PNNL

Abstract

Grazing lands in the United States consist of approximately 312 million hectares of federal, state, and private land. A recent review by the National Research Council indicates a need to collect comprehensive, consistent, and uniform data to evaluate rangeland health. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is assisting the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and working cooperatively with the U.S. Forest Service, and the U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service to address these data needs using new remote sensing methods designed to characterize large areas quickly and at minimal cost. Anticipated application for new remote sensing protocols range from conducting national assessments of the ecological condition of rangelands to monitoring change in condition of individual grazing allotments.