Vista View Projections

For the Mt. Hood National Forest

This project was conducted for professor Robert Ribe in studying the visual effects of forest management which stressed protection and connectivity of riparian corridors on broad-scale landscape patterns. A series of prescriptions was applied to vegetation maps developed in macGIS to develop a map representing vegetation patterns for 2010. These maps were draped over terrain models using Strata StudioPro software running on a Macintosh. A number of cameras were placed in the scene corresponding to viewpoints in which we'd taken photos of the existing conditions. In this way, comparisons could be made between the projected and existing landscape structure.

REAL COLOR AERIAL

This first image is an aerial of the site showing colors chosen to appear somewhat close to nature. Riparian, old growth and successional reserves are in blues and greens. New clearcuts, which tend to congregate on ridgetops because of an attempt to imitate fire patterns in the area, are in browns and grays.

FALSE COLOR AERIAL

This image presents another aerial, with a color palette chosen in macGIS to accentuate the differences between the vegetation types. Purples and blues are intact riparian or old growth, reds, oranges and yellows are newly harvested blocks.

CAMERA 1 IMAGES

These three views show the first camera images: from top to bottom, the existing photograph, a real-color image, and a false color image. Clearcuts in the real-color image are in brown, in the false-color red and orange. Note how they follow the ridgetops.

FALSE COLOR CAM1&2 IMAGES

In these two false-color images you can begin to see the philosophy behind the new cuts. The overriding principles are to cut in irregular, organic patches and to retain 10-15% of trees in patches. The foreground in these images has become pixelized due to hardware limitations on the size of the color overlay.

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Please email me at etarm@darkwing.uoregon.edu with comments or questions.

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