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Managing Western Rangelands with GIS and Remote Sensing

Managing Western Rangelands with GIS and Remote Sensing. Keith T. Weber GIS Director Idaho State University. Research Team. Sudhanshu Panda, Nancy Glenn, Matthew Germino, Scott Hughes, and Richard Inouye (ISU) Steven Seefeldt and Bret Taylor (USSES) Numerous grad students. Acknowledgements.

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Managing Western Rangelands with GIS and Remote Sensing

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  1. Managing Western Rangelands with GIS and Remote Sensing Keith T. Weber GIS Director Idaho State University

  2. Research Team • Sudhanshu Panda, Nancy Glenn, Matthew Germino, Scott Hughes, and Richard Inouye (ISU) • Steven Seefeldt and Bret Taylor (USSES) • Numerous grad students

  3. Acknowledgements • NASA • USDA ARS- USSES • USDI BLM

  4. What are Rangelands? • Typically semi-arid (brittle) • Grass and shrub dominated • Not cultivated, irrigated, or fertilized • Occupies 44% of Idaho

  5. Our Study Area

  6. A Brief History… • Land cover change study • Explore the primary agents of change • Weeds • Fire • Urbanization

  7. Issues • Invasive weeds • Wildfires • Desertification

  8. Our Role to Managers • Decision support tools • Predictive models • Public outreach to decision makers • Increase understanding

  9. Issue #1- Target Weed Species • Cheatgrass • Interesting species • Brief life history • Leafy Spurge

  10. Current results • Cheatgrass is difficult to detect reliably • Detection threshold • Patchy target • Similar to non-target features • We have used Landsat, SPOT, and Quickbird imagery.

  11. Patchy Target

  12. Spectral Similarity

  13. Issue #2, Wildfire • Reliable fuel load modeling • Current rangeland fire severity modeling

  14. Issue #3, Desertification • For land managers and land stewards… • Bio-diversity issue • Why is this weed here? • What are we to do about high fuel loads? • What can we do about the exposed soils?

  15. Holistic Integration • Symptoms of degraded rangeland health • Loss of bio-diversity • Weeds • Bare ground • Ineffective water cycles with exacerbated drought effects • We have studied the symptoms…now let’s move to the cause.

  16. Why are the Rangelands Degraded? • It appears to be… • Years of over-rest • Following years of over-grazing of plants • Why? • Grasses evolved with grazing • Grazed once in a season….not numerous times • Animal impact is important • Hoof action • Look at corral areas in the study area

  17. Quantifying Rangeland Health: Modeling

  18. Importance of Rangeland Health Modeling and Forecasting • Big picture • Addresses end-user core concerns • Reliable models possible

  19. Thank You • For more information visit our Internet Map Server at: • http://giscenter-ims.isu.edu/ website/rangelands/viewer.htm • Or visit our home page http://giscenter.isu.edu

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