IN THE SOUTHERN ROCKIES RIPARIAN WETLANDS ARE IMPORTANT REGULATORS OF BENEFICIAL ECOSYSTEMS SERVICES. THESE WETLANDS ARE SUSTAINED THROUGH HYDROLOGIC CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN STREAMS AND THEIR FLOODPLAINS. HOWEVER ACROSS THE SOUTHERN ROCKIES HUMAN LAND USE PRACTICES AND THE EXTIRPATION OF BEAVER HAVE CAUSED STREAMS IN THESE VALLEYS TO INCISE INTO THEIR BANKS EFFECTIVELY DISCONNECTING STREAMS FROM THEIR FLOODPLAINS AND ALTERING WETLAND FUNCTION. WHILE THERE IS GROWING INTERESTING IN RESTORING INTACT WETLAND ECOSYSTEMS FEW STUDIES HAVE EXAMINED CURRENT WETLAND CONDITION IN THE REGION. HERE I PLAN TO LEVERAGE NASAS LANDSAT MISSIONS EXISTING GEOSPATIAL DATASETS AND REACH SCALE PROCESS STUDIES TO CONDUCT SUCH AN ASSESSMENT OF RIPARIAN WETLAND CONDITION. BY COUPLING FIELD MEASUREMENTS WITH REMOTE SENSING APPROACHES I WILL 1) EXPAND OUR ABILITY TO QUANTIFY SEASONAL WETLAND HYDROLOGY 2) ASSESS WETLAND CONDITION ACROSS THE SOUTHERN ROCKIES 3) INVESTIGATE HOW WETLAND CONDITION ALTERS CORRELATIONS BETWEEN CLIMATE VARIABLES AND WETLAND PRODUCTIVITY AND 4) DEVELOP TECHNIQUES FOR DETECTING SHIFTS IN WETLAND CONDITION. TO INTERPRET LANDSAT WETNESS INDICES AS APPROXIMATIONS OF WETLAND HYDROLOGY I WILL CONDUCT WETLAND SCALE HYDROLOGIC MONITORING ACROSS A GROWING SEASON AT TWO INTACT AND TWO DISTURBED WETLANDS. AT EACH WETLAND I WILL MONITOR FIVE 30X30M SITES WITHIN DISTURBED AND INTACT WETLANDS FOR SOIL MOISTURE GROUNDWATER LEVEL AND FINE-SCALE MULTISPECTRAL READINGS. THIS DATA WILL BE COMPARED TO LANDSAT WETNESS INDEX VALUES AT THE SAME TIME AND LOCATIONS. TO ASSESS WETLAND CONDITION I WILL FIRST VALIDATE MY HYPOTHESIS THAT INTER-ANNUAL VARIANCE IN LANDSAT INDICES CAN BE USED AS A KEY METRIC OF WETLAND CONDITION. PRELIMINARY EVIDENCE FROM RIPARIAN WETLANDS IN ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK SUGGEST THAT THIS APPROACH IS EFFECTIVE. I WILL EXTEND THE APPROACH TO 30 WETLANDS REACHES. EACH REACH WILL BE CLASSIFIED ON A SPECTRUM OF INTACT TO DISTURBED USING VISUAL OBSERVATIONS AND GEOMORPHIC INDEXES. I WILL THEN CALCULATE INTER-ANNUAL VARIATION OF LANDSAT INDICES AND COMPARE RESULTS TO THE MANUAL CLASSIFICATION. ONCE VALIDATED I WILL EXTENT THE ANALYSIS TO CLASSIFY CONDITION OF ALL RIPARIAN WETLANDS IN THE REGION.