Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) Satellite Datasets in Monitoring Landscape Scale Fire Events on the Refugio-Goliad Prairie Conservation Area, Texas

This poster, presented at the Conservancy's central North America science and stewardship meeting (February 2012; Aurora, NE), summarizes the results of remote sensing research conducted by Ray Guse (TNC), Kirk Feuerbacher (TNC) and Wade Harrell (US FWS). Much of the burning on this landscape occurs on private lands, and is not centrally tracked. Fixed-wing aircraft can conduct surveys to locate all burns, but are expensive and inconclusive if conducted after green-up. Readily-available satellite data were tested against reliable 2008 aircraft survey data. The correlations were high enough to track trends, though not absolute amounts of burning. The amount of fire in use on the 664,000-acre landscape shows a clear upward trend, with upward bumps at the onset of Conservancy burning, and again with the introduction of prescribed fire training exchange events.