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F

B2 REPORT

Java Erosion Model – USLE 30m


Application of the Universal Soil Loss Equation
June 6, 2012

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Table of Contents
1 Java Erosion Model - Application of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) .. 4
1.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Erosion sensitivity analysis using USLE ......................................................... 4
1.2.1 Background: soil erosion- and sedimentation process ............................. 4
1.2.2 Review of USLE method ......................................................................... 6
1.2.3 Influence of cultural- and mechanical management practices .............. 13
2 Technical implementation of USLE using a GIS ................................................. 16
2.1 Background: Manual procedure applied for BTA-155 ................................. 16
2.2 ArcGIS Spatial analyst implementation ........................................................ 17
2.3 ArcGIS Model Builder implementation ......................................................... 17
2.4 Extracting soil loss summaries using polygons............................................. 19
2.5 Modeling land use changes. .......................................................................... 20
3 Training exercises – USLE model using ArcGIS ................................................. 22
3.1 Model setup ................................................................................................... 22
3.1.1 System requirements .............................................................................. 22
3.1.2 Installing the USLE model..................................................................... 22
3.1.3 Model Workspace and Processing Extent.............................................. 23
3.1.4 Running the model ................................................................................. 24
3.2 Creating a simple model, Bare-Soil loss ....................................................... 25
3.2.1 Purpose of the Bare-Soil calculation...................................................... 25
3.2.2 Creating the Bare-Soil Model ................................................................ 26
3.3 Water zoning for Forest and Agriculture Management ................................ 30
3.3.1 Using USLE for water zoning in spatial planning ................................. 30
3.3.2 Creating a simple Water Zoning model ................................................. 30
3.3.3 Determine the reforestation area ............................................................ 33
3.4 Modeling Land Use change scenarios .......................................................... 35
3.4.1 Introduction ............................................................................................ 35
3.4.2 Reforestation scenario, modeling the land use change .......................... 35
3.4.3 Create a separate model for the reforestation land use change .............. 40

List of tables
Table 1 K-factors for the different soil types of Java..................................................... 8
Table 2: Slope length for different slope classes ......................................................... 11
Table 3: Combined C.P factor cross matrix ................................................................ 15

List of figures
Figure 1 K-factors for Java ......................................................................................... 10
Figure 2: Rainfall erositivity (Factor R; Bols map) for Java .................................... 10
Figure 3: Digital elevation map for Java (SRTM30).................................................. 12
Figure 4: Slope length factor LS for Java .................................................................. 12
Figure 5: Land-use map for Java (BAKOSURTANAL 2010) ..................................... 13
Figure 6: ArcToolBox .................................................................................................. 18
Figure 7: LS (Slope Length) model window. ............................................................... 18
Figure 8: Main Model window. ................................................................................... 19
Figure 9: Summary model ........................................................................................... 20
Figure 10: The BTACode field linked to the LandUse layer ....................................... 21

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Figure 11: The CP_Lookup table (see also Table 3) ................................................... 21

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1 Java Erosion Model - Application of the Universal Soil Loss
Equation (USLE)
1.1 Introduction
Sedimentation on Java is progressing in an alarming rate, causing increased flooding
in many areas and threatening the functioning of important reservoirs in the longer
term.

A GIS model for estimation of potential catchment erosion in function of management


measures has been created in cooperation with IPB; this includes as special feature
the possibility to introduce various landuse change scenarios and watershed
management measures; the classification of these measures and their impact is based
on the work of Hamer at IPB in the early 1980’s and the further referencing and
application of the developed USLE (Univeral Soil Loss Equation) analysis in the
BTA-155 project (1988).

1.2 Erosion sensitivity analysis using USLE


1.2.1 Background: soil erosion- and sedimentation process

Basic processes
Soil erosion has many ecological and economic consequences. The productive top-
soil is removed and the soil productivity deteriorates, landslides and gullies reduce the
area of productive land and may damage roads and buildings, the hydrologic regimes
of the rivers change and increased sediment loads result in eutrophication and the
silting up of reservoirs and irrigation structures. Once the environmental degradation
has started it can only be stopped with great effort and at considerable costs.

The most important factors controlling soil erosion are: rainfall, surface runoff, wind,
soil, slope, plant cover and absence or presence of conservation measures. These and
other related factors can be grouped under three headings: energy, resistance and
protection.
The factors grouped under the heading energy include the potential abilities of the
rainfall, the surface runoff and the wind to cause erosion. This ability is generally
referred to as erosivity. Incorporated in this group are also the factors that directly
affect the erosivity such as the reduction of slope lengths by the construction of
terraces.
In the resistance group the erodibility of the soil is of major importance. It depends on
physical and chemical properties of the soil. Infiltration capacity and management of
the soil are other factors in this group. Good soil management practices result in well
aggregated soils that do not crust, and thus have high infiltration rates. High
infiltration rates on their turn decrease the erodibility by reducing the surface runoff.
The protection group includes factors related to plant cover. The vegetation intercepts
part of the rainfall and reduces the erosivity of the falling raindrops and the velocity
of the surface runoff and the wind. The protection offered to the soil depends on the
nature of the plant cover, and by changing the land use man is able to change the
degree of protection given to the soil.

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Land use changes and crop management therefore are important tools for soil
conservation purposes, other factors are much less easily manipulated by man.

From soil erosion to reservoir sedimentation is a process with several phases. It starts
with detachment of individual particles from the soil mass and their consequent
transport by the erosive agents, such as wind and running water. Next is deposition of
sediment on the catchments surface that occurs when the available energy is
insufficient for further transport of the detached particles. Transport in the river,
which also may include sedimentation (or scouring) follows, with finally the
deposition at the end point of the basin in a reservoir or the sea.

The impact of falling raindrops is an important detaching agent. Soil particles are
thrown into the air and travel over considerable distances. Other processes such as
physical and chemical weathering, tillage operations by man and trampling by cattle
also contribute to the detachment of soil particles, as do running water and wind.
Once the soil is loosened, the detached soil particles can be easily removed by the
transporting agents.

Two groups of transporting agent can be recognized, the first group comprises those
who act evenly over a rather extended area and result in the removal of a soil layer of
relatively homogeneous thickness. Examples are rain-splash (splash-erosion),
overland flow (sheet-erosion) and wind (wind-erosion). The second group of agent are
those that concentrate their actions in defined channels: water flow in channels that
are so small that they can be filled in by plowing (rill-erosion) or in larger, more
permanent, features (gully-landslides, creep, etc.) is another form of erosion that is
more or less restricted to a limited area.

The quantity of material supplied by detachment processes and the capacity of the
transporting agent to remove this material determine the severity of the soil erosion.
Conservation measures can be aimed at either reducing the detachment, e.g. by
maintenance of a protective vegetation cover that reduces the rainfall impact, or
decreasing the transport capability of the eroding agent, e.g. by terracing to reduce the
velocity of the overland flow. To be able to make an optimal choice between possible
conservation techniques, it is important to know whether detachment or transport is
the limiting factor in the soil erosion process.

In Java wind-erosion is of limited importance. Of the water related soil erosion


processes sheet-and rill-erosion are dominant over gully-erosion. Another source of
(hard to predict) erosion, viz landslides and mud flows, may contribute considerably
to the sediment yield of the river.

Sediment Delivery Rate (SDR)


Not all the soil loss on the slopes is delivered to the river; generally deposition takes
place at various locations in the watershed. The eroded soil that is transported to the
river and passes a certain point along the stream channel in a certain period, is called
the sediment yield of that river at that point, and is expressed in tons or m3 per year or
tons or m3/ha per year.

The ratio between the soil loss on the slopes and the sediment yield of the river
somewhere downstream in the drainage basin is called the Sediment Delivery Ratio.

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If the sediment delivery ratio of a basin is known, the effect of soil conservation
measures or changes in land use, resulting in changes in soil loss can be translated to
changes in sediment yield of the river.

Although the concept of SDR is logical and simple, many of the processes involved
are not yet fully understood. Sediment sources and sinks may be distributed in various
ways over the catchment and large quantities of sediment may be kept in storage in
the basin. The SDR depends basically on the same independent variables as the
sediment yield. Variables that are often used in the predictive equations are: basin
area, relief, total stream length, the bifurcation ratio and the dominant land use.

Sediment delivery ratio’s range from 1 to 40%, while the majority of the observed
values is larger than 5 and smaller than 15%. Arif (1986) published sediment delivery
ratios that ranged between 5 and 25% for a number of river draining catchments with
variable areas on West Java. The Dept. of Forestry considers SDR’s from 9 to 43 %
acceptable. Information on sediment delivery ratio’s in other tropical areas is hardly
available, on a global scale sediment delivery ratio’s range from 3 to 90%.

The SDR may change over time (for example by urbanization) as the catchment
characteristics change.

1.2.2 Review of USLE method


The USLE (Universal Soil Loss Equation) has been widely used in Indonesia and is
commonly accepted as a good method to establish soil erosion rates and evaluate
conservation measures, but the necessary input data are not always readily available.
Information is scattered over a large number of institutes, presented at different scales
and with different detail, and collected for different areas.
The USLE can only be used to calculate long-term averages of sheet-and rill-erosion;
gully-and channel-erosion processes are not taken into account. This means that it is
only applicable to a limited part of the catchment. For Indonesian conditions however
sheet and rill erosion are the dominant processes
The erosion rate in tons/ha are given for a certain soil, with a certain slope, and a
given land use and land management, including conservation measures. This erosion
rate on the slope cannot directly be translated to an amount of sediment entering the
river channel or to amounts of sediment leaving the drainage basin; to connect
erosion rates on the slopes with sediment outputs of the river the SDR needs to be
applied.

The USLE is a mathematic model, used to predict soil losses that result from areal
erosion. The equation is designed for conservation planning purposes.

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The basic equation of the USLE reads as follows:

A=R.K.L.S.C.P

in which:
A = computed soil loss per unit area (ton/ha, when metric units are used)
R = the rainfall factor, the number of erosion index units (EI units) in the
period of consideration. The erosivity index is a measure of the erosive
force of a specific rain
K = the soil erodibility factor, the erosion rate per unit of erosion index for a
specific soil, in a cultivated, continuous fallow plot, 22.1 m long, on a
9% slope
L = the slope length factor, the ratio of soil loss from the field slope length to
that from a 22.1 m slope length on the same soil type with the same
gradient and the same crop and management
S = the slope gradient factor, the ratio of soil loss from the field gradient to
that from a 9% slope, on the same soil type, slope length, crop and
management
C = cropping/management factor, the ratio of soil loss from a field with a
specific crop and specific management to that from a fallow slope with
the same soil, slope length and slope gradient
P = the erosion-control practice factor, the ratio of soil loss from a field slope
with conservation practices to that with straight row farming up and
down slope, on the same soil type and with the same slope length

To be able to use the USLE to estimate the actual magnitude and distribution of the
soil erosion in the project area, it is necessary to obtain information on the spatial
distribution of the explanatory variables. The various characteristics are derived from
available maps, those are entered digitally as overlays in a GIS system. A grid system
is further used whereby for each pixel the characteristic values are obtained from the
different overlays. The erosion is then calculated for each pixel.

The following map layers were used in the present analysis

- Soil map by Pusat Penelitian Tanah (1966, 55 soil types)


- Land cover: BAKOSURTANAL 1:25,000 Rupabumi, (published 2010)
- Rainfall erositivity map of Bols (1978)
- DEM / Slope: from SRTM (2000, 30 m. resolution)

The R, K, L, and S factors comprise physical parameters which can not be influenced
by management. Those are described below. The management factors C and P are of
particular importance in the present analysis and are discussed in section 2.3.

Soil erodibility, the factor K:


The vulnerability of a soil to erosion depends to a large extent on the soil physical and
chemical properties; the soil erodibility varies with the texture, aggregate size and
aggregate stability, organic carbon content and permeability of a soil. Large particles
are resistant against erosion, because of the greater force required to transport them.

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Fine particles, on the other hand, have a high cohesiveness and are therefore resistant
to detachment. Least resistant are silts and fine sands. Soils with a high silt content
(40-60%) are generally considered to be very erodible.

The infiltration capacity of a soil, the maximum rate at which a soil can absorb water,
depends on the soil pore size distribution and the pore stability. Well aggregated soils
usually have high pore spaces that remain open during wet periods. Excess water is
easily transported to the subsoil, and overland flow will only rarely occur; the rainfall
intensity will not easily surpass the infiltration capacity and the soil will not become
saturated. The organic carbon content of a soil is of importance because of its
influence on the aggregate stability, soils containing less than 2% organic matter may
be considered erodible.

Table 1 presents the K-factors for different soils types which have been adopted in
the GIS model. Figure 1 presents the K-factor on the map of Java based on the soils
map for Java.

Table 1 K-factors for the different soil types of Java

K
Soil type
factor
1 Eutrofic Organic Soils 0.301
2 Hydromorphic Alluvial Soils 0.156
3 Dark Grey Alluvial Soils 0.259
4 Greyish Brown Alluvial Soils 0.315
5 Ass. of Grey Alluvial and Greyish Brown Alluvial Soils 0.193
6 Ass. of Humic Gleysoils and Grey Alluvial Soils 0.205
7 Ass. of Low Humic Gleysoils and Grey Alluvial Soils 0.202
8 Ass. of Grey Hydromorphic Soils and Greyish Brown Planosols 0.301
9 Greyish Brown Planosols 0.251
10 Ass. of Lithosols and Red Mediterranean Soils 0.215
11 Grey Regosols 0.296
12 Grey Regosols 0.304
13 Complex of Grey Regosols and Lithosols 0.172
14 Brown Regosols 0.271
15 Brown Regosols 0.346
16 Yellowish Brown Regosols 0.331
17 Yellowish Grey Regosols 0.301
18 Complex of Regosols and Lithosols 0.302
19 Brown Andosols 0.278
20 Brown Andosols 0.272
21 Yellowish Brown Andosols 0.223
22 Ass. of Brown Andosols and Brown Regosols 0.271
23 Complex of Renzinas, Lithosols and Brown Forest Soils 0.157
24 Grey Grumusols 0.176
25 Dark Grey Grumusols 0.187

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K
Soil type
factor
26 Complex of Grumusols, Regosols and Mediterranean Soils 0.201
27 Complex of Brown Mediterranean Soils and Lithosols 0.323
28 Ass. of Brown Mediterranean Soils and Grumusols 0.273
29 Ass. of Reddish Brown Mediterranean Soils and Lithosols 0.188
30 Brown Latosols 0.175
31 Reddish Brown Latosols 0.121
32 Dark Reddish Brown Latosols 0.058
33 Yellowish Brown Latosols 0.082
34 Red Latosols 0.075
35 Yellowish Red Latosols 0.054
36 Ass. of Brown Latosols and Grey Regosols 0.186
37 Ass. of Yellowish Brown Latosols and Brown Latosols 0.091
38 Ass. of Reddish Brown Latosols and Brown Latosols 0.067
39 Ass. of Red Latosols, Reddish Brown Latosols and Lithosols 0.062
40 Complex of Red Latosols and Reddish Brown Latosols 0.061
41 Complex of Yellowish Red Latosols, Reddish Brown Latosols and Lithosols 0.064
42 Complex of Reddish Brown Latosols and Lithosols 0.075
Complex of Yellowish Red Latosols, Brown Latosols, Yellowish Red Podsolic
43 0.116
Soils and Lithosols
44 Yellow Podsolic Soils 0.107
45 Yellowish Red Podsolic Soils 0.166
46 Red Podsolic Soils 0.158
47 Ass. of Yellowish Podsolic and Grey Hydromorphic Soils 0.249
48 Ass. of Yellow Podsolic Soils and Regosols 0.158
49 Complex of Yellow and Yellowish Red Podsolic Soils and Regosols 0.175
50 Complex of Yellowish Red Lateritic and Yellowish Red Podsolic Soils 0.175

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Figure 1 K-factors for Java

Figure 2: Rainfall Erositivity (Factor R; Bols map) for Java

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Rainfall erositivity, the R-factor
Soils losses from an agricultural field as a result of a single rainfall storm are, other
factors kept constant, directly related to the product of the total kinetic energy of that
rain storm (E) and its maximum intensity.
Bols (1978) calculated the rainfall erosivity factor for a large number of rainfall
stations on Java and Madura and constructed an iso-erodent map. The digitized map
of Bols is presented in Figure 2. This map layer provides the appropriate R values for
the grid cells.

Slope length and slope steepness, the topographic factor LS


The topographic factors slope length and slope steepness (respectively the factors L
and S in the USLE equation) are only treated separately for research purposes. For
field applications a combined LS factor is more convenient. The LS factor is an
important factor in the USLE, it accounts for more variation in the gross erosion than
any of the other factors, except for the crop/management factor.
Slope length is defined as the distance from the point where overland flow starts to
the point where either the slope steepness decreases to such an extent that deposition
occurs, or where surface runoff enters a well defined channel. The effect of slope
length on the annual surface runoff per unit area of crop-land is limited, but the soil
loss per unit area increases dramatically with increasing slope length. On longer
slopes surface runoff increases in velocity and thus in detaching and transporting
capacity.

In the present GIS model the formula of Wood and Dent (1983) is used, they used the
following formula for the calculation of the slope factor

1.503  sin   2.249 


m
 l 
1.249
LS    * c * cos   *   sin   

 22.1   2 
in which:
l : slope length in m (see table 2)
m : = 0.5 for slopes > 5 %
= 0.4 for slopes between 3 and 5 %
= 0.3 for slopes < 3 %
c : = 34.7046
α : slope angle in degrees

Table 2: Slope length for different slope classes

Slope gradient class


Slope length l (m)
(%)
0–2 55
2 – 15 40
15 – 40 25
>40 20

Slope forms a most important input to the erosion computations; Figure 3 presents the
digital elevation map for Java (SRTM DEM) from which the slope is calculated per

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pixel. The LS factor and the BAKOSURTANAL land-use map for Java are
respectively presented in Figure 4 and 5.

Figure 3: Digital elevation map for Java (SRTM30)

Figure 4: Slope length factor LS for Java

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Figure 5: Land-use map for Java (BAKOSURTANAL 2010)

1.2.3 Influence of cultural- and mechanical management practices


Of particular interest in the present analysis is the use of management practices and
their influence on erosion. Hamer (at IPB) (1981) investigated the effects of
management practices; this was further elaborated and referenced in the BTA-155
project (1988). Following this reference base two types of management can be
differentiated: cultural- and mechanical; those are elaborated below.

Factor C
The crop/crop-management factor C describes the total effect of vegetation, crop
residues and soil management on the soil loss.
The factor is defined as the ratio of soil loss from a field with a particular cropping
pattern and management to that of a field with a bare, tilled soil. The factor range
from 0 to 1, a value of 0 indicating a 100% protection of the soil against erosion. In
the USLE crop cover and management effects are combined in one factor, because
they have many interrelationships. Crop residues can be removed, left on the surface
or incorporated in the soil, while the effect of the residues management depends on
the amount of residue present, which, on its turn, is depending on the type of crop, the
soil fertility, the management decisions (e.g. fertilizer input) etc.

Factor P
The erosion-control practice factor P is the ratio of soil loss using a specific
conservation practice compared with the soil loss occurring under up and down hill
cultivation. This factor also ranges from 0 to 1. The conservation measures usually
included in this factor are contouring, contour strip cropping, terracing and surface
mulching. Conservation measures like conservation tillage, crop rotations, residue
management etc. are incorporated in the C factor. The effectiveness of conservation
practices and thus the value of the P factor generally depends on the slope steepness.

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For each of the land utilization types and for 4 different slope classes the appropriate
management factor can be established, taking into account both cultural and
mechanical management practices.

The BTA-155 report volume IX (pages 30-39) provides a comprehensive description


of the considered land use, crop types and management practices. From this a
combined C.P factor for the USLE has been derived as a function of land use, slope
class and management level.

Land use
For the BTA-155 analysis land use maps of AGRARIA were used, which use very
similar land use classes to the current BAKOSURTANAL maps:

1) Settlement / built-up area


2) Sawah (irrigated or rainfed)
3) Non-irrigated agriculture (Tegalan)
4) Estates and plantations (Perkebunan)
5) Mixed gardens (Kebun)
6) Natural (primary) forest
7) Production (secondary) forest
8) Scrub / Shrub (semak belukar)
9) Grassland
10) Swamps and ponds (rawa / empang)
11) Unproductive land
12) Rocks (additional)

Levels of management
In order to facilitate selection of a particular level of management, several levels of
management were created (Hamer, 1981) based on combinations of management
practices. These different levels of management are compiled for different land-use
types, which can be summarized as follows:

Option 1 represents a very low level of management, in which cultural management


practices are applied to a limited extends and in which mechanical management
practices are restricted to very simple measures like strip cropping. This option 1
more or less represents the “worst case” or the so called potential erosion.

Option 2 represents the actual situation in 1980, in which some surface mulching is
applied and some fertilizers are used, the applied mechanical management practices
are low or moderate (traditional terraces).

Option3 represents a relative high level of management, in which cultural


management practices are moderate to high (surface mulching, fertilizer application
and maintenance of a fairly high ground cover (60-80%) by application of inter-
cropping and crop diversification) and mechanical management practices concentrate
on terracing, either outward sloping terraces or (non-stabilized) bench terraces.
Furthermore it is assumed that all slopes steeper than 40% that are presently
cultivated with non-irrigated dry land crops and plantations will be reforested .

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Slope classes
For most land use types and management levels the combined C.P factor strongly
depends on the slope of the land. To account for this the following slope classes have
been considered:

1) 0 – 2% (Low)
2) 2 – 15% (Moderate)
3) 15-40% (High)
4) > 40% (Very high)

C.P Cross matrix


To provide the combined C.P factors as function of land use, management level and
slope class, the cross matrix presented in table 3 is implemented as a lookup table in
the GIS (Geographic Information System)

Table 3: Combined C.P factor cross matrix


BTACode Landcover Slope Good Bad Actual
1 Settlement area 0-2 0.0500 0.0500 0.0500
1 Settlement area 2 - 15 0.0500 0.0500 0.0500
1 Settlement area 15 - 40 0.0500 0.0500 0.0500
1 Settlement area > 40 0.0500 0.0500 0.0500
2 Sawah 0-2 0.0100 0.0100 0.0100
2 Sawah 2 - 15 0.0100 0.0100 0.0100
2 Sawah 15 - 40 0.0100 0.0220 0.0250
2 Sawah > 40 0.0250 0.0500 0.1000
3 Non-irrigated agriculture (Tegalan) 0-2 0.0445 0.3100 0.1100
3 Non-irrigated agriculture (Tegalan) 2 - 15 0.0625 0.3300 0.1450
3 Non-irrigated agriculture (Tegalan) 15 - 40 0.0955 0.3600 0.2300
3 Non-irrigated agriculture (Tegalan) > 40 0.1365 0.4400 0.3200
4 Estates and plantations 0-2 0.0045 0.2250 0.0468
4 Estates and plantations 2 - 15 0.0104 0.2540 0.0657
4 Estates and plantations 15 - 40 0.0199 0.2860 0.0864
4 Estates and plantations > 40 0.0338 0.3200 0.1170
5 Mixed gardens (Kebun) 0-2 0.0223 0.1550 0.0550
5 Mixed gardens (Kebun) 2 - 15 0.0313 0.1650 0.0755
5 Mixed gardens (Kebun) 15 - 40 0.0478 0.1980 0.1150
5 Mixed gardens (Kebun) > 40 0.0683 0.2200 0.1550
6 Natural forest 0-2 0.0002 0.0005 0.0004
6 Natural forest 2 - 15 0.0005 0.0010 0.0008
6 Natural forest 15 - 40 0.0010 0.0015 0.0013
6 Natural forest > 40 0.0010 0.0015 0.0013
7 Production forest 0-2 0.0010 0.0010 0.0010
7 Production forest 2 - 15 0.0010 0.0020 0.0015
7 Production forest 15 - 40 0.0020 0.0030 0.0025
7 Production forest > 40 0.0020 0.0030 0.0025

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BTACode Landcover Slope Good Bad Actual
8 Shrub 0-2 0.0010 0.0010 0.0010
8 Shrub 2 - 15 0.0015 0.0015 0.0015
8 Shrub 15 - 40 0.0020 0.0020 0.0020
8 Shrub > 40 0.0020 0.0020 0.0020
9 Grassland 0-2 0.0050 0.0200 0.0200
9 Grassland 2 - 15 0.0100 0.0500 0.0500
9 Grassland 15 - 40 0.0200 0.0700 0.0700
9 Grassland > 40 0.0200 0.0700 0.0700
10 Swamps and ponds (water) 0-2 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
10 Swamps and ponds (water) 2 - 15 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
10 Swamps and ponds (water) 15 - 40 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
10 Swamps and ponds (water) > 40 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
11 Unproductive land 0-2 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000
11 Unproductive land 2 - 15 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000
11 Unproductive land 15 - 40 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000
11 Unproductive land > 40 1.0000 1.0000 1.0000
0 Clouds 0-2 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0 Clouds 2 - 15 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0 Clouds 15 - 40 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
0 Cloud cover (NODATA) > 40 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
12 Rocks 0-2 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
12 Rocks 2 - 15 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
12 Rocks 15 - 40 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000
12 Rocks > 40 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000

2 Technical implementation of USLE using a GIS


2.1 Background: Manual procedure applied for BTA-155

A short description of the procedure implemented for the BTA-155 project is taken
from the report:

To be able to compile a reasonable reliable erosion map on a scale 1:250,000 a grid cell size
of 1.25 x 1.25 km were chosen. Given the area of the project (ca 30,000 km 2) this resulted in
more than 19,000 grid cells. As a base for the construction of the grid net the standard grid
net as displayed on the Peta Blanko (blank map) of the Subdirektorat Tata Guna Tanah of the
Direktorat AGRARIA of the Province West Java was used. The grid lines on this 1:250,000
maps are 2 cm apart and the cells are coded from AA to BR along the South-North axis and
from 1 to 89 along the West-East axis. The same grid lines are also displayed on the
1:100,000 and 1:50,000 AGRARIA land use and slope maps. For our purposes the grid cells
were first divided into 4 sub-cells, coded 1 to 4, that were each divided again into four sub-
sub-cells, coded 1.1 to 4.4. The erosion determining factors were derived from various
sources and maps, among others the 1:50,000 and 1:100,000 land use (Peta Penggunaan
Tanah) and slope (Peta Lereng) maps of AGRARIA, the 1:250,000 Soil Map of Java of the
Pusat Penelitian Tanah (PPT, 1996) and the rainfall erodibility map of Java (Bols, 1978).

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For each grid element the average values of the USLE factors were entered in a database.
Erosion rates were calculated for every grid cell and averaged for the water districts and river
basins. The effects of soil conservation measures and predicted land use changes were
evaluated by changing the C and P factors for the grid elements concerned and recalculation
of the erosion rates.

2.2 ArcGIS Spatial analyst implementation

For the 6 Ci’s and JWRSS project, a Java-wide implementation of the USLE model at
30 (28.5) meter resolution has been developed using ArcGIS with Spatial Analyst and
Model Builder extensions.

For the soil Erodibility and Rainfall Erositivity, the same maps have been used as for
the BTA-155 study, digitized and converted to raster GIS layers:

- Soil map by Pusat Penelitian Tanah (1966, 55 soil types)


- Rainfall erositivity map of Bols (1978)

For the slope and land use, new digital datasets have become available that allow
application of the USLE analysis at 1:25,000 scale, or 30 meter resolution:

- Land cover: BAKOSURTANAL 1:25,000 Rupabumi, (published 2010)


- DEM / Slope: from SRTM (2000, 30 m. resolution)

The ArcGIS Spatial Analyst extension provides raster GIS functionality that allows
all of these map layers to be converted to a common raster (28.5 m cells covering all
of Java and Madura islands) Simple calculations on a cell by cell basis can be used to
multiply the factors included in the USLE after using a lookup table (Table 3) to
derive the combined C.P factor from the slope and land use layers.

2.3 ArcGIS Model Builder implementation

ArcGIS Model Builder is an interactive graphical tool that supports structured,


reproducible and well documented spatial processing and modeling.

Instead of executing Spatial Analyst raster processing steps interactively, it allows


you to define the workflow in a diagram, recording all the processing steps performed
in such a way that they can easily be reproduced. Setting up a workflow in Model
Builder also helps to make sure all the “Environment” settings are set correctly to
ensure proper alignment of the raster datasets involved in the analysis.

The Model Builder project is stored in the file _USLEModel.tbx and will be opened
automatically if you open the _USLEModel.mxd workspace with ArcMap.
Alternatively you can add it yourself by opening the “ArcToolBox” window in
ArcMap, then right clicking the topmost “ArcToolbox” icon and selecting “Add
Toolbox…”

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If you open The USLEModel model, you can see that the model exists of three parts:
Figure 6: ArcToolBox
LS : calculates the Slope Length
using Wood & Dent formula, this
provides the LS parameter required
for the USLE equation.

USLE : The main Model which


calculates per pixel the Soil loss in
Ton/Ha/year for the three
management options included,
Good, Actual and Bad.

Summary : This contains a extra


utility to make an overlay with a
reservoir catchment or other
polygon layer to calculate the total
Soil loss within the catchment. The
catchment layer included is that of
the sub-catchment in the upper
Citarum basin.

You can open each of these models by right clicking it and selecting “Edit…” and you
will see the model diagram appear in a new window, for example the LS (Slope
Length/Steepness factor) window as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7: LS (Slope Length) model window.

In the model window the Blue ovals represent model input rasters, the Yellow boxes
represent calculation steps and the green ovals represent intermediate and output
rasters.

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Figure 8: Main Model window.

The main model contains three parallel threads (from left to right) to calculate the
three output rasters A_Good, A_Actual and A_Bad which contain the soil loss per
pixel in Ton/Ha/year.

All the steps in the USLE model haven been executed and the output results are
included so normally you would not need to rerun any part of it, instead you can just
use the included output files for display in maps, or to perform analysis on specific
areas.

2.4 Extracting soil loss summaries using polygons.

The most common application of the USLE model is the estimation of soil loss and
sediment load for specific areas, especially for the catchment area of reservoirs.
For this purpose you can easily use the ArcGIS Spatial Analyst zonal functions, but to
demonstrate this a “Summary” sub model is included that was used to determine the
soil loss per catchment within the upper Citarum basin.

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Figure 9: Summary model

This model first calculates the Soil loss in ton/year per pixel, then uses the Spatial
Analyst “Zonal Statistics as Table” command to calculate the total in ton/year per
catchment polygon. The resulting output file is a DBase file (WS_summary.dbf)
where the “SUM” column contains the result.

2.5 Modeling land use changes.

The current USLE model is based on the most recent 1:25,000 landuse map from
BAKOSURTANAL, which is also used as the basemap for spatial planning.

To analyze the effect of past or future land use changes, it is possible to use Spatial
Analyst functions to select specific areas (pixels) and change their landuse class. Also
it is possible to completely replace the land use layer with data from some other
source (ie. remote sensing).

When making changes to the landuse layer it is important to understand how the
USLE coefficients are to be linked to the land use layer using the BTAcode field in
the raster attribute table (figure 10) These codes are combined with the Slope class
codes in the Layer SC_LC which is then joined to the CP_Lookup table that
contains the combined CP factors for each unique combination of Slope class and
Landuse.BTACode (figure 11, see also Table 3)

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Figure 10: The BTACode field linked to the LandUse layer

Figure 11: The CP_Lookup table (see also Table 3)

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3 Training exercises – USLE model using ArcGIS
3.1 Model setup
3.1.1 System requirements

The USLE model requires the use of a (32-bit) MS-Windows XP or later operating
system and ESRI ArcGIS 10 software, including the Spatial Analyst and Model
Builder extensions. For evaluation or training purposes it is possible to get a free
ArcGIS Trial version license (60 days), the cost of a full license is +/- 4000 US$

The full model including the Java-wide input & output data sets requires +/- 40
Gigabyte of free hard disk space, to actually run the model, at least 100 Gigabyte of
free space is recommended. There are no other specific hardware requirements, but
more RAM and a fast CPU will greatly improve the performance of ArcGIS and the
USLE model.

3.1.2 Installing the USLE model

The model is provided in a zip archive, USLEModel.zip, which contains all the Java-
wide datasets and the ArcGIS Model Builder project filesl. Please unpack this archive
to the root of the hard disk, so if for example you put it on drive D:\ it will create a
folder D:\USLEModel\ containing the model.

When using ArcGIS, you may encounter problems when working


with very long paths and folder or file names containing blanks. So
for this exercise instead of putting the model somewhere in an
existing folder like “My Documents” please do use the short
\USLEModel\ path for running the model.
Also it is recommend to keep filenames shorter than 13 characters,
and use underscores in file or path names instead of blanks when
working with ArcGIS.

1) After unpacking the zip file, to open the model use windows explorer to go into the
\USLEModel\ folder you have just created and double-click the _USLEModel.mxd
workspace to begin. You should now see a land use map zoomed in on the 6Ci’s area, and
on the left side dock you see the Layers panel on top and the ArcGIS ToolBox below.

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3.1.3 Model Workspace and Processing Extent

2) IMPORTANT: Before you start working with the USLE model, you need to change the
“Current Workspace” environment setting to the path of the \USLE folder you have
created. To do this right–click on the ArcToolBox icon on top of the ToolBox and select
“Environments…” from the popup menu.

In the Dialog that opens the only settings you need to change are the Workspace settings,
set the Current Workspace to <drive>:\USLEModel and the Scratch Workspace to
<drive>:\USLEModel\Temp

As running the LS and USLE modules at the full resolution for all of Java can take
more than an hour on a reasonably fast computer, for the purpose of this training we
will focus on the Saguling reservoir catchment area (Bandung basin), limiting all
computations to only this area;

3) To limit the model extent to the Bandung basin only, check the Saguling layer in the
Layer panel to make it visible, then right click on it and select Zoom to layer. The
Bandung basin boundary should now be visible as a blue line and the map is zoomed in
on this area.

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4) In the ToolBox, right click on the USLE module and select Properties… from the pop-
up menu. In the dialog that appears open the Environment tab panel, make sure that the
“Processing Extent” option is checked and click on the Values… button.

In the dialog that appears, click on Processing Extent and for the topmost extent setting;
select Same as Display from the dropdown list.

3.1.4 Running the model

5) After setting the Workspace and Processing Extent, investigate The LS, USLE and
Summary tool in the toolbox, you can right click on each of these modules and select
Edit… from the popup menu to view or change each module’s diagram. Try holding your
mouse still over each of the buttons on the model window toolbar to see a tooltip appear
explaining what each button does.

The most important buttons to remember now are the Validate and Run buttons at the
right end of the toolbar.

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6) Run the USLE module, by right-clicking it and selecting Edit… from the popup menu. A
new Model windows appears, on the model window toolbar first Click the Validate
button, wait for it to reinitialize the model (the shadows representing completed steps in
the module disappear) then click the Run button and you should be able to see the
module running step by step. The outputs of the model will display on the map as their
processing completes. A processed step or output file is displayed with a shadow, to
indicate that it has completed.

Note: There is no need to run the LS module as the LS factor relies only on the Slope so
we will leave it as it is. If you do want to run the LS model as well, you should run it
before running the USLE module and only after setting the Processing Extent it uses like
you did for the USLE module in step 4!

7) The Summary module is a simple module to extract the total potential soil loss for one or
more catchments using a Polygon shapefile layer as input. The default input is a shapefile
with sub-catchments for the Bandung basin.

If you open the module by right-clicking it and selecting Edit… from the popup menu,
you see two (yellow squares) processing steps:

The Tonnes per Cell process on the left converts the Tonnes / Ha / Year soil loss to
tonnes per grid cell. The second step labeled Catchment Summary converts the
Polygon(s) to a raster and summarizes the output of the Tonnes per Cell step per
polygon.

You can run this module using the default settings for Saguling by first clicking the
Validate button, then the Run button. After running the module, you can open the output
Dbase file (<drive>:\USLEModel\Saguling\Summary.dbf) using Excel, or if you don’t
have Excel, using the table view in ArcGIS.

3.2 Creating a simple model, Bare-Soil loss

3.2.1 Purpose of the Bare-Soil calculation

Other sources of land cover / land use information, like those based on remote sensing
(LANDSAT, PALSAR) may yield different results. Also the management options
(Good, Actual and Bad management) were established more than 30 years ago. It is
difficult to say how accurate these inputs are.

If we take both the land use and agricultural management options out of the USLE
equation, what remains (A = R.K.L.S) is the Bare-Soil loss based only on slope, soil
erodibility and rainfall erositivity. This reflects the soil losses that would occur on
land that is fallow during the whole year, so it reflects a worst-case scenario where the
soil is completely bare due to deforestation, poor agricultural management and unused
plots of land.

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As shown in this picture taken
in the Bengawan Solo basin,
the Bare-Soil calculation is
quite relevant in the most
critical areas; after harvesting
and at the end of the dry season
this type of “tegalan” land use
actually results in large plots of
bare soil during most of the
year.

The “Bare Soil” simplification of the USLE formula has been used as one of the
inputs for the water zoning, to identify a zone (right below the very steep zones of
proposed reforestation) where soil conservation measures are most urgent.
Assuming that these grounds will most likely be used for agriculture they are included
in the 6Ci’s water zoning as “Agriculture Management Zone”, where soil
conservation measures need to be taken to support sustainable agriculture.

3.2.2 Creating the Bare-Soil Model

As a first simple exercise of using ArcGIS Model Builder and Spatial Analyst, we
will create a very simple, one-step model to calculate the Bare Soil loss in
Tonnes/Ha/Year.

1) Create a new “Model” module and add it to the _USLEModel Toolbox, by right-clicking
the _USLEModel toolbox and selecting New > Model... from the popup menu.

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2) In the empty Model window that appears, from the menu on top of the window select
Model > Properties…

This pops-up the Model Properties dialog, there you select the General tab panel, enter
“BareSoil” in both the Name and Label fields, and click to select the Store relative
pathnames option to enable this option.
Click OK to close the properties dialog. Now if you click the Save button on the left side
of the Model window you will see the “BareSoil” label appear in the Toolbox instead of
just “Model”

3) Now you need to add the model inputs (R.K.LS) to the Model window, there are two
ways to do this; One way is to use the Add Data or Tool (+) button on the model
window toolbar, and select the R.img, K.img and LS.img files using the file dialog that
appears. Then you can right-click on each of the blue ovals that appear in the model
window and select Rename… from the pop-up menu to remove the .img extension from
each input so they appear as R, K and LS.

The other way to do this, as these layers should already appear in the Layers panel, is to
drag-drop R, K and LS to the model window, in which case they appear without the .img
extension.

Note: Depending on how you add data layers to the Model window, they may or may not
appear in the model with the .img file extentsion (ERDAS Imagine format raster). The .img
extension has been removed by renaming (right-click > Reame…) the element in the diagram
so it reflects the file name without the extention or full path.

4) To lay out the window and make it look better organized, two buttons on the model
window that you will use a lot while working with Model Builder are the Auto Layout
and Full Extent buttons, please find and click these button and the Model window should
look like the screenshot below:

5) Click the Add Data or Tool (+) button on the Model window toolbar, or right-click in the
empty area of the Model window and select the Add Data or Tool option from the popup
menu.

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You may need to get used to the way this dialog works as it is a bit different from how a
typical ”Open File” menu works in Windows Applications;

6) In the upper-left corner of this dialog, you need to open the Look in: dropdown list
(which by default points at Home – USLEModel), select Toolboxes, System Toolboxes,
Spatial Analyst Tools.tbx, Map Algebra, Raster Calculator and click on the Add
button at the bottom of this dialog. You have now added a new Raster Calculator element
to the Model window.

Note: An alternative way to add a tool to the model is to locate it in the Toolbox (docked to
the left side of ArcMap) and drag it into the Model window from there.

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7) Double click the Raster Calculator process to open it, now you see a list of the available
variables and map layers on the left, a simple calculator in the middle and a list of more
specific functions on the right.

By double-clicking on the layers list, then single-clicking on the “*” button, you can
interactively enter the calculation R * K * LS which will appear in the text field below
using the equivalent MapAlgebra / Python syntax;

"%R%" * "%K%" * "%LS%"

In the Output Raster field enter <drive>:USLEModel\A_BareSoil.img and click the


OK button to close the calculator.

8) Check that the color of the raster calculator step has changed color from white to yellow,
to indicate that it has been provided with enough information to be run, also connecting
lines with the inputs appear,

For clarity, rename the raster calculator process to “Bare Soil losses” and remove the .img
extension from the A_BareSoil output by right clicking and selecting Rename.. from the
popup menu.

Click the Auto Layout and Full Extent buttons on the Model window toolbar, then hit
the Validate and Run buttons and your first model should be completed.

To show the model result on the map, you can right-click on the green oval that
represents the model output and select Add to Display from the popup menu.

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3.3 Water zoning for Forest and Agriculture Management

3.3.1 Using USLE for water zoning in spatial planning

As one of the criteria for the proposed 6 Ci’s water zoning, areas with a Bare-Soil loss
larger than 500 Tonnes/Ha/year are selected because these are the most vulnerable to
erosion causing serious soil degradation upstream and sedimentation problems
downstream.

Additionally, areas where the slope is larger than 30% are considered unsuitable for
any other land use then forest, so in these areas forest conservation is required where
there still exists forest, and the part where the forest have already disappeared should
be considered for reforestation.

3.3.2 Creating a simple Water Zoning model

As the zoning model for this exercise is based on the Bare-Soil loss calculation, one
way to make a quick start is to make a copy of the model from the previous exercise
and add additional processing steps to it. This will also involve new Inputs, the
LandUse and Slope datasets.

1) Make a copy of the BareSoil model created in the previous exercise, by right- clicking it
and selecting Copy from the popup menu, then right clicking the _USLEModel Tool and
selecting Paste

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2) Open the properties dialog for the new model and change its Name and Label to
“Zoning”.

3) Edit the new Zoning model and add the LandUse and Slope input layers, using the Add
Data or Tool button or by dragging them from the Layers panel to the model window.
(see also 3.2.2 exercise 3)

Rename the input layers to “LandUse” and “Slope” (the default name depends on the
way you chose to add them) Rename the output of the BareSoil calculation to
A_BareSoil, removing the .img extension.

4) Add a new Raster Calculator tool to the Model Window (see also 3.2.2 exercise 4)
Now there are two raster calculator elements in the model, labeled “Raster Calculator”
and “Raster Calculator (2)” which is a bit confusing; rename them to something more
meaningful, like Bare Soil Loss and Zoning.

5) Now Open the Water Zoning Raster Calculator dialog and, set the Output Raster field
to <drive>:\USLEModel\Zones.img.

The first raster function we will use is the conditional statement Con(condition,
true_result, false_result); locate this function in the list on the right, double-click it to
add it to the MapAlgebra expression panel below.

Leave the text cursor exactly where it is now (|,) and in the list on the left, double-click
the variable Slope then click the > (larger then) operator and add the number 30 just like
you would with any other calculator. Now inside the Con() statement after the comma
add 1, 0 and the MapAlgebra panel should now contain this statement:

Con("%Slope%" > 30, 1, 0)

This sets the pixels with a slope higher than 30% to 1 and the rest of the pixels to 0.

Now click the Auto Layout and Full Extent buttons on the Toolbar to adjust the layout.
To see if the calculation works, you can right-click on the Zoning process and select Run
from the popup menu.

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Note: You will notice that this calculation takes much longer to complete, if you right-click
the “Zoning” output element and zoom out a bit, you will see that we calculated this step for
all of Java, this is because the input Slope layer covers all of java and we took no action to
restrict the processing extent to just the Bandung area.

6) Now Open the Zoning Raster Calculator dialog again, we will use the Con() function
again and nest it inside the Con() function to set the pixels with A_BareSoil > 500 to 2
and the rest of the pixels to the value 0.

You can either use the calculator buttons and lists or edit the MapAlgebra statement
manually, the last argument (the value 0) needs to be replaced with
Con("%A_BareSoil%" > 500, 2, 0) so the complete MapAlgebra statement reads:

Con("%Slope%" > 30, 1, Con("%A_BareSoil%" > 500, 2, 0))

When you have completed this, close the dialog, re-adjust the Layout, right click on the
Zoning calculation and select Run from the popup menu or Toolbar.

Note: This time the calculation finishes very quickly, it only covers the Bandung area because
one of the inputs (A_BareSoil) only covers this area and the calculation cannot be done for
pixels where there is no value for this input.

7) IMPORTANT: As mentioned in the two notes above, the default Processing Extent
may lead to somewhat unexpected results as they depend on the combination of input
raster properties. Therefore it is better to always start with setting the Environment
settings for a new model to make sure that the most important settings like Processing
Extent, Snap Raster, Raster Analysis Cell Size are well defined before we start
building and running a model.

It is possible to do so afterwards, so for both the BareSoil and Zoning model, open the
Model Properties, got to the Enviroment tab panel and set the Processing Extent, Snap
Raster and Raster Analysis Cell Size settings to match that of the Variable R, then
Validate and Run both models again.

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Note: in the Zoning Model diagram you can see that the LandUse layer has not been used yet,
we will use it in the next exercise to compare the Forest Management zone with the existing
forest land use pixels to see how much land needs to be re-forested.

3.3.3 Determine the reforestation area

By subtracting the LandUse pixels that still contain forest according to the
BAKOSURTANAL RupaBumi map, we can use the Zoning model to estimate how
large the area is that needs to be reforested in the Forest Management zone.

1) In the layers legend (Table Of Contents) on the left, right-click on the LandUse layer and
select Open Attribute Table, note that the landuse Value field for forest is 17 (see also
figure 10)

2) Open the Zoning model (right-click, Edit) and add one more Raster Calculator element,
(see also 3.2.2 exercise 4). Rename it to “Reforestation” and double click it to open the
Raster Calculator dialog.

In the MapAlgebra field you can manually enter this expression:

Con("%LandUse%" = 17, 3, "%Zones%")

or you can practice a bit how to input this using the calculator buttons and list.

Set the Output raster to <drive>:\USLEModel\Reforest.img, click OK to close the


raster calculator, then right-click, Run or use the Run button on the toolbar to run the
additional process we have just added.

3) Add the new Reforest layer to the map (right-click, Add to Display) and set the colors for
class 1 (reforest) 2 (agriculture management) 3 (existing forest) the way you prefer and
inspect the map to see if the result looks as you would expect.

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4) If you right-click the Reforest layer and select the Open Attribute Table option from the
popup menu, you will see that only the cell count is listed there, so we will need to add
one more step to the model to summarize the reforestation area per sub-catchment of the
Bandung basin.

5) As the last step for the Zoning model, locate the Tabulate Area tool (in Spatial Analyst
> Zonal) and add it to the model, then drag the Catchments layer from the Legend panel
into the Model window.

Double click the process to open the settings. For the Input raster or feature zone data
select the Catchment layer, leave the zone field at its default (DASNAME) and as the
second input raster select the Reforest layer.

As the output file, enter <drive>:USLEModel\Reforest.dbf, then click OK and run the
process

6) Now you can open the Reforest.dbf file in excel, reformat it and review the results (in
square meters), remembering that the value field stands for:

1 (reforestation), 2 (agriculture management), 3 (existing forest)

Note: The Zoning model we have created for this exercise is a simplified version of
the proposed zoning for the 6Ci’s project, which included additional steps
(BoundaryClean and MajorityFilter) to smoothen the zones and remove isolated
pixels. The reforestation areas calculated in this exercise therefore will not be exactly
the same as that mentioned in the 6Ci’s reports.

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3.4 Modeling Land Use change scenarios

3.4.1 Introduction

The USLE model already includes three different management scenarios (Good, Bad
and Actual) that affect the amount of soil loss on both agricultural and forest areas, as
can be seen from the combined C.P factors listed in Table 3. This was based on an
extensive analysis done for the BTA-155 project.

The USLE model has been used to support the Water Zoning process for the 6 Ci’s
project, by identifying the areas where improvement of the agricultural management
is most urgent for sedimentation control. Also a zone has been identified where
reforestation and/or rehabilitation of remaining forests is proposed (slope > 30%).

For the Sedimentation analysis of the Saguling reservoir an integrated analysis was
done where both the effect of improved management and reforestation in the proposed
zones has been quantified.

For the purpose of this training a simplified analysis will be demonstrated, where only
the effect of the reforestation is modeled by modifying the land use layer and running
the Actual Management scenario of the model with this changed land use scenario.

3.4.2 Reforestation scenario, modeling the land use change

To create a modified Landuse layer, instead of running the Raster Calculator directly
from the ToolBox, we will add it as an extra processing step to the Zoning model.
This way the same Environment settings are used, and the exact commands we use
are documented and easy to reproduce.

1) Open (right-click > Edit..) the Zoning Model, then in the ToolBox > Spatial Analyst >
MapAlgebra locate the Raster Calculator and drag it into the model Window, rename it to
“LandUse Change” and double-click it to open the calculator.

2) In the raster calculator, double-click the Con() function like we did in the previous
exercises, then double click the Reforest dataset, the == operator, then the number 1.

The MapAlgebra statement below now reads Con("Reforest" == 1,) now move the
cursor to the right just after the comma, enter then number 18, a second comma and then
double click the LandUse layer (in the list on the left)

This should result in the following MapAlgebra statement, which you can of course also
enter manually:

Con("%Reforest%" == 1, 18, "%Landuse%")

Now in the Output Raster field at the bottom, enter the filename for the output;
<drive>/USLEModel/LU_Reforest.img

Now click on OK to close the dialog and rename it’s output in the Diagram to
LU_Reforest. Now Run the process, and add its output to the map.

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3) Unfortunately, if you compare the Attribute table of the LU_Reforest layer with that of
the LandUse layer it was derived from, you will see that the LU_Reforest layer contains
only a Value attribute, The other fields from the original LandUse layer are lost.

As we Need the BTACode field in the LandUse layer for the USLE model to work
properly, we need to add one more step to the model. In the Toolbox navigate to Data
Management Tools > Joins > Join Field and drag this tool into the Zoning model.

4) Open Windows File explorer, goto the USLEModel folder and make a copy of the
Landuse.img.vat.dbf table, rename it to BTACodes.dbf, then go back to ArcMap and
open this table.

Editing a Table in DBF format is a bit of a strange process, you use the Add Data button
on the Toolbar, then this should change the Layer legend into “List by Source Mode” and
the table appears in the layers list (at the bottom) Right click this BTACodes table and
select Open. The table now appears in a Table view Window.

Editing the table requires that you make the Editor toolbar visible and select Start
Editing from this toolbar, you will be prompted to select the file to edit, select
BTACodes.

Now in the empty row at the bottom, double click the cell in the Value column, and enter
the number 18, the value we assigned to the reforested pixels. For the BTACode field
enter the value 7, the same as for Forest, and enter english labels to the record,
“Reforestation” and “Reboisasi”.

Now on the ArcMap Editor toolbar, select Stop Editing and click Yes to save the
changes you have made.

Note: Clearly, ArcGIS is not the most user friendly tool for such a simple task as adding a
record to a table in DBF (Dbase) format, but as the DBF format is considered obsolete by
most software vendors finding a better tool to do this is not easy, editing the file in Excel may
cause problems with the field definitions etc. when the edited file is input into ArcGIS and
with Excel 2010 opening DBF files seems to be no longer supported

5) Back in ArcGIS, editing the Zoning model you are now ready to add the BTACode table
to the LU_Forest layer. Drag the BTACode table from the Layers panel (Table of
Contents) into the Zoning model window, then double click the Join Field we added
earlier tool to open it.

For the Input Table select the LU_Reforest layer, set the Join Table to LandUse and
both the of the Join fields settings to Value. Then select all of the Optional Join Fields
except VALUE and COUNT and click OK.

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6) After closing the Join Field dialog and clicking the layout buttons on the toolbar to
rearrange the model, an output element appears next to the new process, but this is
effectively the same as it’s input element, if you double-click it you will see that you
cannot change it’s file name. Rename this to LU_JoinField and Run the Join Field
process.

7) Now Run the Join Field Process, Add its output (ot input) to the map and open the
attribute table of the LU_reforest layer again and you should see that the attributes of the
BTACodes table have been added to the attributes table. If not, you may need to remove
this layer from the layer legend and put it back once.

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8) Double click the LC_Reforest layer in the layer panel to open the Layer Properties dialog,
and click on the Symbology tab panel. To display this layer with the same “Symbology”
as the original landuse layer, click on the Import… button then select LandUse from the
list that pops up to copy the landuse colors to the new layer.

The new reforestation class is not yet included in the symbology, so you need to click the
Add Values... button, and select 18 from the list to add it, give the new land use class the
Label “Reforestation” and select a bright color for it like Magenta so you can clearly see
it on the map.

Note: there is a bug in ArcGIS, which in some cases causes the reforestation pixels not to be
displayed as expected. This happens when you import the symbology from another layer
which has less classes in it.Sometimes the solution is to save the layer settings to a file (*.lyr),
remove the layer, add it again, then import the symbology from the layer settings file (*.lyr)
In other cases the problemcan be caused by having so-called Pyramid layers.

If we just ignore the display problem mentioned above (you can use the Identify tool
to verify that these pixels do have the value 18, and restyle that layer completely) we
can continue with the USLE analysis for the LU_Change layer we have just created.

Alternatively, if we display the Reforestation layer and change the color for class 1 to
a bright color like Magenta, then display the LUReforest layer on top of it, we get the
map we would se if it were not for the display problem with importing layer
symbology from another layer or *.lyr file:

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3.4.3 Create a separate model for the reforestation land use change

One of the great benefits of using model builder is that you can clone a model, make a
few changes to it and run it to analyse different scenario’s or perform a sensitivity
analysis of the model inputs;

One way to run different version of a model is to make a copy of the entire workspace
using a different folder name and change the Workspace setting (see 3.1.3, exercise 2)
However, given the size of the model (around 40 Gigabyte for all of Java) copying the
entire workspace takes a lot of time, so we will just use a clone of the USLE model
with different inputs and outputs, allowing it to overwrite most of the “Intermediate”
files during the process;

1) Make a copy of the USLE model and rename it to Reforestation (see also
3.3.2 exercise 1,2) then right-click > Edit to open the Reforestation model.

2) On the left side of the model, find the LandUse input in the diagram, double-
click it to change the input file to LU_Reforest.img

3) On the right side of the model, find the A_Good, A_Actual and A_Bad
outputs, and double click each of them to change the filenames to
A_Reforest_Good.img, A_Reforest_Actual.img and A_Reforest_Bad.img.

Then change the name of the output elements in the diagram accordingly, to
A_Reforest_Good, A_Reforest_Actual and A_Reforest_Bad.

4) Now on the Model window toolbar, click Validate, then Run and watch the
model go…

5) After the model completes, you can switch layers to visualize the difference
between the original USLE analysis, and the analysis you have created for the
reforestation landuse change.

6) Another option included in the mode, you can make summaries of the Soil loss
for each landuse and managent scenario by running the Summary model,
Instead of editing the Summary model, for this purpose you can simply double
click the Summary model, select a different input layer, run it and open the
Summary.dbf file to compare the soil losses per catchment, per scenario.

After completing all the exercises, you can probably think of many other things to do,
using ArcGIS Model Builder to help you organize your work!

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