QuantifyingRatesandPatternsofForest

HarvestintheMountBakerandBellingham
BayRegion
AlixHartmann
February2016
ESCI442

Abstract
Inthisanalysis,IusedLandsatimagerytoquantifyratesandpatternsofforestharvestover
timebetweenseverallandownershiptypes.UsingunsupervisedISODATAclassificationof
TasseledCapindicesderivedfromsixLandsatimages(capturedin1988,1992,1995,2000,
2005,and2011),Iidentifiedindividualforestharvestunitswheretimberwasextractedduring
eachtimeinterval.Icrossreferencedforestharvestmetricswithlandownershipdatato
determineharvestratesamongwilderness,private,NationalForest,andDepartmentofNatural
Resources(DNR)managementregions.Harvestratesshowadecreasefrom1.29%inbetween
1988and1992and0.47%between2005and2011.Whilethisanalysisrevealeduseful
informationaboutforestharvestandtherelativeimpactoflandownership,additionalsteps
takentolimittheanalysistoproductiveforestlandmayincreasetheaccuracyofforestharvest
classification.

Methods
TheStudyArea
ThischangedetectionanalysistakesplaceintheMountBakerandBellinghamBay
regioninWashingtonState.Thestudyareausedinthisanalysisis237,800hectaresinsize.This
regionofthePacificNorthwestcontainslargeareasofproductiveforest.Landcoverhereis
approximately56%forestedand44%nonforested,usingatheresultsofapreviousanalysis
describedbyDavidWallin(2006).Coniferconstitutesthemajorityoftheforestedlandscape
here,followedbydeciduousforest.Landownershipinthisanalysis(Figure2)isdividedinto4
categories:Wilderness(12%ofstudyarea),NationalForest(19%ofthestudyarea),private
(53%ofthestudyarea),andDepartmentofNaturalResources(16%ofthestudyarea).

Figure1:Atruecolorimageofthestudyareausedinthisanalysis.Thisimagewascapturedby
LandsatonJuly30,2011.TheregionstretchesfromthehighelevationareasofMountBakerin
theEasttolowelevationstowardBellinghamBayintheWest.Individualforestclearcutsare
visibleinthemidelevationportionsoftheregion.Ahillshadehasbeenaddedtoaidin
visualizingthetopographyoftheregion.


Figure2:Landownershipcategorieswithintheregion.Landownershipinthisanalysisisdivided
into4categories:Wilderness(12%ofstudyarea),NationalForest(19%ofthestudyarea),
private(53%ofthestudyarea),andDepartmentofNaturalResources(16%ofthestudyarea).

TheImagery
Inthisanalysis,Iwillanalyzedisturbance(forestharvest)foundusingTasselCapindices
forLandsatimagerycapturedin1988,1992,1995,2000,and2011.Detecteddisturbanceswill
fallintofivetimeintervals:19881992,19921995,19952000,20002005,and2005,
2011.ImageryusedintheanalysiswaspreparedbyDavidWallin(2016).Theimageis1500
linesby2500columns,eachpixelrepresenting25squaremeters.Thisimagewasgeorectified

andgivenTasselCapindicestorepresentdisturbanceineachtimeinterval.Thisindexisuseful
fordetectingdisturbanceofvegetationovertime.TheTasselCapindexgivesthechangein
brightness(theoverallbrightnessofapixelacrossallvisibleandinfraredportionsofthe
spectrum)andgreenness(determinedbycontrastingthebrightnessvaluesoftheredand
infraredportionsofthespectrum)foreachpixelbetweenimages.TasselCapindexvaluesthat
showanincreaseinbrightnessanddecreaseingreennessfromoneyeartothenextindicate
thelossofforestedlandcover,whichmaybecausedbyforestharvest.TasselCapindexvalues
thatshowadecreaseinbrightnessandanincreaseingreennessindicateregenerationof
forestedlandcoverintheyearsfollowingforestharvest.

UnsupervisedClassificationandIdentificationofInformationClasses
TheimagerycontainingtheTasseledCapindicesisclassifiedusingISODATA
unsupervisedclassification.Thisgeneratesanimagewith50classes,someofwhichrepresenta
disturbancecausedbyforestharvestinoneofthefivetimeintervals.Byvisuallyinspecting
eachclass,Iassignandcombineeachspectralclassintooneof6informationclasses:
1. nochange(noforestharvestisevident)
2. forestharvestbetween1988and1992
3. forestharvestbetween1992and1995
4. forestharvestbetween1995and2000
5. forestharvestbetween2000and2005
6. forestharvestbetween2005and2011

Figure3:Theresultingimageoftheunsupervisedclassificationandcombinationofinformation
classes.Eachcoloredpixelrepresentsadisturbance.Manypixelsinthisimagedonotrepresent
individualforestclearcuts.Thisissueisaddressedduringlaterstepsintheanalysis.

ApplyingElevationandForestMasks
Theresultsofthepreviousstepgenerateanimagewithmanypixelserroneously
classifiedasforestharvest.Thisislikelyduetochangeinsnowcoverfromyeartoyearinhigher
elevations,orchangesontheagriculturallandscapeinlowerelevations.Tocorrectthis,Iapply
aforestmasktolimitmyanalysistoareaswherethereisforestedlandcover.Thiseliminates
disturbedpixelsinareaswherethereisdeveloped,agricultural,rocky/soil,water,oralpine

landcover.ThislandcoverdatacomesfromapreviousanalysisdescribedbyDavidWallin
(2006).
Next,Iapplyanelevationmasktoremovedisturbedpixelsinareasofveryhighor
verylowelevationfrommyanalysis.Pixelsclassifiedasadisturbancearenowlimitedtoareas
wherethereisforestedlandcoverandelevationisbetween100and1700meters.These
parametersarechosenbyme,andcanbemodifiedtoobtaindifferentresults.Theresultof
applyingtheforestandelevationmasksisshowninFigure4.

Figure4:Theresultsofapplyingaforestmaskandanelevationmasktothepreviousimage
(figure3).Pixelsclassifiedasadisturbancenowonlyoccurinareaswherethereisforestedland
coverandelevationisbetween100and1700meters.


ApplyingSieveandClumpFunctionstoRemoveSmallPolygons
Theresultingimagefromthepreviousstep(Figure4)containsmanysmallandisolated
pixelsclassifiedasforestharvest.Sinceharvestsaretypicallylargerinsize,Iusethesieve
functiontolimitmyanalysistogroupsofpixelsthatrepresentatleast2hectares.

Figure5:Theresultsofapplyingthesievingtooltothepreviousimage(figure4).Pixelsclassified
asadisturbancenowonlyoccurwherethereareclumpsofdisturbanceatleast2hectaresin
size.

Next,Iusetheclumpfunctiontosmoothoutclumpsofpixelsclassifiedasdisturbance
andjoinisolatedpatchestolargerpatchesnearby.Thistoolworksbyreclassifyingpixelsbased
onthethevaluesofitsneighboringpixels.Ichoosetousea7x7pixelwindowinthistool.The
resultsoftheclumpingfunctionisseeninFigure6.

Figure6:Theresultsofapplyingtheclumpingtooltothepreviousimage(figure5).Iuseda7x7
pixelwindowtosmoothoutclumpsofpixelsclassifiedasadisturbance.Isolatedpatchesof
disturbancearejoinedlargerpatchesnearby.

Theresultsfromtheprevioussteparemyfinalforestharvestpolygons.InFigure7,
thesepolygonsarevisualizedwithinthetopographiclandscapeofthestudyarea.


Figure7:Thespatialpatternofforestharvestedinthestudyareaduringeachtimeinterval.
Harvestdataseeninthismapistakendirectlyfromtheoutputoftheclumpingtool(figure6).

CalculatingHarvestandOwnershipStatistics
Usingtheresultsofmyanalysis,Icalculateseveralfigures:
1. Theamountofharvest(inhectares)inthestudyareaduringeachtimeinterval
2. Theharvestrateforeachtimeinterval.Theharvestrateiscalculatedbydividingthe
totalareaharvestedbythetotalforestedareaintheentirestudyarea.

3. Theharvestrateforeachtimeintervalcategorizedbythefourownershiptypes
identifiedthetheregion:wilderness,NationalForest,private,andDepartmentof
NaturalResources.
4. Theproportionofforestharvestedbetween1988and2011betweendifferentland
ownershipcategories.Thesefiguresarecalculatedbydividingthetotalareaharvested
byalandownerbetween1988and2011bythetotalamountharvestedbyallland
ownersbetween1988and2011.

Results
HarvestedForest
Measurementsoftotalhectaresharvestedineachtimeintervalfellbetween1,861
hectares(thetimeintervalwiththeleastharvestedforest,19921995)and6,613hectares(the
timeintervalwiththemostharvestedforest,19881992).Theredoesnotappeartobean
obviousoveralltrendintheamountofforestharvestedbetween1988and2011.

Figure8:Theamountofforestharvested(inhectares)duringeachtimeinterval.

HarvestRate
Calculationsoftheharvestrateineachtimeintervalfellbetween0.42%(thetime
intervalwiththelowestharvestrate,20002005)and1.29%(thetimeintervalwiththehighest
harvestrate,19881992).Similartocalculationsforharvestedforestarea,theredoesnot
appeartobeanoveralltrendintheharvestratebetween1988and2011.


Figure9:Theyearlyharvestrateduringeachtimeinterval.Theyearlyharvestrateiscalculated
astheamountofforestharvestdividedbythetotalamountofforestwithinthestudyarea.

HarvestRatebyLandOwnership
SplittingtheharvestratebylandownershipcategoriesrevealsAreasmanagedby
privateownersandtheDepartmentofNaturalResourceshavethehighestrelativeharvest
ratesforeachtimeperiodexcept20052011.WildernessandNationalForestlandhavethe
lowestrelativeharvestratesforeachtimeperiodexcept20052011.
ThedramaticincreaseinareasclassifiedasforestharvestinwildernessandNational
Forestlandsduring2005to2011maybetheresultofanerrorinmyanalysis.Idiscusspossible
sourcesoferrorinthenextsectionofthispaper.Byomittingtheresultsfromthistimeperiod,
asubtledecliningtrendinforestharvestacrossalllandownershipcategoriessince1988is
evident.


Figure10:Theyearlyharvestrateindifferentownershipcategoriesforeachtimeinterval.

AllForestHarvestbyLandOwnership
Thelargemajority(57%)offorestharvestbetween1988and2011inthestudyarea
happenedonprivateland.forestharvestonDepartmentofNaturalResources(DNR)managed
landwas29%ofallforestharvest.HarvestonNationalForest(9%)andinwilderness(5%)took
upsmallersharesofthetotalharvest.


Figure11:Theproportionofforestharvestedbetween1988and2011betweendifferentland
ownershipcategories.

Discussion
Forestlandscapesareaffectedbycontinuous,slowprocessesandsuddendisturbances,
bothnaturalandhumancaused.Humancauseddisturbanceiswidelyregardedastheprimary
causeofbiodiversitydeclineandspeciesendangerment(Wulder,2006).Longtermmonitoring
offorestlandscapechangeaidsinconservationofforestecosystemsandimplementationof
sustainableforestmanagementpractices.ThisisespeciallyimportantinthePacificNorthwest

region,whereproductiveforestlandconstitutesasignificantportionofthelandscape(Cohen
etal.,1998)
Comparingratesandpatternsofharvestamongdifferentlandownershipcategoriescan
aidinunderstandingtheimpactthatdifferentmanagementpracticeshaveonforest
ecosystems.Myanalysisrevealsthatthelargemajority(57%)offorestharvestbetween1988
and2011occurredonprivatelymanagedland.Theslightdecreasingtrendofforestharvest
acrossalllandownershipcategoriesmaybeduetochangesinforestmanagementpolicyor
changingenvironmentalregulationsintheregion.
Theavailabilityoflongtermandconsistentimageryprovidestheopportunitytomonitor
andvisualizelandcoverandlandusechange(Wallin,2016).Groundbasedforestinventory
dataisanotheroptionforassessingchange,butthisdataisoftenmissing,incomplete,or
unobtainable(Cohenetal.,2002)SatelliteimageryacquiredbyLandsatisinthemidrangeof
spatialresolution,andisidealformappingindividualforestharvestunits.Imagerywithfiner
spatialresolutioncouldtellyoumoreaboutmanagementpracticesinindividualharvests,such
astheuseofclearcuttingversusthinning,aidindifferentiatingbetweenthespeciesof
harvestedtrees,orbeusedtodeterminemoreprecisemetricsabouttheshapeand
connectivityofindividualharvests(Wulder,2006).
Inthisanalysis,Iconsideredonlythetotalhectaresofforestharvested.Otherfactorsof
disturbanceinfluencingforestecologyincludethesize,shape,andconnectivityofdisturbance
patches(Wulder,2006).Furtherstudymayalsoincluderatesofforestregenerationand
distinctionsbetweenforesttypes,suchasoldgrowthandnewgrowthforests.

Usingvisualcomparisonbetweenmyharvestpolygonimageandthetruecolorimage,I
determinedthatresultsweremostaccurateatmidelevationswheremostforestharvestwas
takingplace.However,thereareareasathigherelevationsinaringaroundMountBakermay
beclassifiedasforestharvestinerror(Figure7).Theseforestharvestsarelikelyactually
changeinsnowpackfromyeartoyear.Theseareasaredisproportionatelyinwildernessand
nationalforestarea,andclassifiedasharvestbetween2005and2011.Ihypothesizethatthis
hascausedthesuddenincreaseinforestharvestforthesecategoriesseeninFigure10.Further
analysisshouldconsiderusingalowerupperlimitintheelevationmasktoeliminatethese
misclassifiedareas.
Inaddition,Iusedmyownclassificationimagetolimitmyanalysistoareaswhereland
covertypeisclassifiedasforest.Iknowthatthisimagehasa62%accuracy,whichintroduces
somedegreeoferrorinthisprocess.Errorcouldbeminimizedbyusingaclassifiedlandcover
layerwithbetteraccuracy.

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