2.4.5. Mapping Riparian and Upland Vegetation
We mapped upland and riparian vegetation in ArcGIS, using the same method described earlier where the presence of upland species was used as an indicator of floodplain activity vs. inactivity. A visual estimate was taken of the boundary between upland and riparian vegetation and a polygon was drawn around each respective vegetation type in order to calculate area. Non-vegetated river channels were not included in our survey. We conducted these measurements for each of our survey years for both the valley plug and our reference reaches.