U.S. Department of the Interior
Satellite monitoring of evergreen pinyon-juniper ecosystems in Arizona revealed an unexpected winter-peaking signal in a time series of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values. The interpretation of the unusual timing is that the imaged vegetation experienced maximum greenness during the coldest season of the year.
The San Carlos Apache Tribe in Arizona wants to learn more about the historical characteristics of their woodlands, savannas, and grasslands so they have a target for restoration efforts. Restoring juniper woodland to savanna is a focus of the Tribe’s intensive management activities, and spatial information that would help determine where best to attempt restoration is needed.
Alterations to river flow can impact natural and cultural resources within river valleys and riparian zones.
Mountain glacier mass change affects water resources, regional ecosystems and global sea level. Understanding the physical processes that control glacier mass change requires field measurements of winter snow accumulation and summer melt. Yet field measurements only capture discrete points across the glacier surface, which can result in systematic bias.
LANDFIRE’s mission is to provide agency leaders and managers with a common “all-lands” dataset (including maps) of vegetation and wildland fire/fuels information for strategic fire and resource management planning and analysis.
The primary objectives of the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument (KAWW),Maine, mapping project were to provide the following: an accurate, tested, and up-to-date vegetation map; a vegetation classification standardized to the U.S. National Vegetation Classification and supported by vegetation plot data collected within the Monument; and a field key to vegetation for the entire monument.
In the early 2000s, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Michigan, was infested by Beech Bark Disease (BBD).
Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) in Indiana hosts a variety of habitat types, including extensive grassland complexes and intact forests.
Although extensive work has been devoted to understanding the role of fire in maintaining ecosystem functions in upland systems, little research has focused on understanding the impact of fire on coastal wetlands or the response of birds to fire in high marsh wetlands.
Barrier islands are dynamic environments. Under calm conditions, they are gradually shaped by currents, waves, and tides; during hurricanes and other extreme storms, they can evolve within hours to days. Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) can collect monitoring data, especially elevation information, via Structure from Motion (SfM) techniques, with a temporal resolution that is well-suited for these dynamic environments.