Characterization of Forest Disturbance and Land Use in Walleye Rehabilitation Watersheds of the Lake Superior Basin

Fish habitat condition is closely linked to the quality of watershed forests, which, in turn, are closely linked to the water quality of streams and receiving waters (e.g. lakes and bays) draining those watersheds.  Six rivers and two bays in the Lake Superior watershed have been identified as needing rehabilitation of walleye Sander vitreus spawning and nursery habitat.  We present an analysis of a novel forest disturbance dataset, the Vegetation Change Tracker for the Lake Superior basin, to gauge the overall status of the eight walleye watersheds and riparian zones.  We found that only three watersheds had higher old forest disturbance (1984-1999) or recent forest disturbance (2000-2009) relative to the basin mean, while seven watersheds had higher than basin mean proportions of agriculture and urban lands.  We also used recently developed phosphorus and turbidity models predicted solely from landscape predictors to identify the subwatersheds that may be contributing to water quality impairment in each watershed.  This research will provide managers with the knowledge to target areas where forest management and restoration would be most beneficial to protect existed and restored Lake Superior walleye spawning and nursery habitat.