High-resolution Digital Photography for Forest Characterization in the Central Plateau of the Yellowstone National Park

Detailed knowledge of forest structure is an important component in research focusing on forest biodiversity monitoring, carbon budgeting studies, fire modelling and forest inventory estimation. In forest inventory mapping, high spatial resolution multispectral imagery are becoming a valuable and often a critical tool to effective forest resource management planning. In this research, we describe and illustrate the forestry applications of an aerial multispectral digital imaging camera system (DuncanTech MS3100) that was experimentally flown over several study sites in the Central Plateau of the Yellowstone National Park, in July 2001. The purpose of this demonstration is three fold; first we discuss the application of geostatistical methods, co-kriging specifically, to model forest canopy components such as height, canopy thickness, species, density and structure. Second, investigate how estimate forest stand characteristics such as stem counts and crown diameter can be estimated using object based methodology on high resolution imagery. Finally, we plan to examine the spectral and spatial characteristics, captured by the aerial camera system, of seedling regeneration in the 1988 burn sites.