Aerial photographs of nine peatlands along the Rocky Mountain Front, Montana, were analyzed in a GIS. The boundary of wetland extent was hand-digitized and the area within was classified into land-cover types including: total area, open fen, open water, woody vegetation, and non-wetland/agriculture. Changes in wetland extent and land-cover categories were evaluated from the earliest available imagery in 1937 to the last available imagery in 2009. Images prior to 1995 were orthorectified to correct inherent distortions. Results indicate little change in overall peatland area between 1937 and 2009 despite increasing air temperatures in the region. Open water area and the number of ponds increased over the study period, reflecting a rebounding beaver population. Agriculture in Pine Butte Fen, McDonald Swamp, and the Blackleaf Wetland Complex declined over the study period. Land purchases by the Nature Conservancy of Pine Butte Fen and McDonald Swamp have preserved the natural state of those peatlands, and they hold conservation easements for three of the other fens. One peatland is owned by the state and another is located within the Lewis and Clark National Forest. Conversely the sprawling Theboe Lake wetland has been heavily disturbed by ongoing agriculture since prior to 1937, and Bynum wetland has been heavily impacted since the middle of the study period.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-06232013-210959 |
| Date | 28 June 2013 |
| Creators | Milbrath, Joseph Tyler |
| Contributors | Dr. Anna E. Klene, Dr. Heather Almquist, Dr. Ragan Callaway, J. Stephen Shelly |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-06232013-210959/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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