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Headcut Erosion in Wyoming’s Sweetwater Subbasin

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Abstract

Increasing human population and intensive land use combined with a warming climate and chronically diminished snowpacks are putting more strain on water resources in the western United States. Properly functioning riparian systems slow runoff and store water, thus regulating extreme flows; however, riparian areas across the west are in a degraded condition with a majority of riparian systems not in proper functioning condition, and with widespread catastrophic erosion of water-storing peat and organic soils. Headcuts are the leading edge of catastrophic channel erosion. We used aerial imagery (1.4–3.3-cm pixel) to locate 163 headcuts in riparian areas in the Sweetwater subbasin of central Wyoming. We found 1-m—the generally available standard resolution for land management—and 30-cm pixel imagery to be inadequate for headcut identification. We also used Structure-from-Motion models built from ground-acquired imagery to model 18 headcuts from which we measured soil loss of 425–720 m3. Normalized by channel length, this represents a loss of 1.1–1.8 m3 m−1 channel. Monitoring headcuts, either from ground or aerial imagery, provides an objective indicator of sustainable riparian land management and identifies priority disturbance-mitigation areas. Image-based headcut monitoring must use data on the order of 3.3 cm ground sample distance, or greater resolution, to effectively capture the information needed for accurate assessments of riparian conditions.

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Notes

  1. Estimated GSD based on scale and assumed scanning resolution of 21 μm pixel−1. Aerial photographs can be scanned at a range of resolutions; however, for historical aerial photography there is a point at which increasing scan resolution does not improve the resolving power of the image and only creates an unnecessarily large digital file. Welch and Jordan (1996) recommend 17–33 μm pixel-1, and Leberl et al. (2003) suggested 20 μm pixel-1 scanning resolutions as optimizing detail and file size. The United States Geological Survey (USGS 2014b) provides maximum on-demand scanning of their historical photography archive at 14 μm pixel-1. To provide a crosswalk between photography scale and digital image resolution when the resolution is not defined, we have included a calculated approximate GSD for historical imagery which assumes that historical aerial photography was scanned at 21 μm pixel-1 (1200 dpi). This estimated GSD was not applied when cited studies listed imagery GSD.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mike Londe, Tom Noble, and Drew Hurdle, BLM, for assistance with GPS data processing, camera and photogrammetric processing advice, and image processing assistance, respectively. Two anonymous reviewers provided constructive critiques. Mention of proprietary products does not constitute an endorsement or warranty by USDI, USDA, or the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. USDI Bureau of Land Management, 5353 Yellowstone Rd, Cheyenne, WY, 82009, USA

    Samuel E. Cox

  2. USDA Agricultural Research Service, 8408 Hildreth Rd, Cheyenne, WY, 82009, USA

    D. Terrance Booth

  3. USDI Bureau of Land Management, 1335 Main St, Lander, WY, 82520, USA

    John C. Likins

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  1. Samuel E. Cox
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Correspondence to Samuel E. Cox.

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Cox, S.E., Booth, D.T. & Likins, J.C. Headcut Erosion in Wyoming’s Sweetwater Subbasin. Environmental Management 57, 450–462 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-015-0610-1

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