Peter S. Murdoch, USGS Richard Birdsey, USFS Ken Stolte, USFS

1. The Collaborative Environmental Monitoring and Research Initiative (CEMRI)A Pilot in the Delaware River Basin Peter S. Murdoch, USGS Richard Birdsey, USFS Ken Stolte, USFS

2. Multi-tier Monitoring Design • Tier One – Remote Sensing and Mapping • Wall-to-wall coverage; stratification • Tier Two – Extensive Inventories and Surveys • Representative regional statistical sample • Tier Three – Condition Sample • Gradient studies: representative of specified condition classes • Tier Four –Intensive Areas • Relatively small number of specific sites representing important processes Increasing spatial resolution Increasing temporal resolution

3. Overview of Delaware River Basin Pilot Monitoring Program • Multi-agency effort to develop an environmental monitoring framework • USGS, FS, NPS, NASA, State and local partners • Integrated application of monitoring technology at multiple scales • Designed to address specific issues: • forest fragmentation • non-native invasive pests • calcium depletion and nitrogen deposition • Modeling the effects of N- deposition on water quality • Capable of addressing multiple issues

4. The DRB-CEMRI project specifically tested: • How this integration between process-level studies and FIA-level monitoring might work, and • What types of data are required for 'scaling-up' of process-level information, and how that data might be collected.

5. Delaware Basin ISEM Watersheds

6. Sample Intensification (Tier 4) at 3 Watersheds in the Delaware River BasinStolte et al, this session French Creek Intensive Plots

7. Tier 2 Surveys– USFS Forest Inventoryand Analysis (FIA) Plots measured with a 5-year panel system to characterize forests of the Delaware River Basin. Added 3 soil samples at 3 depths to each forested plot, + stream survey. Focus on Appalachian Plateau (Northern Basin)

8. Tier 2: Soil Ca Map • Soil calcium is lowest in areas with highest nitrogen deposition • Patterns emerging: reflect bedrock, glacial history, and deposition patterns <0.1

9. Data integration through modeling Pan and others, this session

10. Tiered structure used with each issue: Forest Fragmentation of the Delaware River Basin

11. Forest Fragmentation Tier 4: The “Three Watershed Study” in the Delaware Water Gap

12. Tier 3: Fragmentation Study Watersheds in the Delaware River Basin – Base Map is NLCD’92 from TM Data Neversink Delaware Water Gap • Fragmentation estimates from low-altitude CIR aerial photography • Water quality data from USGS NAWQA synoptic sample • 32 watersheds comprise a factorial experiment: urbanization (5 levels) x EPT richness (3 levels) • Riemann and Murray, this session French Creek

13. Tier 2 – Random sampling of condition within the Delaware Gap Intensive Area Delaware River Basin Random forest plots (FHM) and stream survey points (EMAP design) Delaware Water Gap Intensive Site

14. Tier 1 Forest Fragmentation: • Land cover of Dingman’s Falls watershed derived from various remote sensors • Del Gap aerial photo • Regional coverage using NLCD Riemann and Murray, this session

15. What did we do together? • Linked FIA to regional stream, soil, and deposition data, and facilitated the first multi-scale assessment of forest condition through use of FIA and ancillary data. • Conducted first regional forest soil-chemistry survey: FIA collected soils and provided field methods testing. USGS provided laboratory analysis of soils, methods design, and field support. • Associated research: USGS supplied long-term research and monitoring in streams, and a new regional stream survey linked to FIA. FIA provided plot data. FIA/FHM/NE Global Change provided forest research at ISEM, regional, and remote sensing scales. • A comparatively simple and inexpensive collaboration between the USFS and the USGS resulted in greatly enhanced interpretive power of monitoring data from both agencies.

16. First Integrated Regional Assessment of Effects of Disturbance on Vegetation, Soil, and Water in Forested Landscapes Forest Soil FIA/FHM- USGS Soil surveys, Research FIA, FHM, NPS, Research Deposition NADP/NTN/NWS Research sites Water NAWQA, USGS Surveys and Research

17. Conclusions: • Scaling up from watershed to region requires forest information which the FIA plot layout is uniquely qualified to provide. • A link between current forest research and FIA increases the value of both research and FIA data (ie. we can now say more about the regional landscape than we could separately) • A little additional data collected on FIA plots -- e.g. soils chemistry and forest condition indicators--made that link possible.

18. Talks this session • Linking forest data across scales • Linking fragmentation to water quality • Linking remote sensing and FIA plot data to detect pest infestation • Linking soil calcium depletion to tree health • Modeling the effects of N-deposition on N-export from watersheds • Discussion of the CEMRI pilot- where do we go from here?

20. Regional gradient study of stream and foliar Calcium concentration Net Primary Productivity Biogeochemical Status Foliar Chemistry Visible/IR Reflectance Soil Chemistry Stream Chemistry Site Continuous Regional subsample Scale R2 = 0.42 R2 = 0.33 Tier 3 Regional correlations: Is regional foliar or soil chemistry correlated with stream chemistry? N NY Watersheds NH Watersheds Hallet, USFS Murdoch et al, poster session