Prairie Pothole Repeat Photography Project

The images below are repeat photography of twelve prairie wetland sites in Sheridan County, Montana. These sites cover three different land use practices, with the first four sites situated in actively cultivated cropland (CL). The second set of four are in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). CRP lands are leased by the government for a set period of years to maintain environmental quality while providing habitat for migratory birds. (See http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/crp/. for more information on the CRP program) The final set of four are located on native prairie sites (NP). These sites are often grazed but have not been tilled.

The repeat photography images are organized in the following format. At each site a set of panoramic photos have been taken standing three paces due south of the piezometer and stilling well pair. These photos start facing north, looking at the well casings, and move clockwise, usually containing 10-12 photos per sequence. These photos are labeled by the site name abbreviation followed by the date and the number in the panoramic sequence. Therefore, the first photo in the panoramic sequence taken May 16, 2008 for native prairie site two would be NP02_05-16-08_01. Next there are two up-close photos of the well casings taken from one pace due north (SN) and one pace due south (SS). These photos follow the same nomenclature with either SS or SN in place of the panoramic sequence number.

Image label abbreviations:
SS - View of paired sites from the south
SN - View of paired sites from the north
WS - Spill point well. This well is installed at the point where the water would theoretically spill out of the wetland if it were completely filled with water
OV - Overview. This photo is taken from the spill point well looking into the wetland and is therefore not taken from any cardinal direction.