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Abstract
A large infestation of the invasive shrub saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima and Tamarix chinensis) was first detected east of the Montana–North Dakota border in 2001. Saltcedar has since spread from Montana along the Yellowstone and Missouri River corridors into the Lake Sakakawea region of west-central North Dakota, and has currently halted its progress at the reservoir's Garrison Dam. A receding lake level since 2001, the result of a moderate regional drought, has allowed saltcedar to quickly invade newly exposed shoreline. The infestation in some locations is severe, and there is concern among the lake managers that, left unchecked, the shrub will move upland and displace native species, degrade shoreline aesthetics, and damage wildlife habitat. Eradication efforts are underway, yet there is much interest among land managers in North Dakota in characterizing saltcedar spectrally to assist future remote detection efforts, especially in areas that are difficult to access on foot. To this end, close-range hyperspectral data collection was conducted on three dates during the 2003 growing season. This study reports the findings of close-range sensor data analyses.
Acknowledgements
This project was funded by North Dakota NASA EPSCoR through NASA grant #NCC5-582. Assistance was provided by Dan Halstead of the North Dakota Department of Game and Fish, Dean Cline of the North Dakota Department of Agriculture, and Joe Hall of the US Army Corps of Engineers. The ASD spectrometer used is owned by the Department of Space Studies at the University of North Dakota. Field data collection was aided by Brandee Pang and Brent Pringle. Karry Kyllo assisted with field data processing. Aerial data associated with this project was acquired and processed by the Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies (CALMIT) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.