CO-RIP: a riparian vegetation and corridor extent dataset for Colorado River Basin streams and rivers

Here we present “CO-RIP”, a novel spatial dataset delineating riparian corridors and riparian vegetation along large streams and rivers in the United States (U.S.) portion of the Colorado River Basin. The consistent delineation of riparian areas across large areas using remote sensing has been a historically complicated process partially due to differing definitions in the scientific and management communities regarding what a “riparian corridor” or “riparian vegetation” represents. We use valley-bottoms to define the riparian corridor and establish a riparian vegetation definition interpretable from aerial imagery for efficient, consistent, and broad-scale mapping. Riparian vegetation presence and absence data were collected using a systematic, flexible image interpretation process applicable wherever high resolution imagery is available. We implemented a two-step approach using existing valley bottom delineation methods and random forests classification models that integrate Landsat s...