Landscape Toolbox Case Studies
Level 1 Users are users with little GIS and remote sensing experience or access to specialized GIS or remote sensing software or hardware. Level 1 users will mostly interact with Toolbox-generated products and web applications and may work with level-2 or level-3 users to use other Toolbox tools for their management information needs.
Level 2 Users have an understanding of GIS and rangeland monitoring data and have experience with GIS software. Level 2 users can do some minor data creation (e.g., creating layers to define new management scenarios) or edit existing layers (e.g., correcting and updating polygons in the vegetation maps). They will use Toolbox tools and products to aid analyses for their management questions and may also run new scenarios based on existing state and transition models and vegetation maps. These users may provide outputs to level 1 users but may also require assistance from level 3 users to set up datasets for some tools.
Level 3 Users have a highly-developed skill set for manipulating and analyzing GIS, remote sensing, and assessment/monitoring data. They will have access to specialized software and hardware for creating new data layers (e.g., creating image objects from new imagery) and would set up the data layers that level 1 and 2 users would have access to. These users could also lead the process of creating new state and transition models or vegetation maps for new areas. Use of Landscape Toolbox tools in major planning efforts (e.g. RMP) would rely heavily on level 3 users.
Mapping current vegetation and ecological sites in Laidlaw Park
Laidlaw and Little Parks are large kipukas, or islands of sagebrush surrounded by recent lava flows, within the expanded Craters of the Moon National Monument. These areas have seen a long and active history of management and natural and human- caused disturbance that has resulted in complex patterns of vegetation. For management decision-making and restoration planning, we used tools from the Landscape Toolbox to create a current and accurate map of the vegetation that can be easily updated.
Landscape Toolbox Tools Used
- Scale Detection and Extraction Tools
- Sample Design Tools
- Multi-scale Object-based Image Classification
Publications
Prioritizing options for managing fire and cheatgrass in the Wildhorse Allotment
The Wildhorse allotment, covering over 120,000 ac in the BLM Shoshone District in southern Idaho, has seen more than its share of wildfires. As a result, much of the area is heavily infested with cheatgrass which not only threatens remaining good quality sagebrush habitats in the area, but also contributes to more frequent and intense fires. Over the years the BLM has implemented many projects aimed at restoring these frequently burned and degraded areas to more functional rangelands. In tandem with a BLM study of the success of these restoration projects, we use the cumulative landscape assessment tools in the Landscape Toolbox to develop a set of recommendations for what kind and proportion of different treatments would most likely lead to improvements in the Wildhorse allotment based on possible future conditions.
Landscape Toolbox Tools Used
- Multi-scale Object-based Image Classification
- Multi-scale Information Framework
- State and Transition Models
- Cumulative Landscape Assessment Tools
Publications
- Karl, J.W. in press. Spatial Predictions of Cover Attributes of Rangeland Ecosystems Using Regression Kriging and Remote Sensing. Rangeland Ecology and Management.
- Karl, J.W. and B.A. Maurer. in review. Spatial dependence of predictions from image segmentation: a variogram-based method to determine appropriate scales for producing land-management information. Ecological Informatics.
Case Study Reports
- Wildhorse Allotment Vegetation Mapping Methods and Results
- Wildhorse S/T Model Descriptions
- Wildhorse CEA Tool Project
Monitoring the effectiveness of treatments for juniper
encroachment in the Castle Creek area
As a result of a century of fire exclusion and suppression in southern Idaho, western juniper has encroached into habitats that it did not historically occupy. The Castle Creek area of Owyhee County in southwestern Idaho is on the front line of the juniper range expansion. To retain good habitat for sage grouse and return the area to vegetation communities more in line with pre- fire-suppression historic conditions, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has initiated treatments to remove junipers. We used tools from the Landscape Toolbox to design a monitoring protocol to track the effectiveness of these treatments.
Landscape Toolbox Tools Used
Publications
Case Study Reports
Cumulative landscape assessment of juniper treatments in the Castle Creek area
The effectiveness of any single encroaching-juniper removal treatment can be monitored pretty easily over time. But the cumulative impact of many treatments, and deciding where to locate those treatments to have the biggest impact is a tricky proposition. Using the Cumulative Landscape Assessment tools from the Landscape Toolbox, we created a series of possible future scenarios for the Castle Creek landscape under different management scenarios. This gives us the ability to judge how effective treatments are when considered together and to evaluate different options for placing and prioritizing treatments.
Landscape Toolbox Tools Used
- Multi-scale Object-based Image Classification
- Multi-scale Information Framework
- State and Transition Models
- Cumulative Landscape Assessment Tools
Publications
Case Study Reports
- Castle Creek Vegetation Mapping Methods and Results - report coming soon...
- Castle Creek S/T Model Descriptions
- Castle Creek S/T Models in VDDT format
- Castle Creek CEA Tool Project
Assessing Rangeland Condition on the 45 Ranch
The 45 Ranch is one of the Idaho Chapter of The Nature Conservancy’s project areas in southwestern Idaho. We used tools from the Landscape Toolbox to map vegetation and estimate rangeland condition on approximately 60,000-ac of the ranch and associated public grazing allotments.
Landscape Toolbox Tools Used
- Sample Design Tools
- Scale Detection and Extraction Tools
- Multi-scale Object-based Image Classification