1. New science investment: long-term water use and wetland monitoring (1984-present)
2000
2015
75% of Idaho’s wetland and riparian habitats are associated with privately owned flood irrigated agriculture
~80% of Idaho’s wildlife species are dependent on wetland systems for their survival to include:
47% of Idaho’s Wildlife Species of Greatest Conservation Need ( Idaho Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy)
50% of the state’s bird species ( Idaho Wetland Conservation Strategy)
NRCS now provides targeted proactive water conservation measures that support producer needs while minimizing wildlife impact
Flood irrigation mimics wetland habitats, offsets past wetland losses, and recharges ground water supply when conducted in historic wetland and riparian sites that benefit wildlife
Water conservation investments applied outside these areas reduce overall use and limit potential for future wildlife/water conflicts by keeping common species common
Images: New science shows unintended consequence of water use efficiencies that limit working flood irrigated wetlands (e.g. hay meadows) in historic wetland sites and decouple producer and wildlife benefits through sprinkler conversion. Blue is water and green is veg – incursion of center pivot irrigation dramatically reduces flood irrigated footprint resulting in wetland habitat loss.
Proactive water use efficiency planning that maintain mutual producer and wildlife benefits

2. OUTLINING THE APPROACH
Reconstruction of ca wetland footprints
pattern of wetland dynamics (i.e. annual wet and dry cycles) and long-term landscape change
Wetland availability linked to wildlife to support mutually beneficial (i.e. producer/species) water conservation planning
Ongoing monitoring quantifies success and informs associated public lands management
Reconstruction of ca wetland footprints - Reconstruction of pre-settlement (ca. 1870) wetland landscapes provides essential information that links past landscape features to contemporary ownership and land use patterns. Documentation of these historic sites often reveal a strong spatial correlation to existing flood irrigated rangelands. Wetland habitats provided from these current sites are often substantial and undervalued due to their modified state and wasteful perception of water use. Results of this assessment will guide targeted conservation of land use practices (i.e. flood irrigation) within historic wetland footprints that maintain historic wetland habitat values.
pattern of wetland dynamics (i.e. annual wet and dry cycles) and long-term landscape change - Spatiotemporal dynamics in wetland patterns (i.e. wetting and drying) will be modeled from freely available Landsat TM satellite imagery acquired Surface water extent will be measured using spectral mixture models to account for interspersion of surface water and vegetation that is characteristic of many shallow emergent wetland systems found in the West. Monitoring will occur over a 31 year span from utilizing archived satellite data. Climate and land use driven change will be made by comparing annual trends (loss and gain) in the timing, distribution, and abundance of wetland resources. Patterns in wetland dynamics will be examined in the context of associated climatic covariates, ownership, and water use policy.
Wetland availability linked to wildlife to support mutually beneficial (i.e. producer/species) water conservation planning - The wetland framework proposed provides decision support to Idaho conservation partners to identify water use practices mutually beneficial to producers and wildlife. For example, flood irrigated rangeland occurring in historic wetland basins or river floodplains often mimic ephemeral wetlands once occurring on those sites and provide important habitat values that offsets past losses. These sites make up the majority of wetland resources in the West and are often undervalued as wildlife habitat due to their working lands status. Mapping products provided through this work will allow detailed prioritization and spatial targeting of sites to prevent accidental loss of wildlife benefits through uninformed water use efficiency programs (i.e. conversion of flood to sprinkler irrigation). Proactive conservation actions that sustains economic viability of flood irrigation practices in specific regions will ensure long-term viability of dependent wildlife populations and allow water savings programs to occur in areas less likely to result in wetland habitat loss.
Ongoing monitoring quantifies success and informs associated public lands management - This analysis is inclusive of all land ownership and wetland types and is intended to encourage coordination of landscape conservation among private interest, state, and federal agencies. Continual monitoring of wetlands through this work provides resource managers the ability to assess ongoing landscape trends (e.g. changing water usage) and to quantify restoration outcomes (e.g. riparian response to beaver dam analogs) that translate to significant savings in monitoring cost. With this new information, resource agencies will have the ability to make habitat management decisions in context of broader landscape condition in order to best meet wildlife needs.
Priority wetlands of Idaho (blue polygons)

4. Reconstructing ca. 1870 wetland landscapes
ca wetland landscape reconstruction – Oregon example
Information is derived from scanned General Land Office (GLO) plat maps (A). Scanned images are geo-rectified and merged in a GIS. Delineated wetland features are digitized (B; blue polygon) and survey notes are recorded (C). Wetland features delineated from GLO plats will be compared to contemporary land use and ownership patterns to correlate past and present landscape features.

5. B. A.
Linking historic wetland landscapes to contemporary land-use practice (i.e. working wetlands)
2.5 million acres of historic ca wetland features delineated from GLO plats within the pilot study area (A) are compared to contemporary land use and ownership patterns (B). Land use field boundaries (yellow polygons) are derived from National Aerial Imagery Program data.
Flood irrigated rangeland occurring in historic wetland basins or river floodplains often mimic ephemeral wetlands once occurring on those sites and provide important habitat values that offsets past losses. These sites make up the majority of wetland resources in the West and are often undervalued as wildlife habitat due to their working lands status.
Proactive conservation actions that sustains economic viability of flood irrigation practices in these specific regions will ensure long-term viability of dependent wildlife populations and allow water savings programs to occur in areas less likely to result in wetland habitat loss.

6. Informing smart water use policy with landscape effects
Changing water use policy and practice can alter seasonal wetland availability – Oregon, Klamath Basin example.
Model outputs (green=veg, blue/black=water, red = soil) showed significant change in mean wetland availability in the Klamath Basin, OR, for the month of March during the years of (left) and (right). Water use policy change coupled with drought between reduced wetland food resource availability to spring migrating waterfowl in the basin by approximately 20%. The majority of wetland change occurred within historic wetland footprints.
Note – modeling effort is perpetual and is intended to continually monitor water use and wetland change.
March (mean)
March (mean)

7. Monitoring Outcomes A B C D Before restoration 2008
After restoration 2012 A B C D
Outcome based evaluations – NW Nevada example.
Continual monitoring of wetlands through this work provides resource managers the ability to quantify restoration outcomes (e.g. riparian response to beaver dam analogs) that translate to significant savings in monitoring cost. With this new information, resource agencies will have the ability to make habitat management decisions in context of broader landscape condition in order to best meet wildlife needs.
Example of wetland modeling framework applied as an outcome-based monitoring tool in NW Nevada. Aerial images (A, C) showed stark differences in forage productivity within the floodplain pre and post stream channel restoration (2009). Wetland modeling results (B, D) measured changes in vegetative productivity as indicated by increased extent in green colored pixels. Changes were plotted in a graph as productivity trend over time. Modeling results confirmed that successful restoration outcome was linked to increased producer late season AUMs and wildlife (e.g. sage-grouse) benefits. Broad scale application of this approach may significantly reduce agency monitoring cost and provide empirical evaluation of conservation actions.
Note – modeling effort is perpetual and is intended to continually monitor restoration outcomes.