sites basins water — forest urban agricultur e Figure 1. Land cover map (1997/1998) of the Etowah and their respective catchments. ...- basin sowing the a of study sites OVERVIEW OF LAND COVER AND GEOMORPHIC INDICATORS OF BIOTIC INTEGRITY IN THE ETOWAH RIVER BASIN, GEORGIA David S. Leigh', Byron J. Freeman, Mary C. Freeman, Elizabeth A. Kramer, Catherine M. Pringle, Amy D. Rosemond, Michael J. Paul, David M. Walters, Allison Roy and C.P. Lo' AUTHORS . 'Department of Geography and Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. REFERENCE: Proceedings of the 2001 Georgia Water Resources Conference, held March 26 -27, 2001, at the University of Georgia Kathryn .1. Hatcher, editor, Institute of Ecology, the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia. Abstract. Land cover, catchment geomorphology, stream channel geomorphology, and water quality were measured at 32 sites in the Etowah River basin north of Atlanta to identify landscape indicators of biotic integrity in Piedmont streams. Results show that multivariate models using two or three variables from these indicator categories explain 60 to 90 percent of the variation in multi-metric scores of biotic integrity for fishes and macroinvertebrates. Thus, these landscape indicators provide a suitable proxy for the biotic quality of streams, and they can be used to help manage, restore, and predict degraded and impaired stream conditions that result from urban growth and other changes in land cover. INTRODUCTION The main objective of this research is to define the predictive capabilities of scale-variable attributes of land cover (GIS-based) and geomorphology as risk assessment indicators of the biotic integrity of stream ecosystems. The study area is the Piedmont portion of the Etowah River basin north of Atlanta, Georgia (Figure 1), which is one of the nation's fastest growing urban areas. Various types of land cover influence water and sediment inputs (stressors) that shape stream geomorphology, which is the physical template for stream ecosystems. Landscape alteration influences these physical stressors and occurs over large areas