A wetland permanence classification tool to support prairie wetland conservation and policy implementation

Wetland permanence, the duration and frequency that surface water is present, affects biological communities whether wetlands are protected under legislation in some jurisdictions. drainage Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) has changed distribution of because smaller more temporary likely to be drained. This change biodiversity other wetland ecosystem services. In Manitoba, Canada, treated differently Water Rights Act based on permanence classification can either drained with a simplified registration (temporary ephemeral wetlands), permit requiring mitigation (seasonal or from (semipermanent permanent wetlands). To facilitate implementing conservation program targeting most vulnerable wetlands, we built model using LiDAR Sentinel-2 data (1312 training observations). Our random forest had 73% accuracy 563 test observations applicable across agricultural region southwestern Manitoba. We predicted class 365,499 an online tool help practitioners implement pays producers conserve wetlands. approach elsewhere PPR regions variation permanence.