Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) offer a flexible tool for monitoring rangeland ecosystems. UAS can be adapted for use with a number of sensors to include basic digital cameras (such as a GoPro), multispectral and hyperspectral cameras, meteorological sensors, and LiDAR. The adaptability of UAS enables the collection of a wide variety of data reflecting rangeland health, to include vegetation identification, monitoring of woody shrub encroachment, and analysis of temporal changes in landscape and hydrological processes. Grazing practices and other land use activities can be more readily analyzed through UAS, improving both the timeliness and efficiency of data collection. The versatility and operational ease of UAS allows for data collection in a wide variety of environments, offering a more flexible and less expensive option to manned aircraft in many situations. Used in conjunction with ground-based sensors, UAS provide improved vertical analysis to research by gathering data at different altitudes and angles. The availability and relatively low cost of UAS makes the platform more readily available to a wider audience, expanding the opportunities for data collection and monitoring by individual stakeholders. Currently, we are using multi-rotor UAS to assess vegetation and water features in different rangeland and dryland riparian systems. We are using a combination of data collected on-the-ground and UAS imagery to assess juniper reestablishment effects on soil and water features in sage-steppe ecosystems. Additionally, we are testing UAS imagery to assess riparian vegetation and stream conditions in various locations in Oregon. The use of low-altitude UAS can be of great advantage for enhancing the state of the science in rangeland monitoring and other natural resource applications.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.