1. Orin J. Hutchinson1 with Dr. Ramesh Sivanpillai2
Monitoring post-wildfire vegetation regeneration in the Northern Black Hills of Wyoming using Landsat images
Orin J. Hutchinson1 with Dr. Ramesh Sivanpillai2
1. Department of Ecosystem Science and Management and 2 Department of Botany & WyGISC, University of Wyoming

2. Introduction Wildfires are part of natural process Coniferous Forests
Forests, range lands, and grasslands
Coniferous Forests
Management
Fire-suppression
Prescribed fire
Monitoring is an important part
Resources (people, equipment, and money)

3. Monitoring post-fire Invasive species (top right and left) Erosion
(bottom right)

4. Remote Sensing Images taken from airplanes and satellites Airplanes
Special missions
During wildfire it is risky
Satellites
Orbit the earth
Collect data on periodic basis
Examples:
Landsat, MODIS, SPOT VEGETATION (France), AWiFS (India)

5. True color vs. Infrared (Landsat)
2006 Wildfires, Natrona Co. Wyoming, Sivanpillai (2011) BOT4130 Class notes

6. MODIS – During the fire
Review of the use of MODIS images for monitoring fires
Justice L., et al., Remote Sensing of Environment, 83:244–262
NASA mission images

7. Normalized Burn Ratio Index
Normalized Burn Ratio Index (NBRI) – derived from IR bands
Used for assessing burn severity following wildfires
MTBS, USDA Forest Service/U.S. Geological Survey
Two infrared bands
Bands 4 and 7 of Landsat 5
(Band 4-Band 7)/(Band 4+Band 7)
Colors correspond to
different burn categories
Schwind, B. (compiler) Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity: Report on the PNW & PSW Fires—1984 to 2005

8. NDVI
Post-fire vegetation recovery: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)
White JD, et al International Journal of Wildland Fire 6, 125–136.
Red and infrared bands
Bands 3 and 4 - Landsat
(Band 4 - Band 3)
(Band 4 + Band 3)
Virginia Space Grant Consortium

9. Study: Basin Draw Fire (2004)
When: August 31, 2004
Where: Northeast Crook County Wyoming
Burned on private and state land
Cause: Landowner burning trash
How long: Three days of suppression to get it contained
$500,000 cost of suppression at time of containment

10. Fire line Observations
Day 1-Fire started in the heat of the day and burned with high intensity-120 acres
Day 2- Lost the burnout operation due to spot fire.
Tried to catch it several times but long-range spotting prohibited containment.
Burned with high intensity on all slopes
South-Warm, low fuel moistures
North-High Fuel Load, slightly higher fuel moistures
Day 3 contained through burnouts at 4,651 acres
Weed invasion-Canadian Thistle,
Recovery-Grasses came back next spring, Bur oak recovery,
No Ponderosa Pine regeneration
(Source: District 1 Assistant State Forester Dick Terry– personal communication)

11. Study: Basin Draw Fire
Schwind, B. (compiler) Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity: Report on the PNW & PSW Fires—1984 to 2005.

12. Study Objectives: 1. Burn Severity
USGS/USFS: Pre-fire (Aug 2004) & Post-fire (Sep 2004)
Present study: Pre-fire (Aug 2004) & Post-fire (Aug 2005)
Anniversary dates
Assess burn severity (NBRI values) among different categories
High, medium and low burn
Assess the influence of aspect on burn severity
South vs. north facing stands

13. Study Objectives: 2. Vegetation Recovery
Present study: (Aug 2007) & (Aug 2008)
Anniversary dates
Assess vegetation recovery (NDVI values) in the different burn categories
High, medium and low burn
Assess the influence of aspect on vegetation recovery
South vs. north facing stands

14. Delta NBRI Difference between pre- and post-fire NBRI values NBRI
2004 (pre-fire): 0.410
2005 (post-fire):
Delta NBRI = 0.484

15. Comparing Delta NBRI Values
North facing slopes

16. Comparing Delta NBRI Values
South facing slopes

17. Comparing Delta NBRI Values
Influence of Aspect

18. NDVI Differences Difference between pre- and post-fire NDVI values
2007: 0.258
2008: 0.486
Delta NDVI = 0.227

19. Comparing Delta NDVI values
Delta NDVI values in High vs. Moderate, High vs. Low and Moderate vs. Low were NOT significant
This was also true for 2 of the 3 aspect types
Vegetation recovery in the north facing slope within the low burn category was higher than the corresponding south facing slope

20. Comparing Delta NDVI values

21. Conclusions
Delta NBRI values derived from anniversary date images varied by burn intensity
Pattern was same in both north and south facing stands
Within same burn-severity class
High severity burn – aspect was NOT a factor
Moderate Severity – aspect was a major factor (p = 0.002)
Low Severity – aspect was a minor factor (p = 0.046)
Vegetation recovery ( )
Was not associated with high and medium burn severity classes
Was higher in low-burn North vs. low-burn South (p = 0.007)

22. Recommendations Clouds can be a problem
Landsat collects data once in 16 days
Landsat 5 (launched in 1984 – way past its design life)
Landsat 7 (technical problems – data not usable)
Landsat 8 (scheduled for launch – Jan 2013)
MODIS
Two satellites TERRA and AQUA (past their design life)
New satellites are launched by other countries
Future work have to include data from multiple sources

23. Acknowledgements WyomingView Ramesh Sivanpillai
Wyoming Assistant State Forester Dick Terry