8000 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Long-term monitoring has been defined previously in this paper as "measuring the change over time in vegetation, geology, cultural resource areas, and habitat for rare and endangered species every 3 to 5 years." A GIS is an invaluable tool in measuring change over time because it is a georeferenced data base with the ability to manipulate and analyze spatially referenced data. Because the data within a GIS are georeferenced, it can answer questions about: A. Location - "What is at ... ?" B. Conditions - "Where is it true that ... T 1. Query by variable or item. 2. Query by class, alphanumeric or numeric value. 3. Query using logical expression. 4. Query can be implemented and displayed graphically or numerically. C. Trends - "What has changed ... ?" = Long-Term Monitoring 1. Change in area. 2. Change in location X, Y, and Z. 3. Change in shape. 4. Change in class. 5. Statistical operations. D. Patterns - "Which data are related ... 1. Geographic correlations. 2. Statistical correlations. E. Models - "What happens if ...?" 1. Graphic/numeric modeling - grid cell and vector. 2. Numeric modeling - aml programming - Fortran. A GIS can address and satisfy many of the objectives for long-term monitoring defined by Patton (1992). Long-term monitoring should be designed to provide regular feedback for adaptive management, which permits mid-course adjustments in operations of the dam to ensure achievement of the goals of the EIS and the missions of the agencies and organizations that manage or are concerned for the canyon. Long-term monitoring should also be used to determine variability over time and space of the resources being monitored. This monitoring must be done in conjunction with appropriate controls to evaluate the source of the variability. In addition, long-term monitoring should provide clues for identifying associations, understanding system behavior, and guiding future process-based research (Patton, 1992). 19