AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Doug R. Oetter for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography presented on August 16, 2002. Title: Land CoverChange along the Willamette River, Oregon. Abstract approved: A. Jon Kimerling The Willamette River and its floodplain in northwest Oregon have changed dramatically since European settlement. At one time, the river was a vast complex system of braided channels with a broad floodplain forest; it has now been simplified by channelization and dams, and the forest has been removed to support agricultural and urban expansion. This thesis presents three research manuscripts, each of which uses remote sensing and Geographical Information System methods to capture the dynamic nature of land along the Willamette River. In the first article, the river and its floodplain were mapped at four time periods, ranging from pre-settlement to modern day. The paper reports that the river system has been greatly simplified, and the floodplain has lost much of its original forest. An overlay technique was used to identify potential floodplain restoration sites. The second paper details the creation of a landcover map for the Willamette Valley, which shows that the largest portion of the floodplain is now in agriculture, with a significant amount in a built condition. The third manuscript outlines a methodology for detecting land cover change along the river during a twenty-year period that coincides with the implementation of the Willamette River Greenway, a land use designation designed to restrict riparian land conversion. It shows that regressive change is still occuring along the river, although not at thesame rate asoutside the greenway. The three papers lay the foundation for a future study to analyze the socioeconomic conditions which promote change. © Copyright by Doug R. Oetter August 16, 2002 All Rights Reserved LAND COVER CHANGE ALONG THE WILLAMETTE RIVER, OREGON by Doug R. Oetter A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partialfulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Presented August 16, 2002 Commencement June 2003 Doctor of Philosophy thesis of Doug R. Oetter presented on August 16, 2002 APPROVED: Major Professor, representing Geography Chair of Department of Geosciences Dean of Graduate School I understand that my thesis will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my thesis to any reader upon request. Doug R.Oetter, Author ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many important and wonderful people spent countless hours helping me learn how to become a researcher and encouraging me to stick with this thesis. I am greatly endebtted to the people I have worked with at the Corvallis Forestry Sciences Laboratory, notably Warren Cohen, Tom Maiersperger, and Linda Ashkenas, but also Sara Lipow, Robert Kennedy, Karin Fassnacht, Alissa Moses, Liz Gerson, George Lienkaemper, Theresa Valentine, Kelly Christiansen, and Sharon Clarke. And the list goes on and on. I am forever grateful for the patience and advice of my major professor, Jon Kimerling, and my graduate committee: Bob Frenkel, Ron Doel, Stan Gregory, Aaron Wolf, and Kerry Ahearn. These people gave me everything I could have hoped for in making this thesis complete and competent. I deeply appreciate Keith Muckleston for getting me started on my program and seeing me through the tough times of the preliminary exams. I also thank Bob Beschta, Robert Miller, and Jim Morris for serving on my committee. I am indeed appreciative of all my professors at Oregon State University, especially Chris Gray, Bill Robbins, Steven Rubert, and Paul Farber for teaching me how the study of history is,andis not, like geography. And my thanks go to Joanne VanGeest, Melinda Peterson, and Theresa Belden of the Geosciences Department. I could have not done this work without my peers. Many, many people shared their lives and thoughts with me, helping me to understand: Jill Saligoe- Simmel, Chris Oliver, Chris Purnell, Mario Hess, Colleen Kinney, Tracy Allen, Eric Larsen, David Shively, Diana Sinton, Bob Tuori, Neil Bursani, David Buchwalter, Christian Braudrich, Kelley Steams, Eileen Helmer, Scott Bergen, Kitty Griswold, and all their fellow graduate students who finished, moved away, and left me here with nothing else to do but this thesis. Also I want to acknowledge the many kind souls who endured me living in their space, from my very close friends Jennifer Whitewing, Katie Moore, Julie Luetzelschwab, Rebecca Ward, Beth Lambert, Christine Reeh, Susanna Kummerow, Sybil Merrels, Kim Kittredge, Teri Lysak, and Julie Pendelton, to my housemates Pete Oboyski, Bob Tuori, Brian Norman, Scottie McKrell, John Hartigan, Amy Hartigan, Joe Lotrario, Tony Kaltenberg, Tamara Johnson, Stephanie McDowell, Todd Kagawa, Jeannine Beatrice, Steve Elliott, Eric Groth, Tom Delinks, Donna Grisham, Sadie Curry, Maureen Dailey, Jason Johannsen, Darrell Kaiser, Suzanne Lovelady, Jesus Anaya, Marya Gregory-Madsen, Jesse Howe, Zachariah English, Morgen Daniels, Megan Kleck, and Jack Lapham. There were many other people, both ultimate players and not, who kept me alive with their words and actions, for example my dear friends Maureen Duane, Judith Ingram, Eric Moore, Jesse Mitchell, Andy Neill, Tara Sechler, Rob Gandara, Tony Cheng, Mikell O'Mealy, Kris Whitbeck, Stirling Fox, Will Russell, and Andy Bluhm. And those of you in the Corvallis, Oregon, Pacific Northwest, and global Ultimate community know that there are far toomanyof you to mention, but I thank you all. There is one person who has recently come to know me and has seen me through the most difficult conclusion of this effort. For that I will forever love and cherish Katie Lynne Fisher. And most importantly I thank my mother and father, George and Elisabeth Oetter, and my loving aunt, Sara Oetter, for keeping me secure and warm when I needed it most. My sister Beth Woodward has had a tremendous influence on this work, as did my dear deceased grandparents, Rudolph and Optye Oetter and George H. and Faye Sparks, who created the proper educational and emotional environment to see all this through. CONTRIBUTION OF AUTHORS For Chapter 2, there are three co-authors listed. Linda Ashkenas was instrumental in guiding the research behind this project, as well as performing much of the data creation and analysis required to accomplish such a tremendous task. She also offered many useful suggestions to my manuscript. Dr. Stan Gregory was the director and brains behind the entire project, and guided the research we completed. Paula Minear also worked laboriously on the construction of the Geographical Information Systems data. For Chapter 3, there are four co-authors listed. Dr. Warren Cohen not only secured the funding for this research and had the faith to hire me as a Faculty Research Assistant, but also monitored my progress and taught me how to become a researcher. He improved the manuscript substantially by forcing me to tell the story in clear and complete language. Mercedes used her experience with us to capture the forested portion of the Willamette Valley, and offered the kindest words ever. Tom helped me understand the principles of remote sensing and was invaluable in discussions on our mapping technique. Robert, also, never lost enthusiasm for my work and helped out immensely by writing an Interactive Data Language program that helped georectify our TM images. Each of the co-authors offered editorial comments on the manuscript. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. PREFACE....................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................1 RIVER SYSTEMS AND RIPARIAN CONSERVATION ....................................3 RIPARIAN GREEN WAYS..........................................................................................5 WILLAMETTE RIVER HISTORY ............................................................................8 THE WILLAMETTE RIVER GREENWAY.........................................................13 LAND USE PLANNING...........................................................................................18 EVALUATION OF POLICY IMPLEMENTATION.........................................20 EVALUATION OF LAND USE POLICIES AND LANDSCAPE CHANGE ....................................................................................................................24 SPATIAL METHODS FOR LAND COVER CHANGE ANALYSIS.............26 SPATIAL METHODSFOR RIPARIANCHANGE ASSESSMENT..............29 OVERVIEW..................................................................................................................32 REFERENCES.............................................................................................................34 CHAPTER 2. GIS METHODOLOGY FOR CHARACTERIZING HISTORICAL CONDITIONS OF THE WILLAMETTE RIVER FLOODPLAIN, OREGON..............................................................................................49 ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................50 INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................51 Study area .................................................................................................................52 Objectives.................................................................................................................55