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Building the Capacity to Access Spatial Information about the Extent of Riparian Vegetation in New South Wales,Australia (4070)

Narsimha Garlapati, Mustak Shaikh and Mick Dwyer (Australia)
Mr. Mick Dwyer
Team Leader, Spatial Products & Information
NSW Office of Water
10 Valentine Avenue
Parramatta
2150
Australia
 
Corresponding author Mr. Mick Dwyer (email: Mick.Dwyer[at]dnr.nsw.gov.au, tel.: + 61 2 9895 7963)
 

[ abstract ] [ paper ] [ handouts ]

Published on the web 2010-01-14
Received 2009-11-19 / Accepted 2010-01-14
This paper is one of selection of papers published for the FIG Congress 2010 in Sydney, Australia and has undergone the FIG Peer Review Process.

FIG Congress 2010
ISBN 978-87-90907-87-7 ISSN 2308-3441
http://www.fig.net/resources/proceedings/fig_proceedings/fig2010/index.htm

Abstract

Riparian vegetation has an important influence on water quality and habitat. The environmental condition of riparian buffer zones greatly influences the water quality in water bodies and wetlands (Day, 2001). Forested riparian zones reduce the delivery of non-point source pollution (pollution that is not from a single identifiable source) to waterways and water bodies, and they provide refuge to fauna. State government agencies and catchment management authorities (CMAs) require better information to plan riparian conservation and restoration works along rivers. Riparian Vegetation Extent for Environmental Evaluation, Monitoring and Reporting (Garlapati et al, 2009) describes the development of a spatial dataset for assessing the extent of riparian vegetation in New South Wales. The dataset brings together several datasets to create the first complete coverage of the coastal, Murray and Murrumbidgee catchments. Government agencies will be able to use the dataset for environmental monitoring, evaluation and reporting. The dataset is readily available for the community and natural resource management agencies. Objective/ Results The paper will describe the procedures used in the NSW Riparian Vegetation Extent for Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Purposes Project to generate a spatial dataset showing the extent of riparian vegetation for environmental monitoring, evaluation and reporting using remote sensing and GIS (geographic information system) based techniques. Significance The development of this dataset by the former NSW Department of Water and Energy (DWE) completes the first phase of a project to provide a complete dataset for the extent of riparian vegetation throughout the State. Previously, riparian vegetation had been mapped by different government agencies at different places, for a range of purposes at various scales. However, no single project had mapped the extent of riparian vegetation covering the whole state. This project is part of the NSW Office of Water’s aims to make natural resource data accessible to other agencies and the community, for better resource management outcomes. 1Spatial Analyst, NSW Office of Water, PO BOX 3720 Parramatta, NSW 2124 2Senior Remote Sensing Analyst, NSW Office of Water, PO BOX 3720 Parramatta, NSW 2124 3Team Leader Spatial Products & Information, NSW Office of Water, PO BOX 3720 Parramatta, NSW 2124 Reference Riparian Vegetation Extent for Environmental Evaluation, Monitoring and Reporting.2009. Garlapati, N., Shaikh, M., Dwyer, M. NSW Department of Water and Energy, Sydney.
 
Keywords: Remote sensing; Land management; riparian; streams; stream order; vegetation

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