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Vegetation Change Analysis to Support Ecoregional Planning in Michigan's Upper Peninsula Author: Lorri A. Peltz 6191 Oakpark Trail Phone: 517-373-0798 The Michigan Natural Features Inventory (MNFI), part of the Heritage Network, recently assisted The Nature Conservancy in defining high-priority areas to be included in the ecoregional planning process for Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The change analysis was possible due to the availability of vegetation data from 1816-1856 and Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data from 1991. Vegetation data from the 1800s created by MNFI ecologists from General Land Office survey notes resulted in 83 vegetation categories plotted on 1:24,000-scale maps. These maps and categories were entered into a GIS. Similar vegetation data from 1991 was generated from Landsat TM into 30 statistically similar vegetation categories. Combination of these digital databases, with interpretations done by local ecologists, resulted in landscape-level variations of change. This paper will address the methods utilized to complete the change analysis, review the differences/similarities between the two vegetation databases, evaluate problems encountered, explore the results for the entire landscape as well as various subdivisions, and discuss statistical approaches that assisted and continue to assist in this process. Further analysis is evaluating how error can be determined prior to performing the change analysis and how this error propagates through the performed analysis. |