Issues are diseases and natural disturbances. Develop methods and metrics to quantify impacts of diseases on commercial and non-commercial forests. To help integrate pest assessment and evaluation into forest management decision support systems.   Remote Sensing to Examine Disturbances Effects

Managing disease outbreaks, insect infestations, and other disturbances to reduce fire hazard
This study aims to characterize how diseases, insects, and other small-scale disturbances influence spatial patterns of fuel loading. It uses easily accessible satellite imagery and spatial statistics to model distribution of various types of fuels at landscape scales with 10 m resolution. Application of these models have the potential of helping managers develop guidelines for mediating fire hazard by managing spatial patterns of outbreaks.

Limit fuel buildup by controlling diseases and other mortality agents
We developed a method to measure the relative importance of different disturbances in creating fuels and changing the spatial fuel distribution at landscape scales. In our test case of endemic conditions in the Black Hills NF, root diseases caused 32% of the total fuel load, followed by bark beetles (21%), lightning damage (11%), wind damage (10%), canker diseases (10%), and others. Cash flow analyses with capital budgeting methods are being used to estimate values resulting from controlling different disturbances. These methods will help managers conduct costs/benefit analyses and decide on whether controls for different disturbances are economically justifiable.

Development of spatial fuel models based on satellite imagery
Methods were developed to generate spatial fuel loading models that predict the spatial distribution of various fuel components at a 10 m resolution. These models have been linked to established fire spread models to predict spatial spread and impact. Application of these models offer a nice way to monitor fuel abundance and distribution at landscape scales, and monitoring fuel load distributions as they change with disease and insect activities.