Mapping conservation reserve program (CRP) grasslands using multi‐seasonal thematic mapper imagery

Abstract

This is a critical time for evaluating the status and success of the U.S. Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a program that has resulted in the conversion of millions of hectares of cropland to grassland, woodland, and other conservation uses. In order to evaluate the effects of CRP on soil erosion, wildlife habitat, water pollution, and groundwater recharge, however, it is essential to have detailed digital maps that accurately identify CRP lands. Remote sensing techniques offer a means for developing such a database in an economical and accurate way. Utilizing multi‐seasonal imagery in an unsupervised classification technique, highly accurate maps of cropland and grassland were produced for 1987 and 1992 for Finney County, Kansas. Post‐classification differencing identified regions of cropland that had changed to grassland between the two years, indicating land that had been converted to CRP. Comparison of the CRP map with ground truth sources produced an accuracy of approximately 88%. Digital maps of CRP thus derived can be incorporated effectively into decision support models for assessing how CRP lands influence environmental conditions.

Notes

Currently at West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV U.S.A. 26506