A Rapid Photo Point Monitoring Method

Transcription

1 A Rapid Photo Point Monitoring Method Pat Reece, Prairie & Montane Enterprises Tonya Haigh, National Drought Mitigation Center Goal: To document the effects that long-term and extreme drought have on rangelands, and the process of recovery that will follow Basic Plan: 1. Gather equipment 2. Select locations that you will photograph three-four times over the coming year(s) 3. Set up the locations (once) so that each time you photograph, you are in the same spot 4. Take three photos (landscape, straight-down, side-view) each time at each location 5. Add photos to your files to help you see the effects of drought and recovery 6. Send labeled photos to or upload to to be part of a regional effort to track drought effects and recovery 1

2 Equipment Needed: Range site map (NRCS) Two 6-foot folding rulers or a 3x3 foot PVC frame* Steel rebar or wood stakes Hammer 100-foot tape PVC graduated staff* Several flags Digital Camera Photo Information Sheet and Clipboard GPS unit, compass T-bar steel posts and post driver Red spray paint *See next slides for how-to build these! How-To Build PVC frame: Use ¾ PVC. Four 35 7/8 sections and four 90 degree elbows. Use a flat work surface to assemble and glue elbows onto only two opposite 35 7/8 sections. The frame can then be disassembled for transport. 2

3 How-to Build *PVC Staff: Use 1 PVC one 6ft section or two 3ft sections. Paint as shown. If you are using two 3ft sections, use two 36, 1 dowels to assemble the staff. Drive one sharpened dowel into the ground Slide the bottom half over the dowel. Put an end of the next dowel into the top of the bottom PVC section. Slide the top half over the second dowel. *You could also build this from a piece of wood Photo Information Sheet Complete and use the Photo Information Sheet in all three photographs at the photo point. Display this sheet in every photograph you take. Use flat yellow or blue paper to reduce exposure problems in the photograph. Use a wide-tipped black marker to write on the sheet. Then include the sheet in each photo so that a record of when and where the photo was taken is included in each photo. 3

4 Selecting locations to photograph: It is helpful to see how different plant communities respond to drought. Please select locations that represent the best and mostin-need-of-improvement range conditions for the most common 1 or 2 range sites* on your ranch. *Range sites (or ecological sites) are distinctive kind of land with specific physical characteristics that differs from other kinds of land in its ability to produce a distinctive kind and amount of vegetation. (NRCS, National Range and Pasture Handbook, December 2003) You may want to contact the NRCS or use websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov to help determine your range sites. *find your sites using Web Soil Survey at All of the locations that you select should be affected by grazing - less than 1/2 mile (but more than 400 yards or ¼ mile) from water. Avoid livestock and game trails, erosional features, fences, and roads. Avoid depressions or down-slope positions where additional surface flow of precipitation may occur. So.How Many Locations? If you have one prevalent range site on your ranch, select two locations (1 best and 1 needs-improvement ). Sandy soil - best Sandy soil needs the most improvement (Optional) If you have two prevalent range sites, select a total of four locations (1 best and 1 needs-improvement for each site). 4

5 Setting up a location Set Up Diagram Reference Post 3x3 frame 100 End North Where you ll stand to take landscape shot (aka the Photo Point) 0 Origin South 5

6 Setting up a location Step 1: The Reference Post Once in your general selected location, choose a point where, when you look to the north, the view is pretty representative of that landscape or plant community. Place a stake (origin stake) and flag at that point. The stake will stay in place throughout the year, but the flags (which help with visibility) will go with you each time. Place a T-bar reference post about 12 inches to the south of the origin stake. This post will remain in place, and is located so as to reduce the likelihood of livestock disturbing the location of the actual photos. Spray-paint the top of the reference post red. Setting Up Step 2: The Photo Point Attach a 100 ft tape to the origin stake. Extend and lock the tape at 50 ft. Walk in a northward direction from the origin stake, and stop when you have reached 50 ft. Adjust up to 10ft east or west in order to avoid pocket gopher mounds, ant mounds, badger tunnels, etc. You want to see a 3ft by 3ft area, 5 feet north of where you stand, that is representative of your plant community. The landscape view from where you stand should also be representative of the target plant community. Set another stake and flag at this 50 ft mark. This is the photo point where you will stand for taking the landscape shot. 6

7 Setting Up Step 3: The End Point Now extend and lock the tape at 100 ft and walk towards the north until the tape is extended Align the tape to make a straight line with the first 2 flags, and mark the end point with the third stake and flag. Again, the stake will stay in place throughout the year, the flag will go with you. When you are ready to take the photos, you will set up the graduated staff next to the 100 ft (end) stake. Ready to take some photos? 7

8 When to take photos: Photos taken at each of the following four times will tell a valuable story Timing 1 Early spring green-up of native grasses April-May 2 60 days after spring green-up June-July 3 At or near killing frost September-November 4 When drought-induced dormancy occurs in dominant native grasses on either of the two locations. (The needs-improvement location may show droughtinduced dormancy first. Photograph both sites when this occurs.) Please photograph the best and needs-improvement photo points of each selected range site when the above events occur. Taking the Photographs Try to take photos in early morning or late afternoon. Don t take photographs from 11 am 2 pm. These guidelines will optimize color contrasts, keep your shadow out of the pictures, and reduce the risk of over exposure from sunlight. You have oriented the photo transects from south to north (looking north) to keep direct sunlight out of the camera lens. 8

9 Picture 1: Landscape towards Graduated Staff Use a piece of wood to prop the clipboard and photo information sheet nearly upright within viewing distance next to the tape. Standing over the photo point flag (50 foot mark on the tape), take a landscape photograph looking down the transect towards the graduated staff. Be sure to include some skyline. Picture 2: Straight down on Photo Point Outline a 3x3 foot square with your two 6- foot folding rulers or a PVC frame, centered over the tape so it intersects it at the 55-foot and 58-foot marks. (The 3x3 plot is placed 5 ft beyond the photo point stake to reduce the likelihood of people walking over the area.) Plants that are not rooted inside the plot should be carefully brushed or pushed outside the frame. Don t physically remove/pull the plants, please! Place the photo information sheet flat on the ground next to the plot. With your toes near the south edge of the frame, hold the camera at arms length and take an overhead photo of the plot and photo information sheet. Try not to include your shadow! 9

10 Picture 3: Side View Move the graduated staff to the east corner of the 3x3 plot. Plant height can then be estimated in this side-view photo. Prop the clipboard and photo information sheet nearly upright on the west (left) side of the plot area. Kneel down about 5 ft from the south side of the plot. Move forward or backward as needed to fully include the photo information sheet, the frame, and all vegetation inside the frame, and enough increments on the graduated staff to estimate plant height inside the frame. Relocation Before reeling in the tape, take a compass bearing of the tape from the origin stake. If you have the equipment, GPS and carefully label the data for all three stakes. Reel in the tape. Spray-paint each stake red and retrieve the flags. Stakes and reference posts can be painted before hand and sprayed as needed over time. 10

11 Be Consistent A complete photo point will include 3 photos: 1 landscape view, 1 overhead view, and 1 side view of the 3x3 plot Include the photo information sheet inside the frame of every picture for that site. Include the same skyline in repeat landscape pictures. Always preview each shot at the end of each step. Discard unusable photos before going to the next step. Carefully locate the same photo-points each time. Spray the reference posts and stakes with red paint as needed to speed up the process Please complete the photo points for the best and most need-ofimprovement examples of a given range site on the same day 11