Use of remote sensing to help monitor the Sonoran Desert National Monument

Description: 
Remotely sensed imaging is being used to detect both spatial and temporal changes in land surface in order to monitor the large, isolated landscape of the Sonoran Desert National Monument (SDNM). Illegal activities by increasing numbers of visitors are having a negative impact on the landscape. This is presenting challenges to land managers and as a result the Bureau of Land Management is funding a project at Northern Arizona University (NAU) to investigate the capabilities and limitations of remote sensing to monitor the SDNM.
Originator: 
Bureau of Land Management, and Northern Arizona University (NAU)
Is this an existing or new approach to measuring landscape change?: 
New
Aspect of landscape: 
Spatial coverage: 
An important part of the project is to determine the image requirements for monitoring the travel network. The project is also investigating the use of satellite imaging to detect and map vegetation at regional scales.
Geographical unit: 
Whole landscape
Frequency of measure: 
Depending on aspect to be measured.
Indicator: 
monitoring the travel network for law enforcement and land managers
Any other comments: 
https://nau.edu/gpr/landscape-monitoring-using-remote-sensing/
Data source: 
The project is using high resolution (50cm) satellite image data sets collected over a six year period along with a very high resolution (5 to 10cm) aerial image data set collected in 2011.
Submitted by: 
Laura Partington

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