Conservation
Collecting baseline measurements of vegetation in natural habitats is a critical first step toward habitat restoration and ecosystem management.
The value of remote sensing data for environmental monitoring and land management has been well established and is supported by numerous scientific principles.
Until recently, the cost of collecting and processing multispectral imaging data was prohibitive for many conservation agencies and non-profit organizations.
Multispectral imaging can provide data to land managers and support the following stewardship activities:
Ecosystem Management
Habitat restoration
Tracking invasive species
Disturbance and human impact monitoring
Planning and reporting
Changes in plant reflectance can provide an early warning system of stressed trees, prompting field teams to investigate before a small problem becomes widespread.
Multispectral imaging systems mounted on aircraft and drones can quantify vegetation density, identify stressed ecosystems, and observe canopy fragmentation over time.
This technology provides greater spatial resolution than satellite imagery and costs significantly less than LIDAR.
Recent advancements in image processing software use automated feature extraction techniques to generate detailed terrain and vegetation height information from airborne MSI data.
Read FireWatch's presentation on using MSI for Habitat Restoration.