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USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region, State and Private Forestry and the Pacific Northwest Research Station, Forest Inventory and Analysis Program are leading an effort including other federal, state and local government agencies to acquire recurring high resolution satellite imagery, create vegetation maps and detect changes in land use over the U.S. Affiliated Islands.
Completed vegetation maps and digital data have been distributed to local governments and other agencies that are part of the consortium. These mapping products along with the high resolution IKONOS and QuickBird imagery are now providing critical information in support of island resource management and ecosystem protection.
Methodology Reports
Image data from IKONOS and QuickBird satellites are acquired to initially develop 5-class vegetations maps (Fig.2) for stratification by the Pacific Northwest FIA Pacific Islands program. Detailed vegetation maps are produced from the 5-class maps and cross-referenced to historic vegetation resource maps and inventories (Fig. 3).
Classification of the high resolution imagery provides a quick and reasonably accurate approach for mapping and monitoring the complex and rapidly changing tropical vegetation. 0.6-meter resolution QuickBird data is used to facilitate mapping with IKONOS especially where cloud cover obscures the land and for resource managers to use in the field in lieu of natural resource photography (Fig.4).
Vegetation Data Packages (.ZIP)
SWARS Notebook Packages (.ZIP)
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