BLM collaborative efforts produce innovative drought monitoring tool for managers

Drought affects us all in the West. Droughts have been referred to as creeping natural disasters, as they often develop gradually, cover very large areas (yet produce irregular effects), and can go unnoticed until they have widespread effects on vegetation or water supplies. Every drought is a little bit different in how severe it is, how long it lasts, and the area it covers. The BLM is working to be water smart: investing in restoration efforts, improving the health of our land, and retaining water on the landscape by mimicking nature. Being water smart requires tools that improve our understanding of drought conditions, water availability, and the impact of our actions so we can make wise decisions.

Sagebrush Mortality

Shrub mortality in the sagebrush steppe of southwest Wyoming from a severe drought event. (Photo by Tim Assal)

The BLM’s Aquatic Resources; Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring (AIM); and Rangeland Management programs have partnered with ClimateEngine.org to produce climate and remote sensing data reports for all BLM-managed lands in the contiguous United States. The Climate Engine App is a partnership between researchers at the Desert Research Institute (DRI), University of California Merced, Google, and federal partners such as the BLM and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The publicly available tool provides user-friendly access to satellite and climate data. BLM offices can quickly generate a drought or site characterization report to assess drought indicators and satellite-based vegetation cover and productivity trends dating back to 1986.

 

Remote sensing data reports

The new BLM Climate & Remote Sensing Data Reports website provides timely and consistent drought and site characterization reports, increasing accessibility to drought and satellite-based vegetation data for resource managers. (Figure: Eric Jensen, DRI)

It’s an exciting time in the remote sensing world as we have access to more data than ever before; however, harnessing this information and coupling it with climate data can be challenging.
 

“The goal of this new platform is to lower the barrier to using timely drought and satellite-based vegetation datasets for resource managers,” said Eric Jensen, geospatial data scientist at DRI. “We have worked closely with the BLM to identify relevant drought indicators, make it easy for managers to pinpoint the land unit they’re interested in, and download a simple report that they can use for reporting and decision-making processes.”
 

The new tools build on years of collaboration between ClimateEngine and BLM, beginning with work in Nevada and Montana. ClimateEngine and similar remote sensing tools are increasingly used in NEPA documents, grazing permit renewals, wild horse and burro analyses and other decision-making efforts.  Several examples are collected in the AIM Decision Library.
 

BLM Range Management Specialist, Justin Shirley, added: “ClimateEngine.org provides field office leadership with another line of evidence to support their decision-making efforts across multiple scales with a variety of user groups.”

Drought report

The reports are provided consistently for every BLM state office, district office, and field office in the contiguous United States. This consistency provides users with the ability to assess drought and vegetation condition at multiple scales across BLM-managed lands. (Figure: Eric Jensen, DRI)

BLMers can learn more about the new Climate and Remote Sensing Data Reports from a recently recorded AIM Practitioners by DRI and BLM staff. Additional information on the reports can be found in recent press releases by the National Integrated Drought Information System and the Desert Research Institute.

Story by Tim Assal, NOC Geospatial Ecologist.