This program focused on the Tijuana
and San Pedro watersheds to integrate existing information into a larger land
use model that investigated the interdependencies and feedback mechanisms among
ecological, economic, social, and political factors influencing land use. The
research characterized the distribution and intensity of land use in each watershed
and developed models to describe the interrelationships between land use patterns
and ecological and human factors. Patterns of land use were documented using maps,
planning documents, aerial photographs, and satellite imagery to generate a GIS-based
record of land use change.
Several types of modeling activities
were undertaken. For the San Pedro Watershed, a hierarchically structured, patch
dynamic, watershed model was developed. This model was spatially explicit and
used grid-based, remotely sensed data as well as integrated ecological and socio-economic
data. For the Tijuana Watershed, a similar GIS-linked model was developed that,
when coupled to an emperically-based runoff model, served to both manage the spatial
and temporal datasets and predict pollutant loading to the estuarine ecosystem.
For both watersheds, the following land use characteristics were described for
each patch type:
Social and economic factors
Surface and subsurface water flow
Point-source and non-point-source
pollution
Biodiversity
Other activities such as fuel combustion
that gives rise to air pollution, which impacts water quality.
The overall goal of the Transborder
Watershed Research Program was to provide information to aid decision makers in
policy formation and adaptive management aimed at sustainable ecological and human
health in the two basins. A major product of this project is an atlas of the Tijuana
River Watershed.
Participants included Arizona State University, San Diego State University, University
of Utah, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, El Colegio de la Frontera
Norte, and Universidad Autónoma de Sonora.
U.S. Contacts:
Ward Brady, Arizona State University,
Ph. 602-965-2402, Email: ward.brady@asu.edu
Richard Wright, San Diego State
University, Ph. 619-594-5466, Email: wright@typhoon.sdsu.edu