Prioritizing restoration efforts for the eastern brook trout using remote sensing

The Eastern brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) have disappeared from much of their native range due to historic and current land use changes that have affected the quality of brook trout habitat.  Analyzing watershed land use/land cover (LULC) trends and rates of change using remote sensing and GIS technologies may provide additional information to aid in prioritizing Eastern brook trout habitat restoration efforts in eastern West Virginia and western Virginia.  Subwatersheds were chosen through random-stratified sampling based on their predicted status of Intact, Reduced or Extirpated, as determined in the Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture assessment results, titled Distribution, Status and Perturbations to Brook Trout within the eastern United States.  Satellite imagery and orthorectified aerial photography from the 1970’s through 2000’s were classified into LULC categories.  Land cover transitions between each decade were used to determine the stability of the subwatershed predicted statuses based on historic rates of change.  Expected future rates of change within the subwatershed were calculated using statistical forecasting and prediction model approaches for each subwatershed.  The results of this study provides fisheries managers a new tool for prioritizing Eastern brook trout habitat restoration efforts.