LANDSAT imagery is a freely available global dataset that is attractive for many remote sensing applications, however, the 30m resolution is not ideal for more detailed analyses such as estimating woody plant cover on a localized scale.� In this study, we researched the feasibility of using 2m high resolution (HiRes) imagery to create a woody cover classification training dataset that would be applied to natural color (4,3,2 band) LANDSAT 8 data over a desert area in Kenya, Africa, and oak-juniper cut plains near Lampasas, Texas, USA.� We began by classifying the HiRes imagery into woody and non-woody classes using Example Based Feature Extraction in ENVI 5.3.� The resulting HiRes raster classification layer was Aggregated into a 30m cell size in ArcGIS 10.3 and reclassified based on percent woody cover per cell (< 20%, 20-40%, 40-60%, 60-80% and >80%). A random sampling of 2,000 cells was taken from the aggregated raster.� Of these 2,000 cells, 1,000 were used as an example training dataset on a LANDSAT image, while the other 1,000 were used to test the classification. Our resulting LANDSAT classifications were 49.7% and 54.7% in agreement with the HiRes classifications in Africa and Texas, respectively. Both sites had better agreement in the lowest (<20%) and highest (>80%) classifications. In Kenya, the <20% LANDSAT cover class matched the HiRes classification in 74.4% of the cells; while the >80% cover class matched in 64.4% of the cells. The Texas site matched 86.59% and 50.75% in the <20% and >80% cover classes, respectively.� Our results showed very similar results in two strikingly different ecosystem types, suggesting that the methodology may be repeatable in other areas as well.� Areas of very low and high woody plant cover were the most discernable in the LANDSAT imagery, while areas of moderate cover were often misclassified.
Oral presentation and poster titles, abstracts, and authors from the Society for Range Management (SRM) Annual Meetings and Tradeshows, from 2013 forward.