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Scientist at the University of Idaho are using Landsat data to save endangered birds.

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We took freely available Landsat imagery, and 
we developed this range-wide model that covers  

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a vast spatial extent and a really wide temporal 
window. To develop these fine scale maps of  

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habitat suitability, for an endangered species 
in an environment that's changing all the time.

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Technology Meets Conservation: Mapping Habitat for Endangered Species

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So I'm a research biologist, slash project manager 
for the University of Idaho, and i work on this  

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endangered Ridgway's Rail in the southwestern 
United States. It's a species that needs  

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attention. It is an indicator species of marsh 
condition throughout the whole Colorado river  

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system. I know they're a marsh bird.
They're they're like the size of a chicken,  

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but they're high up the food 
chain in these marshes. And so  

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if Rails are doing well it's indicative of a 
healthy system. So if we can develop products that  

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help us manage marshes for the Rails, it's also 
going to help protect habitats for other species.  

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In 2020, Harrity and coauthors published a research paper discussing the habitat suitability models.

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And we are really focusing on, okay how 
do we take effective tools and apply them  

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in space and time to maximize their benefit to 
the species? So we paired this spatially extensive  

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on-the-ground sampling data, with really extensive 
satellite imagery, to develop range-wide habitat  

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suitability models, that can inform management 
actions throughout the range of this species.

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Harrity turned to Landsat for the satellite imagery he needed.

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We needed a product that was accessible, 
available, covered our area of interest,  

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and our time frame of interest, and 
Landsat really fit that perfectly for us.

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And with this Landsat data, the Yuma Ridgway's Rail suitability model was born

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And we built this tool that 
is accessible to managers,  

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and they can view it, and it's 
updated annually so they'll have  

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up-to-date predictions of habitat suitability 
throughout the entire range of the species. So  

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they can really focus in on the areas that 
need management, that don't need management,  

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that perhaps need on the ground confirmation. It 
should be a powerful tool to more effectively  

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and efficiently allocate limited resources, to 
ideally one day get the species fully recovered!

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[Music]

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NASA USGS Science for a changing word. Landsat is a joint program of NASA and USGS