Open Collections

In response to the growing need for broad-scale ecological monitoring, recent efforts have been made to quantify important landscape changes. The landscapes in the Rocky Mountain Cordillera undergo constant change due to the intricate interplay of ecological processes, with fire being the primary disturbance agent. Fire suppression policies have impeded the ecological role of fire, resulting in increased conifer forest dominance and declines in landscape heterogeneity. The objective of this study was to develop a methodology to accurately measure regional landscape changes resulting from fire suppression and fire restoration in Banff National Park, with the goal of supporting data-informed resource management.</p>

The use of remote sensing technologies provides consistent and accurate data over large spatial and temporal scales, which would be challenging with traditional field-based methods. A landscape metrics approach was selected to investigate changes across 27 management units. Four landscape metrics were calculated using annual land cover maps derived from Virtual Land Cover Engine/Landsat-5/7 imagery spanning 34 years (1984-2019). Metrics were selected to capture conifer encroachment (proportion of conifer class) and landscape heterogeneity (contagion, edge density, Shannon’s diversity index) changes. Time-series analysis and Thiel-Sen slope estimation were used to identify metric trends.</p>

The methodology was successful in discerning regional-scale aspects of fire ecology using landscape metrics. Management units lacking fire (or with &lt;10% area burned) are less heterogeneous and are trending toward more conifer-dominated, less heterogeneous states. Reassuringly, the opposite patterns are observed in management units with greater than 10% area burned, suggesting successful fire restoration efforts from a landscape ecology standpoint.</p>

The study’s resulting metrics offer resource managers additional landscape attributes to compare and monitor management units, which can support decision-making, prioritize fire restoration and inform future ecological studies.</p>