ILLINOI S UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Large-scale Digitization Project, 2007. Page 1 missing from the bound original ILENR/RE --- Printed: ---- 1990 Contract SENR-EH14 Project -- QUANTIFYING RIPARIAN HABITAT FOR WILDLIFE IN THE VERMILION BASIN: AN EVALUATION OF THE ILLINOIS STREAM INFORMATION SYSTEM AND OTHER GEOGRAPHIC DATA FOR STATEWIDE CLASSIFICATION OF RIPARIAN HABITAT Center for Biodiversity Illinois Natural History Survey Technical Report 1991(2) Team of Investigators: Louis R. Iverson, Lewis L. Osborne, Mark G. Joselyn, Sharon E. Baum, Elizabeth A. Cook, and Diane L. Szafoni Illinois Natural History Survey 607 East Peabody Drive Champaign, IL 61820 Prepared for Ram Reddy, Project Manager Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources Energy and Environmental Affairs Division 325 West Adams, Room 300 Springfield, Illinois 62706 Jim Edgar, Governor John S. Moore, Director State of Illinois Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources NOTE This report has been reviewed by the Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources (ENR) and approved for publication. Statements made by the author may or may not represent the views of the Department. Additional copies of this report are available through ENR Clearinghouse at 800/252-8955 (within Illinois) or 217/785-2800 (outside Illinois). Printed by the Authority of the State of Illinois. Date Printed: 1991 Quantity Printed: Referenced Printing Order: One of a series of research publications published since 1975. This series includes the following categories and are color coded as follows: Energy Resources - RE-ER - Red Water Resources - RE-WR Blue Air Quality - RE-AQ Green Environmental Health - RE-EH - Grey Economic Analysis - RE-EA - Brown Information Services RE-IS - Yellow Insect Pests - RE-IP - Purple Illinois Department of Energy and Natural Resources Energy and Environmental Affairs Division 325 W. Adams, Room 300 Springfield, Illinois 62704-1892 217/785-2800 QUANTIFYING RIPARIAN HABITAT FOR WILDLIFE IN THE VERMILION BASIN: AN EVALUATION OF THE ILLINOIS STREAM INFORMATION SYSTEM AND OTHER GEOGRAPHIC DATA FOR STATEWIDE CLASSIFICATION OF RIPARIAN HABITAT Louis R. Iverson, Lewis L. Osborne, Mark G. Joselyn, Sharon E. Baum, Elizabeth A. Cook, and Diane L. Szafoni EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This one-year project was designed to assess the feasibility of using the information contained in the Illinois Stream Information System (ISIS), in conjunction with the Illinois Geographic Information System (IGIS), to evaluate the riparian habitat for wildlife in the Vermilion River Basin. The ISIS is a large, tabular data set developed by the Illinois Department of Conservation in conjunction with the University of Illinois Departments of Landscape Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning. It was begun in the early 1980s to facilitate the management policies and acquisition for Illinois' streams. We know that Illinois' habitat for wildlife is scarce because of the huge influence of human development. We also know that proper management, acquisition, and protection of important riparian habitats can be of extreme value for much of the remaining wildlife in the State. Our objectives in this project were to use information contained in the ISIS and IGIS to assess stream riparian zones for their habitat value; prioritization of streams (for acquisition or management) by habitat ranking could then be possible, based on objective, scientific data. This assessment was done at two levels-the tributary or stream level, and the stream segment or subtributary level for the Vermilion River basin in east-central Illinois. For the tributary analysis, four data sets were used to evaluate land cover encompassing 300 m on either side of the streams: (1) the ISIS data combined with the IGIS stream network coverage at a scale of 1:700,000, (2) the U.S. Geological Survey's land use and land cover information (LUDA) coded at a 1:250,000 scale, (3) land cover manually digitized from the National High Altitude Photography (NHAP) program at a scale of 1:24,000, and (4) Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) data, classified into land cover with a resolution of 30 m. Only those streams with a minimum of 10 square miles of drainage area were evaluated. Each of 30 tributaries in the study area were ranked for habitat according to the data contained within these four data sets. Habitat ranking schemes were devised and analysis performed for three species guilds-forest species, grassland species, and mixed successional species. Results showed that, for forest habitat, all four data sets were able to differentiate habitat value among tributaries in a similar, and significantly correlated way. For mixed successional habitat, the same was true but not as well correlated because of differing definitions of what constitutes mixed successional habitat. For grassland habitats, the same pattern again held but the various estimates correlated lowest of the three guilds; differing resolutions of the data and classification schemes were responsible. Overall, it was shown that the ISIS data were valuable in assessing habitat and that it is feasible to use the methodology developed here to rank Illinois streams (draining more than 10 square miles) in this manner. The TM data also were shown to be valuable in this respect and have two advantages over ISIS data: (1) TM data are not restricted by the 10-square-mile drainage basin size limitation, and (2) new TM data are continually being collected by the Landsat satellite. However, a statewide ranking scheme, at the tributary level of analysis, would require a great effort in terms of personnel, computer time, and money to process current TM data. 5 Dynamic segmentation, a recent advancement in GIS technology (April 1991), introduces the capability for analyzing and displaying stream (or any linear feature) information at a level not previously possible. The dynamic segmentation software allows features, such as bankside vegetation or habitat ratings, to be attached to small segments, or portions of a stream, instead of having attributes assigned only to the entire stream. Because the ISIS data are tied to the River Mile Index (RMI) system (with a 0.1 mile resolution), any ISIS attribute can be related via dynamic segmentation to the specific RMI of the stream in question. Our preliminary analysis of dynamic segmentation indicates that while a sizeable effort is needed to prepare the geographic base map to which the ISIS data would be linked, valuable new research and management tools become available with this technology. While much more work is needed in assessing habitat, especially if the effort is expanded to a statewide level, and in refining the methods and software used for dynamic segmentation, the project has plowed new ground in both arenas. Expending additional effort along these lines will benefit the management of our State's dwindling riparian resources. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page EXEC U TIV E SU M M A RY .................................................................................................... 4 TA BLE O F CO N TEN TS...................................................................................................6... LIST O F FIG U R E S.............................................................................................................. 7 LIST O F TA BLES ........................................................................................................... 9 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................................................................12 IN TR O D U C T ION .............................................................................................................. 13 MATERIALS AND METHODS........................................................................................14 Study A rea .............................................................................................................. 14 M ethodology ............................................ .... ...................................... ....... ........... 14 1. Land and Stream Data Set Description and Derivation...................................14 a. Illinois Streams Information System................................ 14 b. Digital Line Graph................................... ...................... 17 c. Land Use and Data Analysis ............................................................... 21 d. National High Altitude Photography Program......................................21 e. Landsat Thematic Mapper...................................................................21 f. National Wetlands Inventory............................................................. 24 g. Illinois Natural Areas Inventory and Illinois Nature Preserves...............25 2. Comparison Among Data Sources of Stream Networks....................................... 25 3. Analysis of Land Cover by Data Source............................................................25 a. Assessment of LUDA, NHAP, and TM Data Sets ..................................... 25 b. Assessment of NWI and INAI Data Sets ................................................ 27 4. Analysis of Habitat by Tributary......................................................................27 a. Habitat Ratings by Guild for ISIS Data................................................27 b. Habitat Rating by Guild for LUDA, NHAP, and TM Data.......................28 (1). Valuation of Forest and Grassland Habitat..................................28