Achievement

Trainee Jodi Brandt is performing a land use and land cover (LULC) change analysis of the IGERT study area using Landsat imagery. Using field data collected throughout the study area to train and validate the image analysis, she has produced preliminary classification maps for 1975, 1990, 2000, and 2009 that characterize on-the-ground patterns of LULC in this extremely heterogeneous region. The study area can be categorized into 9 LULC classes with overall accuracies of > 80%. The analysis indicates that old-growth forest loss and shrub encroachment in the alpine regions are important processes occurring in the study area. For example, old-growth forest continues to be logged at a significant rate, despite a state-sponsored logging ban since 1998. In addition, the classification maps also indicate that shrubs are increasing in the alpine region (>3800 m), at the expense of the highly-diverse alpine meadow communities.