Soils Landscape EE Program Tom Millard Research Geomorphologist Coast Forest Region

Overview Evaluation questions Selection of evaluation areas Methods Indicators Progress to date Plans for next year

Evaluation questions Do access structures have the least possible impact on productive soil loss and hydrologic function of the soil? Are harvest or road-related landslides occurring? Are harvest or road-related slides likely to occur as a result of recent forest practices? Are harvest or road-related gully processes occurring? Are harvest or road-related snow avalanches occurring?

Evaluation areas Watersheds 5000 – 10,000 ha in size Need to decide on process for selecting watersheds Coastal areas and some Interior areas – driven by landslide issues Many Interior areas primarily soil disturbance/permanent access issues

Evaluation methods Primarily remote sensing/GIS data collection and output Field-level sub-sampling to confirm remote sensing results

Remote sensing Orthophotos or regular aerial photos Satellite images

Next Generation Satellites WorldView – launch 2006 –50 cm panchromatic resolution –2.0-meter multispectral resolution Orbview-5 – launch early 2007 –41 cm panchromatic resolution –1.64 m MSS (GeoEye – Orbimage/ Spaceimaging) US Reconnaissance Keyhole-13 –Classified but analysts believe 4-10 cm resolution

Indicators – Access Structures % of the productive forest area devoted to permanent access Classify roads by type and condition Compare to assumptions contained in TSR

Indicators – occurrence of landslides Number of landslides occurring that are related to forest practices Effect on soil productivity Non-soil impacts (timber, fish habitat, community water supply, private property damage, injury/death of individuals)

Indicators – landslide likelihood The likelihood of harvest or road-related slides occurring within approximately the next 15 years Need to evaluate the amount of Class IV and Class V terrain harvested/roaded, or Use Terrain Attribute Data to predict (approximately) the number of landslides expected to occur

Indicators – Gully processes Inventory number and type of adverse gully processes Remote sensing – scale issues

Indicators – snow avalanches Some avalanche tracks identifiable from remote sensing Needs work

Progress to date One pilot in place – Hellroaring Creek near Cranbrook Data being collected/summarized now

Plans for next year 2 – 3 pilots: Coast, NIR and/or SIR Need substantial GIS resources Need very recent aerial photography/orthophotos/satellite imagery