Geographical Information System Coverage For Characterization of the Pecos River Basin

To develop a successful watershed protection plan for the Pecos River, it is very important to correctly characterize the river basin including vegetation coverage, river channel and others. The objective of subtask 1.1 was to delineate the Pecos River and its various characterizations using aerial photography. The aerial photography was high resolution and was acquired for the main channel of the Pecos River. The aerial photos were also taken to help differentiate invasive and non invasive vegetation (i.e. saltcedar and mesquite and other native species). Remote sensing was used to identify the various characteristics of stream channel locations, saltcedar overgrowth and treatment areas, and land use. GIS (Geographical Information Systems) was used to develop a baseline assessment of the Pecos River Basin’s characteristics (Stream channel morphology, riparian vegetation aerial photography, etc.). GIS will be the platform to create, view, and utilize data that was created or downloaded via the internet for the study region of the Pecos River Watershed. This report discusses procedures for data processing and mapping, and presented images produced.