Comment:

The two most predominant floodplain quality types should be checked, one each for the left and right banks (includes forest, swamp, shrub or old field, residential, park, new field, fenced pasture, open pasture, rowcrop, conservation tillage, urban or industrial, mining/construction), and then averaged. By floodplain we mean the areas immediately outside of the riparian zone or greater than 100 meters from the stream, whichever is wider on each side of the stream. The concept is to identify land uses that might deliver harmful runoff to the stream. These are areas adjacent to the stream that can have direct runoff and erosion effects during normal wet weather. This is considered a ground truthing exercise and we suggest those interested in estimating of the effects of adjacent or riparian land uses use now well-developed GIS approaches. We do not limit it to the riparian zone and it is much less encompassing than the stream basin.