Northwest Washington GIS User Group Agenda
September 16, 2005
North Cascades National Park, Sedro Woolley Office
810 State Route 20, Sedro Woolley, WA
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9:00 - 9:45 Round Table
9:45 - 10:00 Break
10:00 - 10:45 Comparison of Pixel-Based and Object-Oriented Approaches to
Vegetation Mapping in Hawaii Using High Resolution IKONOS Imagery
Mike Leech, WWU Graduate Student, GIS Analyst, Upper Skagit Indian Tribe
10:45 - 11:30 GIS Methods for Incorporating Catastrophic Risk Assessments in
Chinook Recovery Planning
Jeremy Davies, Conservation Biology Division, Northwest Fisheries
Science Center, NOAA Fisheries
11:30 - 12:00 Wrap-up
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Comparison of Pixel-Based and Object-Oriented Approaches to Vegetation Mapping
in Hawaii Using High Resolution IKONOS Imagery - Mike Leech, WWU Graduate
Student, GIS Analyst, Upper Skagit Indian Tribe
IKONOS 1-m panchromatic and 4- multi-spectral images were used to map plant
communities (native and invasive) at the alliance level on the Island of Oahu in
the Hawaiian Islands. We examined classification methods using the Maximum
Likelihood Classifier (MLC) at the pixel level and a combination of Nearest
Neighbor (NN) and fuzzy logic at the object level. We hypothesized that the
ability to delineate Hawaiian plant communities, particularly with invasive
species, would be improved using the object-oriented approach. Among the
classification methods examined in this research, the object-oriented
classification method achieved the highest classification accuracy. The
pixel-based method received an overall classification accuracy of 64% while the
object-based approach received an overall accuracy of 75%. The goal of this
research was to provide resource managers with a useful tool for landscape-level
monitoring and mapping native and invasive plant communities in Hawaii. While
both methods did not achieve a classification accuracy of > 80%, this research
has provided direction for using a combination of IKONOS imagery and the
object-based approach for modeling vegetation in the Hawaiian Islands and other
Pacific Island regions.
GIS Methods for Incorporating Catastrophic Risk Assessments in Chinook Recovery
Planning - Jeremy Davies, Conservation Biology Division, Northwest Fisheries
Science Center, NOAA Fisheries
Catastrophic environmental events may have a great influence on extinction risk
for Pacific salmon and steelhead. However, the potential threats from
catastrophic events (e.g., landslides, earthquakes, oil spills, etc.) are often
overlooked when developing recovery plans for threatened and endangered
species. To assess the risk of significant losses to threatened Puget Sound
Chinook salmon due to environmental catastrophes, we compiled data for a variety
of potential natural and anthropogenic events, including volcanoes, earthquakes,
landslides, toxic storage facilities, transportation routes for toxic
substances, hatchery releases and unplanned dam breaches. Using spatial
overlays, simple modeling techniques, and a variety of statistical methods, we
estimated the relative level of risk from these events for each of the 22
independent populations of Puget Sound Chinook.
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Driving Instructions:
o Take Interstate 5 North or South to Exit 230, north of Mount Vernon.
o Take Highway 20 East (The North Cascades Highway) thru Burlington to
Sedro Woolley (heading towards Concrete and Marblemount, approximately 5 miles).
o As Highway 20 comes thru Sedro Woolley it will take a bend to the left
followed by a turn to the right. About 4 blocks after crossing the railroad
tracks you will find the North Cascades National Park Office on your left, next
to the Arco AM/PM Gas Station (if you come to Highway 9 North you've come ½
block too far...).
o Parking: Park in the Church parking lot next door (just to the west of
the Park office). Please park only in spaces marked with yellow.
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