Airplane

The potential implications of climate change on Pacific salmon are a concern to resource managers in Alaska as warming trends continue in high-latitude streams. Temperature monitoring is needed to assess the potential ecological changes to salmon spawning habitat in coldwater refugia streams. The Funny River and Moose River are two coldwater streams on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge that support a variety of salmon species.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that there are over 2.3 million onshore abandoned oil and gas wells. A well is considered abandoned by State and Federal agencies if there has not been recent oil or gas production, the well head is not properly capped, or there is no responsible operating company. Many oil and gas wells are concentrated in the southwestern United States.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is using airborne remote sensing technologies to enhance migratory bird surveys to 1) ensure safety of aircrews conducting surveys by allowing flight at higher altitudes, 2) improve the quality of collected population and habitat data by quantifying and minimizing error rates, and 3) increase bird survey efficiency and utility by creating consistent automated processes.

National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) in Texas and Oklahoma manage forested habitats to support priority bird populations in the West Gulf Coastal Plain and Ouachitas Bird Conservation Regions. Airborne laser altimetry, or light detection and ranging (lidar), captures detail on vertical and horizonal forest structure helpful for determining bird species diversity, density, and distribution.

Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service deployed very-high resolution (VHR), multi-camera sensor arrays on fixed-winged aircraft to develop digital aerial imagery surveys in support of the Atlantic Marine Assessment Program for Protected Species (AMAPPS). In 2021, AMAPPS collected over 1.8 million images from aerial surveys over the Atlantic Ocean Outer Continental Shelf, which includes data from migratory, summer, and winter seasons.

Wetlands make up less than 1% of West Virginia’s land surface but are critical habitat for nearly one-fourth of its species, including 44% of its rare plant species.  They also provide other benefits, including improved water quality as well as flood and erosion control.  

The New Mexico meadow jumping mouse (Zapus hudsonius luteus), which was listed as endangered in 2014, historically ranged throughout the Middle Rio Grande River Valley in New Mexico and along perennial high-elevation streams in New Mexico, southern Colorado, and eastern Arizona. After years of drought, river modifications, and changes to habitat, many previously occupied jumping mouse populations are believed to be extirpated.

The FWS is using airborne remote sensing technologies to enhance migratory bird surveys to 1) enhance safety of aircrews conducting surveys by allowing flight at higher altitudes, 2) improve the quality of population and habitat data collected by minimizing and quantifying error rates, and 3) increase bird survey efficiency and utility by creating consistent automated processes. The FWS is partnering with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), U.S.

Abandoned gas and oil wells are commonly a source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and can leak hydrocarbon-related fluids such as oil or brine, particularly when unplugged wells go undetected over long periods. Older wells are challenging to discover when vegetation has overgrown abandoned sites. As in other parts of the country, FWS National Wildlife Refuges (NWR) in Oklahoma and Texas contain a large number of abandoned wells from historical oil and gas development.

Mixed composition and bottomland hardwood forests are essential habitat for imperiled songbird populations on Texas and Oklahoma National Wildlife Refuges (NWR). Point-count data were collected for focal songbird species on five refuges together with remotely sensed data to estimate densities and model habitat relationships.