Book Description

This report explores the possibilities of computer graphics as a tool in the process of watershed planning. The research project involved a study of the Upper Santa Ana River Basin in California and addressed techniques for predicting future land use patterns, analyzing the effects of future land use on resources, the identification of desirable alternative plans for resource development, and the application of these methods toward the generation of environmental impact studies, particularly for regional-scale development decisions. The project consisted of the creation of a computerized data bank of site resources and land use elements, the development of locational attractiveness models defined by major activities or land uses occurring in the basin and the identification of the criteria which define land use decisions, the analysis of the vulnerability of various natural systems to impacts caused by future land use change, and the analysis of the attractiveness models and the impact models by evaluating two locally specified land use plans. (Author).