BLM Submissions

Juniper Expansion in Southern Wyoming

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Juniper expansion is occurring across western rangelands due to a variety of factors, including grazing, fire management practices and climate change. By examining historical imagery, the BLM Rawlins Field Office sought to understand juniper canopy changes during  the last 71 years over a 250,000-acre study area in southern Wyoming. Black and white imagery from August 1938 was scanned, georeferenced, and used to manually map juniper stands into  three density groups (low, moderate, high).

LaSal Mines Surface Disturbance Acreage Compliance

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

This compliance analysis used digital and older analog aerial photography that had been scanned and orthorectified. Seven different vintages of imagery, from 1975 through 2011, were used to assess  the growth of surface disturbance  at several different mine sites and determine compliance with  maximum ground disturbance limits.  Final calculations and maps produced from the analysis helped support  a determination that one site was not in compliance.  The analysis was used to work with the mining company and bring the site back into compliance.

Mapping Sage and Sharp-Tailed Grouse Habitat

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Sage and sharp-tailed grouse were both reintroduced into the scabland area of eastern Washington. BLM is part of an interagency effort to monitor their breeding success and habitat selection. Current 30-m vegetation maps are too coarse for habitat analysis. Field data used in the classification were collected at bird nesting sites and along randomly placed transects. Color infrared 2011 National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) (1-m) and panchromatic WorldView-1 (0.5-m) imagery were used to develop a habitat map.

Monitoring in the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

In 2012, BLM began a pilot project to implement its National Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) Strategy in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). The AIM Strategy focuses on management questions important to land managers at varying levels of the Bureau: from field office to national levels, including status, trend, amount, location, and spatial pattern of important natural resources.  Wide ranging management questions across multiple land management programs and scales require coordinated and integrated long-term data collection.

Ogden, Utah, Historic Pipeline Alignment

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

To support on-the-ground survey updates, this project utilized high resolution stereo digital aerial photography (1-foot resolution, natural color) to determine Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate locations for 12 miles of water pipeline in Ogden, Utah.  Photo interpretation was used to identify where the pipeline was buried, where it emerged in an open canal, and where the pipeline  ran above ground. The coordinate data were put into a Geographic Information System (GIS), from which field maps were made, making the cadastral surveyor's job much more efficient.

RS2477 Route Litigation

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

RS2477 Litigation refers to right-of-way issues on routes that cross public lands and determine whether the Federal, state, county, or local governments have legal jurisdiction. Some of the conditions that are taken into consideration are: 1) whether or not the road was in existence and in continuous use for at least 10 consecutive years prior to 1976 (corresponding to the repeal of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act), 2) whether or not the entire route was in use or only portions of it, and 3) the purpose of travel on the route.