Transferring Lake Superior NERR Habitat Mapping Tools and Methods to the Wisconsin-Minnesota St. Louis River Estuary - NERRS/NSC(NERRS Science Collaborative)

Description

This science transfer project used a multi-phase approach that included deep learning techniques and geospatial rules to create a habitat map of the St. Louis River estuary. The Project The St. Louis River estuary, which runs along the boundary between Wisconsin and Minnesota in the Duluth-Superior metro area, is a vital resource ecologically, culturally, and economically. The St. Louis River is the largest U.S. tributary to Lake Superior and the second largest tributary in the Lake Superior watershed. In 1987, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement designated the 12,000-acre freshwater estuary a Great Lakes Area of Concern because legacy contaminants and disturbances had led to nine key impairments, including loss of fish and wildlife habitat. This project addressed a need identified by the St. Louis River Habitat Workgroup to better understand current conditions to support the identification and prioritization of areas for future restoration and conservation. The project approach included the transfer of a repeatable habitat mapping process developed by the Lake Superior Reserve and partners to a larger area encompassing 57,000 acres of wetlands and adjacent uplands spanning the lower twenty-one miles of the St. Louis River below the Fond du Lac dam. The team applied accessible image classification methods-including use of common machine learning classifiers and freely available, non-proprietary data-to create a reproducible approach that could be adopted in other locations and redeployed at regular intervals to illuminate change over time. In addition to the habitat map and reproducible workflow, the team also produced a change analysis report comparing the 2024 habitat map to the previous St. Louis River Estuary map from 2002.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
0 https://nerrssciencecollaborative.org/project/Veregin23
0 View the complete metadata record on InPort for more information about this dataset. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inport/item/78503
0 Online Resource https://nerrssciencecollaborative.org/project/Veregin23
0 Website listed for Office for Coastal Management https://www.coast.noaa.gov/
0 Global Change Master Directory (GCMD). 2025. GCMD Keywords, Version 22. Greenbelt, MD: Earth Science Data and Information System, Earth Science Projects Division, Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). URL (GCMD Keyword Forum Page): https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD+Keywords https://forum.earthdata.nasa.gov/app.php/tag/GCMD%2BKeywords
33 NOAA Data Management Plan for this record on InPort. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/inportserve/waf/noaa/nos/ocm/dmp/pdf/78503.pdf

Tags

  • nerrs
  • aerial photography
  • office of coastal management
  • habitat map
  • land surface
  • national ocean service
  • habitat mapping
  • noaa
  • doc/noaa/nos/ocm
  • u.s. department of commerce
  • land use/land cover
  • earth science
  • st. louis river estuary
  • change analysis
  • wisconsin
  • land cover
  • drone imagery
  • minnesota

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