The Applications of Spatial Information Systems in Ecosystem Restoration:The Case of the Colorado Rocky Mountain ArsenalThe Case of the Colorado Rocky Mountain Arsenal

METHODS

Romorno Coney, Ph.D. Student Dr. Edmund C. Merem, Ph.d., Bennetta Robinson, Ph. D. StudentDepartment of Urban and Regional Planning, P. O. Box 23, Jackson State University, Jackson, MS 39211 USA.

METHODS

1. The first step involves identification of the variables needed to asses environmental change at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal and the Denver Metropolitan Area.

2. In the second step the environmental variables are mapped as data layers over the study area using ArcGIS. The GIS data for environmental variables was collected from the U. S. Army and city GIS departments inAdams, Denver, Broomfield, Jefferson, and Arapahoe County.

3. The third step is interpretation of historical aerial photographs of the study area at approximate 10 year periods between 1942 and 2007.

4. In the fourth step an assessment of the study area is conducted using overlay analysis, an extensive layer overlay technique for synthesis of environmental data layers to produce new information about theenvironmental variables.

ABSTRACTThe vast network of abandoned contaminated sites scattered across the United States during the Cold War era continues to be a national concern today for

federal government agencies charged with the task of initiating the ecological restoration of these hazardous sites to their pre-land use form. One of the largest

contaminated sites from the Cold War era, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA) a 17,000 acre U.S. Army facility in Adams County, Colorado was established in

1942 to manufacture chemical weapons at the height of World War II. During that period also, private corporations leased facilities at the Arsenal to manufacture

pesticides. Before the government acquired the land through eminent domain, the Arsenal was originally prairie and farmland, located only 10 miles northeast of

downtown Denver. Decades of chemical weapons and pesticide manufacturing at the Arsenal has caused extensive contamination and ecosystem damage to environmental variables.

5. The fifth step uses regression analysis and SPSSS to model, examine, and explain the factors behind observed relationships among the environmental variables and make predictions of land use change of thestudy area.

Linear Trend Multiple Regression Model Yt=B1+B2X2t+B3X3t+…..BkXkt+Ut

downtown Denver. Decades of chemical weapons and pesticide manufacturing at the Arsenal has caused extensive contamination and ecosystem damage to

areas on-site and beyond its boundary. No longer operational, the Arsenal was placed on the National Priorities List by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

in 1987 to clean up the contaminated soils, structures, and groundwater. Coincidentally, officials discovered that the arsenal also provided habitat for the bald

eagle and more than 300 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, and fish and other wildlife in its surrounding buffer and encouraged conservation. Accordingly,

Congress passed a bill in 1992 that will change the Rocky Mountain Arsenal to a national wildlife habitat upon completion of the cleanup and restoration.

Notwithstanding these efforts, no serious attempt has been made to apply spatial information systems in the on-going ecosystem recovery efforts in the area. This

paper presents a case study that applies mix scale methods of geospatial analysis involving historical aerial photographs connected to GIS, and statistical analysis

of regression to analyze the ecosystem trends and restoration in the study area between the time period of 1942 and 2007.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThis approach not only allows for a better understanding of how land-use change analysis helps track negative impacts, but it also offers a road map for proper management of the surrounding ecology of the Rocky

Mountain Arsenal and Denver metropolitan areas. The expectation is that the study would provide managers of various agencies with support tools to make more informed and ecologically sound decisions with clearly

INTRODUCTIONContaminated lands and brownfields have begun to receive more attention because developers, politicians, activists, and residents see the potential for

brownfields redevelopment for revitalization of urban neighborhoods, which would otherwise remain a burden on the local economy (Whitney, 2003). And the

preservation of land, wildlife habitat, urban parks, recreational trails, and protecting water supplies and floodplains is emerging as an integral component of smart

growth programs (Daniels & Lapping, 2005).

BIBLIOGRAPHY1. Al-Bakru, J. T., Taylor, J. C., Brewer, T. R. (2001). Monitoring land use change in the transiton zone in Jordan using aerial photography and satellite imagery. The Geographical Journal, 167(3), 248-262.2. Environmental Protection Agency (1980). Damages and threats caused by hazardous material sites. (EPA/430/9-80/004). Washington, D.C.: Oil and Special Materials Control Division.3. McHarg, I. L. (1992). Design with nature. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.4. Merem, E.C., and Y.A. Twumasi. (2005). GIS based analysis of growth management and environmental decline in Central Mississippi region. Geographic Information Sciences, volume 11, no.2, pp. 126-134.5. Twumasi, Y.A., and E.C., Merem. (2005). GIS Applications in land management: the loss of high quality land to development in Central Mississippi from 1987-2002. International Journal of Environmental6. Research and Public Health, volume 2, no.2, pp. 234-244.7. Twumasi, Y. A. (2004). Development of a protected area management scheme using geographic information system and multi-temporal satellite imagery: the case of the Digya National Park Reserve in

defined restoration goals in the reuse of contaminated public lands.

OBJECTIVEThe objective is of this case study is to apply mix scale methods of geospatial analysis involving historical aerial photographs connected to GIS, and statistical

analysis of regression to analyze the ecosystem trends and restoration in the study area between the time period of 1942 and 2007. Emphasis is placed on those

factors responsible for the problems, ecological change analysis of several environmental variables and mapping of the land use trends, mitigation efforts and the

viability of the study area as a potential national wildlife refuge and future lines of action.

7. Twumasi, Y. A. (2004). Development of a protected area management scheme using geographic information system and multi-temporal satellite imagery: the case of the Digya National Park Reserve in8. Ghana unpublished doctoral dissertation. Alabama A&M University, Alabama.9. Williams, K. & Dair, C. (2007). A framework for assessing the sustainability of brownfield developments. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 50(1), 23-41.

MAPSGIS mapping of the environmental variables and

interpretation of historical aerial photographs of the study site

allow quantitative and qualitative assessment of the anthropogenic

impacts to the environment and its consequences and

BACKGROUND AND METHODSThe Study Area: The Rocky Mountain Arsenal (RMA) located in Adams County, Colorado, is a 17,000 acre site that was originally prairie and farmland.

It is 10 miles northeast of downtown Denver, a city with a population of 566,974 as of 2006 (U.S. Census, 2008). The RMA is bounded to the west by Commerce

City, Colorado and to the east by the new Denver International Airport. Brighton, Colorado, borders the Arsenal to the north. Montebello, a large Denver residential

neighborhood partially borders the site to the south and the remainder of the southern edge is bordered by warehouses and the Stapleton International Airport,

which was closed and redeveloped as one of the largest in-fill mixed use developments in the US. Rapidly growing businesses and other residential homes also

border the site to the north, south, and west (figures.1 and 2).

impacts to the environment and its consequences and

implications.

The environmental variables include: Prairie grassland,

shrubland, forbland, tree grooves, federal /public contaminated

land, wetlands, soils, water, park land, industrial, commercial,

industrial, agricultural, residential, federally owned land, open

space, water quality, air quality, and roads.

border the site to the north, south, and west (figures.1 and 2).

Fig. 9: Vegetation and Water and Wetlands

Fig. 1: RMA and Denver Metropolitan Area

Fig. 8: Contaminated Soil AreasFig. 3: Five county study areaand Rocky Mountain Arsenal

Fig. 2: RMA Conceptual Land Use

Regional land use maps delineate Rocky Mountain Arsenal within the Denver metropolitan area at four 20-year time periods,

Aerial photographs of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal collected from the U.S. Army at approximate 10-year periods from 1937 to 2005 were examined to detect landscape features and patterns and survey the

impact of human activities upon the site. They provide snapshots in time and space to create a visual history of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal to help understand the nature and magnitude of the environmental

degradation that occurred on the site. Examination of the aerial photographs will also help to understand the spatial relationship among the site’s distinctive ecosystems and landscape elements; interactions among the

site’s component ecosystems flows of energy, materials and species, and the alterations in the site’s structure and function of the ecological mosaic over time. Aerial photographs extend limited ground observations,

provide ease of measurement, and help increase efficiency and economy of the data gathering.

Regional land use maps delineate Rocky Mountain Arsenal within the Denver metropolitan area at four 20-year time periods,

which includes 1937, 1957, 1977, and 1997. These maps reflect the changing landscape and the impacts on natural resources in

the region of the Denver metropolitan area. During the analysis, the maps help to understand how land use changes of Rocky

Mountain Arsenal correlate to land use changes on a regional scale.

Fig. 10: RMA 1948 Fig. 11: RMA 1956 Fig. 13: RMA 1974Fig. 12: RMA 1963

Fig. 7: Land Use Conditions in 1997Fig. 5: Land Use Conditions in 1957 Fig. 6: Land Use Conditions in 1977Fig. 4: Land Use Conditions in 1947 Fig. 14: RMA 1984 Fig. 15: RMA 1995 Fig. 16: RMA 2007 Fig. 17: RMA Wildlife Overlay Analysis 2007