Projects > Watershed Statistics for the Lower Thompson Conservation Unit

A multi-temporal land use/land cover dataset was developed for three points in time: the mid 80s (1986), the 90s (1999) and present day (2005). The land use coverages were derived from Landsat imagery for each time period augmented by SPOT imagery and forest age attributes from the Vegetation Resource Inventory (VRI). In addition, a multi-temporal road dataset was developed for two points in time: the mid 80s and present day. The statistics summarize a variety of environmental indicators (e.g., road density, road length, logged area) on a watershed basis. The new land use and road information facilitated the update of the existing Watershed Statistics product for the Lower Thompson. The three time periods of data allow explicit changes (e.g., trends) in land use to be compared over time. The multi-temporal roads coverage was used to regenerate those statistics related to roads for two time periods - the mid 80s and present day time periods, providing a 20-year span for comparison.