Tracking Trajectories of Fully Connected Floodplain Landscapes: Post-Restoration Effectiveness Monitoring with Multispectral Remote Sensing
Joe Rudolph
Wolf Water Resources
Portland, OR
Authors: Joe Rudolph, Luke Russell, Lauren Mork
In the Pacific Northwest, river restoration philosophy and design has shifted from channel planforms to large-scale full floodplain connectivity. These projects reengage stream and wetland hydrology laterally across the entire valley bottom (stage-0), resulting in a complex mosaic of riverine and wetland habitats over hundreds of acres. The habitat complexity generated by these projects is difficult to evaluate with traditional monitoring methods due to the scale, access, and heterogeneity of habitats. As a supplement or in some cases an alternative to traditional monitoring methods, UAS-based multispectral remote sensing, is scalable and in many cases provides the spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution necessary to comprehensively map the nuances of an entire project site.
This presentation will share the remote sensing monitoring approach and outcomes for a large-scale stream restoration project in central Oregon. The approach enables post-project conditions including large wood distribution, vegetation community succession, and aquatic habitat units to be seamlessly monitored and used to evaluate restoration effectiveness and site evolution through time.
About Joe Rudolph
Joe Rudolph is a Landscape Ecologist with Wolf Water Resources in Portland, Oregon. He is passionate about how spatial analysis and geospatial platforms can help others 'see' what they cannot readily observe on the ground. His remote sensing approach to ecological planning and restoration provides the project team with a more comprehensive understanding of dynamic landscape-scale change, as well as the benefits of river systems restoration. When Joe is not dodging raindrops in Portland, he enjoys all of the outdoor recreation the Pacific Northwest has to offer.
