Eastern Ontario Wetland Valuation System A First Approximation

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Eastern OntarioWetland Valuation SystemA First
Approximation

• Produced by
• Chris Burns
• (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources)
• and
• Phil Wilson
• (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society)
• for the
• Eastern Ontario Natural Heritage Working Group

June 2003.
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Note

• This presentation focuses on the results of the
  Wetland Valuation System GIS model.
• An additional document called the Eastern Ontario
  Wetland Valuation System A First Approximation
  is available separately in Portable Document
  Format (PDF) which focuses on the project
  methodology.

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Project Goals

• To provide local decision-makers with the best
  available natural heritage information for
  municipal planning.
• To provide an information foundation for
  conservation priorities within the region.

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Project Objectives

• To prepare maps showing the OMNR-evaluated
  Provincially Significant Wetlands.
• To develop ecological criteria to determine the
  value of all known wetlands in eastern Ontario.
• To use the ecological criteria, the best
  available data, and GIS to model the value of all
  known wetlands in eastern Ontario.

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Study Area

• Eastern Ontario including the counties of Leeds
  and Grenville, Lanark, Ottawa-Carleton,
  Prescott-Russell, and Stormont-Dundas-Glengarry.
• This area is a management unit of the OMNR called
  the Kemptville District.
• 1.7 million hectares.

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Wetland GIS Databases

• 1. Evaluated Wetlands
• Field-based mapping by trained OMNR staff using
  the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System.
• Point scoring system that categorizes each
  evaluated wetland as either Provincially
  Significant or Locally Significant.
• Includes high geographic detail with each wetland
  being made up of contiguous parts (e.g. Mer Bleue
  Bog is made up of 78 parts).
• These contiguous parts were dissolved to create a
  new GIS layer containing 1550 Provincially
  Significant and 538 Locally Significant wetland
  polygons in the study area (see next slide for a
  sample).

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Wetland GIS Databases (continued)

• 2. Ontario Base Map (OBM) Wetlands
• Mapped at 1 10000 scale by air photo
  interpretation.
• The OBM water polygon GIS layer contains both
  Wetland Area, Permanent features and Water
  Area, Permanent features.
• All the Wetland Area, Permanent features were
  extracted from the OBM water polygon GIS layer
  for use in this project.
• 18017 polygons.

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Valuated Wetlands

• Compiled from a union overlay (which merges
  features from two layers) using the evaluated
  wetlands GIS layer and the OBM wetlands GIS layer
  (see next slide for a sample).
• This valuated wetlands GIS layer is considered to
  be the best representation of known wetlands in
  the study area.
• 16354 wetland polygons (each assigned a unique
  numeric ID).

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Multi-Criteria GIS Modelling

• Each of the 16534 valuated wetlands was assigned
  a final model value. This value refers to the
  relative importance of the wetland based on nine
  ecological criteria.
• The nine ecological criteria were modelled using
  the best available data and stored as individual
  GIS layers with scores between 0 and 3 or, for
  certain criteria, 1 and 3.
• The final model value was calculated by summing
  the scores of the nine criteria.
• Because of the way the criteria were scored, each
  wetland could theoretically receive a final model
  value between 3 and 26.

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Wetland Size
Wetland Valuation System Multi-Criteria GIS
Modelling
Wetland Interior
Wetland Edge
Adjacent Vegetation
Map Calculator Addition Overlay
Wetland Valuation System GIS Model
Wetland Disturbance
Wetland Habitat Linkage
Wetland Hydrological Linkage
Headwater Wetland
Wetland Flood Attenuation
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Criteria Wetland Size
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Criteria Wetland Interior
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Criteria Wetland Edge
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Criteria Adjacent Vegetation
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Criteria Wetland Disturbance
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Criteria Wetland Habitat Linkage
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Criteria Wetland Hydrological Linkage
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Criteria Headwater Wetland
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Criteria Wetland Flood Attenuation
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Wetland Valuation System GIS Model

• Final model value minimum 4.
• Final model value maximum 22.
• Final model value mean 12.
• Final model value standard deviation 3.
• Only 17 wetlands received a score of at least 1
  for every criterion.
• See next slide for histogram.

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Discussion

• The wetland valuation system could serve as a
  tool to identify potential Provincially
  Significant Wetlands.
• No accuracy assessment was conducted to determine
  the quality of the model. Directed field work
  could be used to check the results.
• Many more wetlands have yet to be identified in
  the study area. Further work could focus on
  improving the mapping of wetlands.

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Acknowledgements This initiative was made
possible through the support and guidance of the
Eastern Ontario Natural Heritage Working Group
individuals and partners Individuals   Nick
Stow Algonquin to Adirondacks Conservation
Association Jean Langlois Canadian Parks and
Wilderness Society Phil Wilson Canadian Parks
and Wilderness Society Mark Rowsell Eastern
Ontario Model Forest Gary Nielsen Leeds
Stewardship Council Chris Burns Ontario
Ministry of Natural Resources Jeff Leggo St.
Lawrence Islands National Park Greg
Saunders St. Lawrence Islands National
Park Bill Stevenson St. Lawrence Islands
National Park Don Ross The Watershed Nature and
History Network Norm Ruttan The Watershed
Nature and History Network Partners   Algon
quin to Adirondacks Conservation
Association Canadian Parks and Wilderness
Society Ducks Unlimited Eastern Ontario Model
Forest Ontario Ministry of Natural
Resources University of Ottawa St. Lawrence
Islands National Park The Watershed Nature and
History Network Thanks to the following people
for their assistance with the GIS component of
this project   Allen Bibby Ontario Ministry of
Natural Resources David Broscoe Algonquin
College Caroline Duchesne Natural Resources
Canada David Howlett Rivfo.com Jeff
Jenness Jenness Enterprises Dan
Patterson Carleton University Mark
Rowsell Eastern Ontario Model Forest Greg
Saunders St. Lawrence Islands National
Park Michael Sawada University of Ottawa Dale
Scale Ontario Ministry of Natural
Resources Paul Staples Ontario Ministry of
Natural Resources