Baseline condition of natural cover in the Lake Simcoe Watershed

Session: 56. - Science for a Healthy Lake Simcoe

Danijela Puric-Mladenovic, OMNRF, Science and Research Branch, Natural Heritage Information Centre, [email protected]
Melanie Shapiera, Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, [email protected]

Abstract

The Lake Simcoe Comprehensive Monitoring Strategy identified the need for regular site-level terrestrial monitoring to fulfill mandatory policies of the Lake Simcoe Protection Plan. As a result, a set of randomly stratified   permanent monitoring plots was established across private and public lands in the Lake Simcoe watershed in 2017 by the University of Toronto, in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. The data collected enabled establishing the baseline condition of vegetation, and deriving a composite index of vegetation quality. This composite index is based on several individual and independent quality indicators derived from monitoring data on structural, functional, and compositional vegetation characteristics. The site level monitoring and individual indicators can also be extrapolated across landscapes, repeated to track changes in natural cover over time, and used for informing adaptive management actions.

1. Keyword
monitoring

2. Keyword
vegetation

3. Keyword
indicators

4. Additional Keyword
natural cover

5. Additional Keyword
composite index

6. Additional Keyword
baseline