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Prioritizing Agricultural Lands for Conservation Buffer Placement Using Multiple Criteria 1
Author(s) -
Qiu Zeyuan
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2010.00466.x
Subject(s) - impervious surface , environmental science , soil conservation , surface runoff , watershed , drainage basin , hydrology (agriculture) , water resource management , agriculture , wildlife , stormwater , habitat , environmental resource management , geography , computer science , ecology , engineering , cartography , geotechnical engineering , archaeology , machine learning , biology
Qiu, Zeyuan, 2010. Prioritizing Agricultural Lands for Conservation Buffer Placement Using Multiple Criteria. Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) 1‐13. DOI: 10.1111/j.1752‐1688.2010.00466.x Abstract: Although conservation buffers are multifunctional, the current conservation buffer planning strategies tend to use a single criterion, most frequently a hydrological or soil condition indicator, to guide conservation buffer placement. This study presents a watershed planning approach that prioritizes agricultural lands for conservation buffers based on multiple selection criteria and applies the approach to Raritan Basin in central New Jersey. The multiple selection criteria include soil erodibility, hydrological sensitivity, wildlife habitat, and impervious surface rate. These criteria capture the conservation buffers’ benefits in reducing soil erosion, controlling runoff generation, enhancing wildlife habitat, and mitigating stormwater impacts, respectively. An expert panel was used to identify and define the section criteria, review the measured values of those criteria, and develop the classification scales that assign the class score to each criterion. The prioritization is based on the summation of the criteria class scores. About one‐third of agricultural lands are prioritized for conservation buffers in Raritan Basin. The total program cost of converting those prioritized agricultural lands to conservation buffers in Raritan Basin is estimated to be between $54.8 and 102.9 million depending on the composition of installed conservation buffer practices.