtained Landsat, ASTER, and MODIS imagery and applied two literature-based algorithms to assess the utility of these sensors for assessing crop residue/tillage practice. The two
algorithms are the LCA, developed for ASTER, and MSACRI for Landsat. We met with the USDA-ARS remote sensing and hydrology group to compare our crop residue study with their research activities. Results of our analysis show a strong correlation between field measurements and Landsat-based MSACRI-derived crop residue, but a poor correlation between the field data and the ASTER-derived LCA. We will further develop these and other algorithms, including adapting MSACRI to ASTER and MODIS data, to come up with a way of assessing crop residue/tillage practice statewide. In conjunction with the crop residue product, we have developed a method of using advanced object-based methods to map land cover in the test site in southern Lower Michigan. The recent activity is mapping agricultural land cover for 2006. The object-based approach results in land cover maps which do not contain the "grainy" appearance typical of pixel-based land cover products. For the preliminary 2006 map, accuracies have
been in the approximately 75% based on comparison with field-based ground truth data. Additional work that includes using USDA-acquired AWIFs images will be done to assess the benefits of using this data in land cover work. NASA produces an aerosol estimate using the MISR sensor. We have begun looking at this product to assess its utility for inclusion in NRCS program evaluation. The project co-I, Dan Brown, has assembled census and other demographic data to assess land cover change from the point of view of agricultural change to help understand changes outside of NRCS program implementations. In addition to the March meeting with Craig Daughtry and others at the USDA-ARS Remote Sensing and Hydrology lab in Greenbelt, Maryland we have traveled to present two conference papers under this grant. David Schaub, research scientist, presented his work on crop residue remote sensing at the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) 2007 Annual Conference, May 7-11 in
Tampa, Florida. This paper and presentation were forwarded on to the USDA-CSREES Program Manager, Nancy Cavallaro. Rick Powell also and presented his work on land cover mapping at the 2007 ASPRS conference.
Impacts
Currently, NRCS assesses the outcomes of its programs by comparing acres of land treated to dollars spent. This type of assessment provides no rigorous conclusions regarding achievement of conservation goals. The research conducted under this grant will enable development of remote sensing tools that can be used in an ecologically-based and rigorous assessment of NRCS program effectiveness. Measures of land-use change and indicators of agricultural land characteristics, such as habitat fragmentation and crop residue, will be derived from remote sensing to aid in this more comprehensive assessment.
Publications
- Schaub, D., French, N., Brooks, C., and Powell, R. 2007. Using ASTER data to detect crop residue and to improve crop classification. In Proc. ASPRS 2007 Annual Conference: Identifying Geospatial Solutions. May 7-11, 2007, Tampa, Florida.
- Powell, R., Brooks, C., Schaub, D., and French, N. 2007. An Object-based Model for Mapping Agricultural Land Cover using Multi-temporal Data. Poster presentation for ASPRS 2007 Annual Conference: Identifying Geospatial Solutions. May 7-11, 2007, Tampa, Florida.
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