Monitoring Forest Health: The Eye in the Sky
The 2023 Winter edition of Northwest Woodlands magazine features an article by Daniel DePinte, titled, “Monitoring Forest Health: The Eye in the Sky.”
In the article, the author describes how the Forest Service monitors 86 million acres of forested land across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. The Forest Health Protection program looks at the health of the forest by measuring damage from insect and disease.
For missions that require specialized, multispectral sensors, the Forest Service uses a Vision Aerial SwitchBlade-Elite with a Micasense RedEdge-P sensor mounted to the bottom. They use a fleet of drones to conduct a aerial surveys of the area to get a snapshot of the forest health.
Read the full article on page 11 to learn more.