Using the forest change data, all of the landscape 
indicator data and the landuse/landcover data, more 
analyses could be done on comparing the 
subwatersheds to each other. Indicators such as U- 
index, roads crossing streams, forest loss and nutri¬ 
ent loading could be used to rank the subwatersheds. 
This would be used to target landuse practice 
changes to areas most in need. 
The North American Landscape Characterization 
image database provides 20 years of change detec¬ 
tion data. These data could be classified and used 
effectively to identify status and trends of landuse 
elsewhere in the Mississippi River Basin. The NDVI 
analysis was an informative, cost effective, and quick 
method for assessing ecological change detection for 
the Tensas River Basin. This method could also be 
developed and used to characterize ecological 
changes for the entire Mississippi River Basin or to 
target areas that need further analysis using tradi¬ 
tional land classification methods. 
subwatershed have an affect on water quality. With 
an in-depth water quality study, not only would re¬ 
searchers be able to answer questions such as those 
posed above but the data would provide a baseline 
data base of water quality that could be used later to 
determine whether restoration and protections efforts 
made today have the desired effect in the future. 
Without this type of information, it will be difficult to 
determine how successful these efforts have been. 
"A system of conservation based solely on economic 
self-interest is hopelessly lopsided. It tends to ignore, 
and thus eventually to eliminate, many elements in the 
land community that lack commercial value, but that 
are (as far as we know) essential to its healthy func¬ 
tioning." 
-Aldo Leopold (father, farmer, and ecologist) 
Water quality continues to be an issue in the Tensas 
River Basin yet there is very little data available to 
adequately characterize water quality for the basin. 
This is particularly true when trying to link water 
quality with any of the landscape metrics discussed in 
this report. The water quality data presented in 
Chapter 4 is easy to use in terms of characterizing 
individual water quality monitoring stations but diffi¬ 
cult to use in terms of characterizing a subbasin or 
the entire Watershed. The present sampling loca¬ 
tions can detect the presence and quantity of nutri¬ 
ents but can’t tell you if one subbasin or area is 
1 contributing more or less than another. We feel that a 
well-designed water quality study would add a wealth 
of information to the data available for the Tensas 
i River Basin. This study should be designed and 
implemented to characterize each subwatershed 
along with the entire Tensas River Basin using ran¬ 
domized sampling techniques stratified within the 
subwatersheds. With this type of information, there 
are many questions that could be answered such as: 
do certain types of agriculture affect the Tensas River 
nutrient loads more that others; does landuse (forest 
. cover or agricultural) in backswamps or riparian areas 
have an effect on the flow of nutrients; does landuse 
in the 
Figure 5.2 Airphoto of the Tensas River near Westwood, LA 
