1978 aerial photographic coverage of Louisiana's coastal zone. Habitat coverage in 1983 is 

 available for a few quadrangle maps in the deltaic plain. 



CMD uses 1984 and 1986 classified Landsat TM coverage of the coastal zone as another primary 

 data base. The 1984 data set covers the entire coastal zone while the 1986 set provides partial 

 coverage of the deltaic plain. The classification categories are based on land cover types and 

 constitute a Level 1 land cover scheme (Braud and Streiffer 1987). 



CMD primarily uses the GIS to provide information to coastal resource analysts to aid in the 

 review of proposed activities within Louisiana's coastal zone (Howey and Blackmon 1987). 

 Coordinates for a proposed activity are entered into a program which performs an automated 

 MOSS analysis for 1956 and 1978 habitat data on the site requiring a minimum of user interaction 

 (Streiffer and Braud 1987). The program delivers a standard GIS analysis package which provides 

 statistical and map output for the site. In addition to the automated permit analysis system, CMD's 

 GIS is used for special projects requested by CMD personnel or by outside agencies. Currently, 

 CMD is developing a wetland management plan data base. The primary objective is to produce 

 land loss statistics and habitat change over time within the wetland management plan boundaries. 



METHODOLOGY 



The wetland management data base consists of 130 plans ranging in size from a few acres to 

 several thousand acres. An attribute scheme was developed to encode point, line, and area data 

 for each plan into the data base. Point data represents water control structures, line data 

 represents various types of plan boundaries, and area data represents the acreage values of the 

 plan. Once all the plans have been incorporated into the data base, individual habitat change 

 analysis will be performed on each plan. The analysis will primarily involve comparing 1956, 1978, 

 and 1983 (if available) habitat data as well as 1984 and 1986 (if available) classified Landsat TM 

 imagery to statistically and spatially assess habitat change over time within each plan. This can 

 provide a valuable tool to wetland managers. 



The Little Pecan Lake wetland management plan was chosen as an example to demonstrate some 

 of the analysis techniques that can be applied to each wetland management plan. The methodology 

 developed to analyze this plan can be applied to the other plans in the data base. The 2,793-ha 

 study area is located in eastern Cameron Parish. The following section will outline the 

 incorporation of the Little Pecan Lake management plan into CMD's data base and its subsequent 

 analysis in MOSS and ERDAS. 



Incorporation of the Little Pecan Lake Plan into CMD's GIS 



The permit record for the Little Pecan Lake plan was obtained from CMD's permit files to 

 determine the location, areal extent, and structural components of the plan. Plan boundaries and 

 water control structures were then manually transcribed onto the Catfish Lake 7.5-minute USGS 

 topographic map. The plan was then digitized from the map using the Analytical Mapping System 

 (AMS), the data entry and encoding software package used by MOSS. After digitizing, the plan 

 was verified in the AMS, using the VERIFICATION subroutine, and then stored in the AMS data 

 base. The plan was prepared for transfer to MOSS using the EXPORT routine. EXPORT allows 

 the user to select the map projection and ellipsoid parameters for the digitized map. The Little 

 Pecan Lake plan was exported as a Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection using the 

 Clarke 1966 ellipsoid. The ADD routine in MOSS was used to transfer the plan from the AMS 

 data base to a specified user directory in MOSS. 



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