Abnova Ecological Solutions‘ Dr. Mike Curran spoke at the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission “Drone Symposium” about the use of drones for reclamation monitoring. Curran discussed the evolution from traditional reclamation monitoring techniques used on oil & gas sites (e.g., ocular estimation, line point intercept, Daubenmire quadrats) to the use of imagery (first handheld, then drone) combined with spatially balanced sampling designs. Additionally, he spoke about the benefits of using GIS and geo-tagged imagery to improve reporting, with some examples of spatially-explicit dashboarding to allow stakeholders to improve decision managements with rapid, easy-to-interpret reports.
Not only can data be collected significantly faster (and more cost-effective) in the field when imagery is used compared to most traditional techniques, imagery provides a slew of other benefits. Some of these include: images provide a permanent record, images can be analyzed by expert botanists (meaning not all field technicians need to be highly qualified botanists) and validated by gov’t agents, the speed of image collection allows for monitoring to be done within important phenology windows, imagery isn’t subject to many biases associated with traditional techniques, as AI capabilities to ID vegetation increase the more images retained in a data library can be used to train models, and more. A comprehensive list of benefits can be found in Curran et al.’s 2019 publication in Restoration Ecology (co-authored by a group from State and Federal Gov’t agencies, University of Wyoming, University of Canterbury, and private consultants)– Spatially balanced sampling and ground-level imagery for vegetation monitoring on reclaimed well pads. This paper discusses other benefits, such as image-based data being able to satisfy all existing regulatory criteria for oil and gas reclamation monitoring, and how improved data can lead to better reclamation management practices (e.g., improving seed mix selection, improving weed management decisions, etc.).
After discussing how the use of handheld (geo-tagged) imagery and spatially balanced sampling (see BAS: Balanced Acceptance Sampling of Natural Resources) can benefit reclamation monitoring, Curran discussed the use of drones for reclamation monitoring (based on a 2020 peer-reviewed publication). To further improve efficiency from the previous study, a 2020 study solved the traveling salesman problem to optimize drone flight paths and human walking paths. The study can be found in Biodiversity — Combining spatially balanced sampling, route optimization, and remote sensing to assess biodiversity response to reclamation practices on semi-arid well pads. The study showed drone image analysis and handheld image analysis had high levels of agreement with each other, with drone monitoring being significantly faster.
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