Southern Idaho Disasters
Enhancing Pre- and Post-Wildfire Vegetation Type Characterization Using NASA Earth Observations
Increasing wildfire frequency has emphasized the importance of post-wildfire recovery efforts in southern Idaho's sagebrush-steppe ecosystem. The changing fire regime favors annual invasive grass species while hindering native grasses and sagebrush habitat regeneration, causing a positive feedback cycle of invasive plants. Due, in part, to this undesirable process the sagebrush-steppe ecosystem is one of the most endangered in the US. In this project, the Idaho NASA DEVELOP team partnered with the Bureau of Land Management, Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and the US Department of Agriculture to characterize ecosystem recovery following the 2006 Crystal wildfire. Vegetation recovery following the Crystal fire (2006) was observed from 2001 to 2016 using NASA Earth observations Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), Aqua and Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). In addition, significant factors affecting recovery were identified, and recovery of the landscapes carbon sequestration capacity was assessed. Key variables analyzed included biomass production, seasonally accumulated precipitation, max seasonal temperature, and elevation including slope and aspect. These factors affect land management by driving the success or failure of recovery efforts.
Project Video:
Steppe-ing Into Wildfire Recovery
- Location
- BLM at Idaho State University GIS
- Term
- Summer 2017
- Partner(s)
- Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Pocatello Field Office
USDA Agricultural Research Service, Northwest Watershed Research Center
Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Southeast Regional Office
Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Upper Snake Regional Office
NASA RECOVER Science Team - NASA Earth Observations
- Landsat 5, TM
Landsat 8, OLI
Terra, MODIS
Aqua, MODIS
SRTM V2 - Team
- Austin Counts (Project Lead)
Nicholas Olsen
Cassidy Quistorff
Caitlin Toner
Courtney Ohr - Advisor(s)
- Keith Weber (Idaho State University, GIS TReC)
Joe Spruce (Science Systems and Applications Inc.)