Barry R Middleton

Spatial Database of Known and Potential Ciénegas in the Greater Madrean Archipelago Ecoregion

This dataset provides location information and some limited attributes of known and potential ciénegas in the Madrean Archipelago ecoregion and closely surrounding area. This was created using point data and information provided by Dean Hendrickson and Thomas Minckley, combined with potential locations derived from analysis of classified raster land cover images and other specialized datasets. Ciénegas, as defined here, are wetlands in arid and semi-arid regions associated with groundwater or lotic components that ideally result in perennial waters on temporal scales of decades to centuries. Ciénegas are typically located at elevations ranging from 0 to 2000m. Ciénegas are typified by significant differences in...

Tags: Arizona, Ecology, Geography, Hydrology, Land Use Change, All tags... Madrean Archipelago ecoregion, New Mexico, Sonora, USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), arid lands, ciénaga, ciénega, freshwater marsh, inlandWaters, springs, wetland ecosystems, Fewer tags

Recently intensifying drought conditions have caused increased stress to non-native tamarisk vegetation across riparian areas of the San Carlos Apache Tribe (hereafter Tribe) and the Upper Gila River watershed in Arizona and New Mexico. This also increases wildfire risk in the area, making the removal of tamarisk vegetation a primary restoration and climate adaptation objective for the Tribe. The research from this project can improve the Tribe’s capacity to map tamarisk and other riparian vegetation, in addition to monitoring the relative condition and water stress of the vegetation in a timely manner. Specifically, the project will help identify where tamarisk is on the reservation and inform restoration actions...

Categories: Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2023, CASC, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Peoples, Plants, All tags... Plants, Projects by Region, Rivers, Streams and Lakes, Rivers, Streams and Lakes, Southwest, Southwest CASC, Tribes and Tribal Organizations, Tribes and Tribal Organizations, Water, Coasts and Ice, Water, Coasts and Ice, Wetlands, Wetlands, Wildlife and Plants, Wildlife and Plants, Fewer tags

Riparian systems are critical to the human and ecological communities that interact with them. For the members of San Carlos Apache Tribe, this is particularly true, as riparian systems provide immense cultural and natural values such as ceremonial grounds and recreation areas. However, the riparian areas within the San Carlos Apache Reservation are at risk of degradation due to climate change and land use. Over the past several decades, invasive vegetation, changes in river discharge, and increased wildfire activity have continued to threaten the area’s riparian resources. This project aims to inform riparian restoration efforts by providing products that: identify historic vegetation and river channel properties,...

Categories: Project; Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: 2021, CASC, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Peoples, All tags... Plants, Plants, Plants, Projects by Region, Projects by Region, Rivers, Streams and Lakes, Rivers, Streams and Lakes, Rivers, Streams and Lakes, Southwest, Southwest, Southwest CASC, Tribes and Tribal Organizations, Tribes and Tribal Organizations, Tribes and Tribal Organizations, Water, Coasts and Ice, Water, Coasts and Ice, Water, Coasts and Ice, Wildlife and Plants, Wildlife and Plants, Wildlife and Plants, Fewer tags

We apply a research approach that can inform riparian restoration planning by developing products that show recent trends in vegetation conditions identifying areas potentially more at risk for degradation and the associated relationship between riparian vegetation dynamics and climate conditions. The vegetation is characterized using a series of remote sensing vegetation indices developing using satellite imagery, including the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Tasseled Cap (TC) Transformation metrics of brightness, greenness, and wetness. Each of these remote sensing vegetation indices provides a unique characterization of the vegetation properties. For example, NDVI provides a general overview...

Types: Map Service, OGC WFS Layer, OGC WMS Layer, OGC WMS Service; Tags: Climatology, Environmental Health, Geography, Land Use Change, Remote Sensing, All tags... USGS Science Data Catalog (SDC), Fewer tags

(iii) Raster Stacks of Climate Period Sen's Slope Products for the Vegetation Indices across the Upper Gila River Watershed: 1985 to 2021

We apply a research approach that can inform riparian restoration planning by developing products that show recent trends in vegetation conditions identifying areas potentially more at risk for degradation and the associated relationship between riparian vegetation dynamics and climate conditions. The full suite of data products and a link to the associated publication addressing this analysis can be found on the Parent data release. For this study, the vegetation conditions are characterized using a series of remote sensing vegetation indices developing using satellite imagery, including the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Tasseled Cap (TC) Transformation. The NDVI is a commonly used vegetation...