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.