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The Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is a cost-share and rental payment program signed into law by President Reagan in 1985 and administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) under the United State Department of Agriculture (USDA). CRP aims to counteract erosion and protect the environment by encouraging agricultural landowners to convert highly e...
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... change analysis results indicated that from 1985 to 2013, approximately 36,000 ha (89,000 acres) cropland have been converted to other natural areas, mainly grassland or forest. Most of the conversions were concentrated directly near the river bank. This practice makes sense in light of the Minnesota River's weak banks that are prone to failure during high precipitation events when the weight of wet soils combined with increased pore pressures overcome the soil's cohesion properties (Gupta et. al 2011). Indeed, precipitation has increased in southern Minnesota with Waseca (located about 25 miles east of Mankato) experiencing a statistically significant gain of nearly 30% in annual precipitation when comparing 1981-2010 to 1920-1949 (Yuan and Mitchell 2014). During the study period, land by the river was inundated by floodwaters several times (1986, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2010, and 2011). Moreover, the Minnesota River is dynamic with its meanders constantly exerting incisive pressure on its cutbanks that eventually result in new oxbows and yet another set of dynamic meanders ( Figure 7). This situation becomes readily apparent when examining USGS 7.5' topographic maps surveyed in 1974 between Mankato and St. Peter and subsequently comparing them to aerial photographs taken in 1992. From a landowner's perspective, maintaining permanent natural cover and keeping heavy equipment away from wet areas prone to stream bank failure fits with the objectives and outcomes of CREP. The land cover change map from 1985 to 2013 is shown in Figure 8. Our visual assessment for focused areas based on image interpretation and field visits indicated that most of the identified changed areas were correctly interpreted (Figure 9). We still encountered some minor uncertainties that were addressed through interviewing local residents familiar with the subject parcels. The results demonstrated that the 30 m resolution Landsat images with large coverage and 16-day revisit interval are suitable for such regional study that involves multi-temporal classifications and change detection. Moderate to high overall classification accuracies were obtained based on the object-based classification technique. A persistent drop in cropland occurred in spite of rising and volatile corn and soybean prices since 2005 associated with Minnesota’s biofuel industry. This persistence derives from the implantation of CREP's long-term and/or permanent use of conservation easements with their stable income revenues during 1998-2002 when corn and soybean prices had decreased by 30-50% when compared to the prior three years (1995 through 1997). Such fortuitous circumstances comprise an important context for the present situation. Based on Allen's (2005) citation of CREP reducing soil loss by 4.2 short-tons/acre/yr (9,415 kg/ha/yr) and phosphorous by 5.3 lbs/acre/yr (5.94 kg/ha/yr) within the Minnesota River basin, our finding of 36,000 ha (89,000 acres) of cropland being converted to natural cover from 1985-2013 suggests a reduced soil loss by over slightly over 373,800 short-tons/yr (339,000 metric tons/yr) and phosphorus loading by another 472,000 lbs/yr (214,000 kg/yr) from sources within the Minnesota River Valley proper. This situation keeps with former Governor Carlson's policy of using CRP and especially CREP to aid in cleaning up the Minnesota River. Future research within the Minnesota River basin utilizing a combination of geo-spatial technologies and field work needs to focus more accurately on determining: (1) the reduced sedimentation and phosphorous loading into the Minnesota River and its downstream impacts pursuant to the Mississippi River; (2) the effect of natural cover in delaying or mitigating stream bank failure; and (3) the enhancement of wildlife habitat for species such as pheasants and wild turkeys that are hunted and generally respond well to a mixed landscape of agriculture and natural cover. The authors thank Dean Barry Ries of the College of Graduate Studies and Research and Acting Dean Maria Bevacqua of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, at Minnesota State University, for funding the graduate assistants and the software used herein. Agricultural Act of 1956. (1956). Statutes at Large, 52, 31. Al-Khudhairy, D., Caravaggi, I., & Glada, S. (2005). Structural damage assessments from Ikonos data using change detection, object-oriented segmentation, and classification techniques. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sens., 71 (7), 825. Allen, A. (2005). The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, U.S. Geological Survey, 191. Retrieved February 16, 2015, from Benz, U. C., Hofmann, P., Willhauck, G., Lingenfelder, I., & Heynen, M. (2004). Multi-resolution, object-oriented fuzzy analysis of remote sensing data for GIS-ready information. ISPRS J. of Photogrammetry and Remote Sens., 58 (3), 239-258. Bhaskaran, S., Paramananda, S., & Ramnarayan, M. (2010). Per-pixel and object-oriented classification methods for mapping urban features using Ikonos satellite data. Applied Geography, 30 (4), 650-665. Budreski, K. A., Wynne, R. H., Browder, J. O., & Campbell, J. B. (2007). Comparison of segment and pixel-based non-parametric land cover classification in the Brazilian Amazon using multi-temporal Landsat TM/ETM+ imagery. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sens., 73 (7), 813. Food and Security Act of 1985. Statutes at Large, 99 , 1504. Butler vs. United States. (1936). U.S. Reports 297:1. Gupta, S., Kessler, A., & Dolliver, H. (2011). Natural versus anthropogenic factors affecting sediment production and transport from the Minnesota River basin to Lake Pepin. Retrieved February 17, 2015, from at www.mncorn.org/sites/mncornorg/files/research/final-reports/201206/w3-Evaluation-of-stream-bank-erosio n.pdf Hay, G. J., Castilla, G., Wulder, M. A., & Ruiz, J. R. (2005). An automated object-based approach for the multiscale image segmentation of forest scenes. International J. of Appl. Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 7 (4), 339-359. Iowa State University. (2015). Average Iowa corn and soybean prices by marketing year 1925-2014. Retrieved February18, 2015 from www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm Laingen, C. (2011). Historical and Contemporary Trends of the Conservation Reserve Program and Ring-Necked Pheasants in South Dakota. Great Plains Research, 21 , 95-103. Lepper, K., Fisher, T., Hajdas, I., & Lowell, T. V. (2007). Ages for the Big Stone Moraine and the oldest beaches of glacial Lake Agassiz: Implications for deglaciation chronology. Geology, 35 (7), 667-670. Minnesota Board of Soil and Water Resources. (2004). Minnesota River CREP factsheet. Retrieved February 15, 2015, from Minnesota Department of Agriculture. (2013). Minnesota Agricultural Exports. Retrieved February 20, 2015 from Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. (2000). Ring-necked Pheasant Populations, 1-3. Retrieved February 16, 2015 from Minnesota River Data Center. (2005). Minnesota River Basin Conservation Reserve Program Enhancement program CREP. Retrieved February 17, 2015 from Minnesota State University, Mankato. Water Resources Center. (2009). Minnesota River Basin Trends. 40. Retrieved February 20, 2012 from Mitchell, M. (2013). Southern Minnesota: An evolving alternate energy frontier. Journal of Geography and Geology, 5 (3), 43-52. Mitchell, M., & Kimmel, R. (2009). Landowner attitudes and perceptions regarding wildlife benefits of the Conservation Reserve Program. Rural Minnesota Journal, 4 , 93-106. Nagel, P. (2014). Landscape and impervious surface mapping in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area using Feature Recognition and Decision Tree techniques. Master’s Thesis. Minnesota State University, Mankato. Nagel, P., Cook, B., & Yuan, F. (2014). High spatial-resolution land cover classification and wetland mapping over large areas using integrated geospatial technologies. International Journal of Remote Sensing Applications, 4 (2), 71-86. Ojakangas, R., & Matsch, C. (1982). Minnesota's Geology (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press) 208, 223-224. Opitz, D., & Bain, W. (1999). Experiments on learning to extract features from digital images. International Association of Science and Technology for Development: Signal and Image Processing Conference. Soil Conservation Act. (1935). Statutes at Large, 49, 163. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). (2002). Census of Agriculture, Minnesota, Table 41. Retrieved February 16, 2015 from /mn1_41.pdf U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). (2005). Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program—Minnesota II, Retrieved February 17, 2015, from Waters, T. (1987). The streams and rivers of Minnesota, (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press) 304-314. Whiteside, T. G., Boggs, G. S., & Maier, S. W. (2011). Comparing object-based and pixel-based classifications for mapping savannas. International J. of Appl. Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 13 (6), 884-893. Wisner, R. (2014). Ethanol, gasoline, crude oil and corn prices: are the relationships changing, Agricultural Marketing Resources Center. Retrieved March 4, 2015, from nships-changing/ Worster, Donald. (2004). The Dust Bowl: Southern Plains of the 1930s (New York: Oxford University Press) 69-72. Yuan, F., & Mitchell, M. (2014). Long-term climate change at four rural stations in Minnesota, 1920-2010. Journal of Geography and Geology 6(3) 228-241. ...
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... The Minnesota River Basin (MRB) is located mainly in southwestern Minnesota. The basin contains a great deal of row crop agriculture (approximately 78% of land use- Musser & Kudelka, 2009) although the Conservation Reserve Program has resulted in the conversion of some cropland to wetlands, grassland and open water areas (Musser & Kudelka, 2009;Yuan et al. 2015). To convert the landscape to highly productive agriculture, major modifications have been made to the landscape to accelerate the removal of water from the land including stream straightening, creation of ditches and extensive subsurface tile drainage network (Musser & Kudelka, 2009). ...
Freshwater mussels face threats from climate change and changing land use that are dramatically altering their habitat. The health of mussel populations and the state of current and past environmental conditions can be monitored by measuring mussel growth and glycogen levels. In this study, we measured growth and glycogen levels in mussels from two small river basins impacted by different land uses. The Snake River in the St. Croix Basin, Minnesota, had low levels of suspended sediments and was surrounded mostly by forest and some developed land. The Chippewa, Cottonwood, and Le Sueur rivers in the Minnesota River Basin had significantly higher annual suspended sediment loads and highly agricultural basins. Mussel growth was highest in the Le Sueur and Cottonwood rivers followed by the Chippewa and the Snake rivers. Mussels in the Minnesota Basin rivers all had higher mussel foot glycogen concentrations than the Snake River. These patterns were similar for two mussel species, suggesting that environmental conditions are likely determining levels of growth. Although agriculture had a negative effect on mussel population abundance and diversity, it had a positive effect on growth and glycogen levels.
... Part of the local context is that conservation efforts to reconnect the Minnesota River to its floodplain by expansion of riparian forests and wet meadows have taken place during the last 25 years through a variety of funding streams and a focus on voluntary conservation. Improvements in channel stability, water quality, and wildlife habitat have been documented (Christensen et al. 2012;Jobe et al. 2018;Yuan et al. 2015). ...
... In addition, more recent "agriculture to forest" land conversion (Figure 7) along the river might be attributed to the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), a cost-share and rental payment program signed into law in 1985 and administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA) under the USDA. Through the implementation of 10-year contracts paying annual rents, the CRP aims to counteract erosion and protect the environment by encouraging agricultural landowners to convert highly erodible cropland and other environmentally-sensitive lands to native or alternative permanent vegetative cover [35]. The CRP in Minnesota mainly concentrate in the Minnesota River basin and the Red River Valley, with an enrollment of 780,262 ha (1.9 million acres), 576,698 ha (1.4 million acres), and 447,194 ha (1.1 million acres) in 1993, 2005, and 2014, respectively [35]. ...
... Through the implementation of 10-year contracts paying annual rents, the CRP aims to counteract erosion and protect the environment by encouraging agricultural landowners to convert highly erodible cropland and other environmentally-sensitive lands to native or alternative permanent vegetative cover [35]. The CRP in Minnesota mainly concentrate in the Minnesota River basin and the Red River Valley, with an enrollment of 780,262 ha (1.9 million acres), 576,698 ha (1.4 million acres), and 447,194 ha (1.1 million acres) in 1993, 2005, and 2014, respectively [35]. In addition, the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) was established in 1998 as a subprogram of the CRP to enhance water quality and wildlife habitat. ...
... It is a joint federal (USDA) and state program aimed at retiring 40,469 ha (100,000 acres) in the Minnesota River basin using long-term (14-45 years) or permanent conservation easements [36]. Yuan et al. [35] examined the land-cover change in the Minnesota River Valley from 1985 to 2013. They found that 36,000 ha cropland within a 1.6 = km (1 mile) buffer of the Minnesota River has been converted to grassland or forestland. ...
Much of the Watonwan River tributary system to the upper Mississippi River basin (UMR), and the fluvial systems to which it drains, are listed as impaired under the United States Environmental Protection Agency Clean Water Act303(d) and/or by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. In addition, eutrophic conditions and excessive sedimentation rates exist in Lake Pepin, a riverine lake to which the UMR drains. Thus, understanding the hydrogeomorphic change throughout the UMR is vital in order to establish appropriate efforts to mitigate environmental hazards downstream. This study attempts to evaluate hydrogeomorphic change at the watershed scale in the Watonwan River watershed between 1855 and the near present. Historical plat maps, digital elevation models (DEMs), aerial images, soil/topographic characteristics, land-use change, and field surveys are analyzed. Surficial hydrologic features digitized from historical plat maps are compared with contemporary stream networks extracted from high-resolution DEMs. Scale effects are investigated using multi-resolution (1 m, 3 m, 8.5 m, and 30 m) DEMs, with 8.5 m DEMs being ideal for watershed scale analysis, and 1–3 m DEMs being ideal for subwatershed analysis. There has been a substantial hydrogeomorphic change in the watershed since 1855, but most significantly, we interpret that the highest rates of erosion occur in the eastern watershed, where knickzone propagation has produced substantial relief.
... To extract the forested areas from the Landsat imagery, we used Feature Analyst, an object-based image classification software that provides a suite of machine learning algorithms for land cover and land use (LULC) feature extraction. Feature Analyst has been widely used to map LULC features (Nagel, et al., 2014;Yuan et al., 2015;Chubey et al. 2006, Stueve et al. 2015. Works as an extension in ArcGIS, Feature Analyst possesses several advantages over traditional pixel-based classifiers: (1) it uses both spectral and spatial (shape, size, elevation) information; (2) it can include contextual (neighborhood, texture) information; (3) Foveal representation and hierarchical machine learning. ...
It is important to monitor the trend of forestland changes, as forests are vital sources and sinks of carbon on the earth. One of the most densely populated jurisdictions of the United States, Puerto Rico, has experienced significant transformations in the past century. This study examines forestation in the main island of Puerto Rico during the past four decades using feature extraction and change detection analysis in multitemporal Landsat satellite imagery. The results of the study show that forest cover in Puerto Rico had almost tripled from 15.7% to 45.7% between 1972 and 2014. Moreover, the forestation trend and pace in abandoned coffee plantations and pastures continued after 1990, driven by continuous socioeconomic transformation. Natural forestation and conservation efforts from the government and nongovernment organizations have also contributed to the forest growth on the island. The information gained and lessons learned during the process may be applied to other densely populated tropical insular territories.
