The Collaborative Environmental Monitoring and Research

Initiative (CEMRI)A Pilot in the Delaware River

Basin

Peter S. Murdoch, USGS

Richard Birdsey, USFS

Ken Stolte, USFS

Multi-tier Monitoring Design

• Tier One – Remote Sensing and Mapping Wall-to-wall coverage; stratification

• Tier Two – Extensive Inventories and Surveys Representative regional statistical

sample

• Tier Three – Condition Sample Gradient studies: representative of

specified condition classes

• Tier Four –Intensive Areas Relatively small number of specific sites

representing important processes

Increasing temporal resolution

Increasing spatial resolution

Overview of Delaware River Basin Pilot Monitoring Program

• Multi-agency effort to develop an environmental monitoring framework– USGS, FS, NPS, NASA, State and local partners

• Integrated application of monitoring technology at multiple scales

• Designed to address specific issues:– forest fragmentation – non-native invasive pests – calcium depletion and nitrogen deposition– Modeling the effects of N- deposition on water quality

• Capable of addressing multiple issues

The DRB-CEMRI project specifically tested:

• How this integration between process-level studies and FIA-level monitoring might work, and

• What types of data are required for 'scaling-up' of process-level information, and how that data might be collected.

Delaware Basin ISEM Watersheds

Sample Intensification (Tier 4) at 3 Watersheds in the Delaware River Basin

Stolte et al, this session

French Creek Intensive Plots

Tier 2 Surveys– USFS Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA)

Plots measured with a 5-year panel system to characterize forests of the Delaware River Basin.

Added 3 soil samples at 3 depths to each forested plot, + stream survey.

Focus on Appalachian Plateau (Northern Basin)

<0.1

Tier 2: Soil Ca Map•Soil calcium is lowest in areas with highest nitrogen deposition•Patterns emerging: reflect bedrock, glacial history, and deposition patterns

Pan and others, this session

Data integration through modeling

Tiered structure used with each issue:

Forest Fragmentation of the Delaware River Basin

Forest Fragmentation Tier 4:

The “Three Watershed Study” in the Delaware Water Gap

Tier 3: Fragmentation Study Watersheds in the Delaware River Basin – Base Map is NLCD’92 from TM Data

• Fragmentation estimates from low-altitude CIR aerial photography

• Water quality data from USGS NAWQA synoptic sample

• 32 watersheds comprise a factorial experiment: urbanization (5 levels) x EPT richness (3 levels)

Riemann and Murray, this session

Neversink

Delaware Water Gap

French Creek

Tier 2 – Random sampling of condition within the Delaware Gap Intensive Area

Random forest plots (FHM) and stream survey points (EMAP design)

Delaware River Basin

Delaware Water Gap Intensive Site

Tier 1 Forest Fragmentation:

•Land cover of Dingman’s Falls watershed derived from various remote sensors

•Del Gap aerial photo

•Regional coverage using NLCD

Riemann and Murray, this session

•Linked FIA to regional stream, soil, and deposition data, and facilitated the first multi-scale assessment of forest condition through use of FIA and ancillary data.

•Conducted first regional forest soil-chemistry survey: FIA collected soils and provided field methods testing. USGS provided laboratory analysis of soils, methods design, and field support.

•Associated research: USGS supplied long-term research and monitoring in streams, and a new regional stream survey linked to FIA. FIA provided plot data. FIA/FHM/NE Global Change provided forest research at ISEM, regional, and remote sensing scales.

•A comparatively simple and inexpensive collaboration between the USFS and the USGS resulted in greatly enhanced interpretive power of monitoring data from both agencies.

What did we do together?

FIA, FHM, NPS, Research

Forest

FIA/FHM- USGS Soil surveys,

Research

Soil

Water

NAWQA, USGS Surveys and

Research

NADP/NTN/NWSResearch sites

First Integrated Regional Assessment of Effects of Disturbance on Vegetation, Soil, and Water in Forested

Landscapes

Deposition

• Scaling up from watershed to region requires forest information which the FIA plot layout is uniquely qualified to provide.• A link between current forest research and FIA increases the value of both research and FIA data (ie. we can now say more about the regional landscape than we could separately) • A little additional data collected on FIA plots -- e.g. soils chemistry and forest condition indicators-- made that link possible.

Conclusions:

Talks this session

• Linking forest data across scales• Linking fragmentation to water quality• Linking remote sensing and FIA plot data

to detect pest infestation• Linking soil calcium depletion to tree

health• Modeling the effects of N-deposition on N-

export from watersheds• Discussion of the CEMRI pilot- where do

we go from here?

Average Foliar Ca (ppm)Yellow Birch

5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 11000 12000

Str

ea

m C

a (

um

ol/L

)

40

50

60

70

80

90

R2 = 0.42

Average Foliar Ca (ppm)Sugar Maple

5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 11000 12000

Str

ea

m C

a (

um

ol/L

)

40

50

60

70

80

90

R2 = 0.33

N

NY WatershedsNH Watersheds

Tier 3 Regional correlations: Is regional foliar or soil chemistry correlated with stream chemistry?

Regional gradient study of stream and foliar Calcium concentration

Stream Chemistry

Net Primary Productivity

FoliarChemistry

BiogeochemicalStatus

Site Regional subsample Continuous

Visible/IRReflectance

Scale

SoilChemistry

Hallet, USFS

Murdoch et al, poster session