New data from NASA is helping forest managers deal with millions of dead trees in the Sierra. FM89’s Ezra David Romero reports the mapping project is already yielding results.
Since 2013 NASA has flown a plane over the Sierra Nevada collecting images to map changes in the landscape. Zachary Tane with the Forest Service developed an algorithm to break down those measurements and layered the data into a map detailing the exact concentration of dead trees.
“I’m trying to give the people who are in charge of fighting and controlling and setting controlled fires as much information as I can,” Tane says.
Tane says the map is still a work in progress, but because the severity of bark beetle damage on pine trees he released the map now.
“Where there are a lot of dead trees, then if a fire does occur particularly this year or maybe next year then that fire is going to be more intense then they might expect otherwise," adds Tane.
Even in the tool’s infancy foresters like Ramiro Rojas with the Sierra National Forest are already using the map to help determine where tree removal may be most effective to help prevent fires.
“Our normal methods of accessing the change in the vegetation are just not large-scale enough," Rojas says. "What this allows us to do is to look across a very large landscape quickly to make this assessment.”
As new data from flyovers over the mountain range is collected this summer Rojas is hoping for an even better inclination about how to manage the Sierra National Forest.
