Submitted to: American Water Resources Association Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/27/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Technical Abstract: Riparian ecosystems are critical elements of sagebrush-steppe rangelands. In the past, rangeland resource managers have lacked an accurate, efficient, and cost-effective tool for riparian condition assessment and monitoring across large land areas. Ground-based methods, satellite imagery, and large scale aerial photography have been used for ecological condition assessments of rangelands. Each of these methods have significant shortcomings. Recent technological advances in multispectral aerial videography may now furnish resource managers with a viable tool for remote assessment of riparian condition over large land areas. Multispectral aerial videography provides high spatial and spectral resolution, extensive ground coverage, inflight data evaluation, inexpensive data acquisition and storage, and automation of many post-flight processing procedures. The objective of this research was to test the hypothesis that aerial videography can be used to accurately assess the structure and composition of riparian vegetation in sagebrush-steppe rangelands. The study was conducted at Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed near Boise, Idaho.