NASA John C. Stennis Space Center
Southern Rockies Ecological Forecasting

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>> Jeri: We are the Southern Rockies Ecological Forecasting team. The purpose of our project was to use NASA Earth Observations to develop a habitat suitability model to determine characteristics of suitable mule deer habitats in their winter range.

>> Jeri: Mule deer are an economically and ecologically important species in North America. Many western states experience economic growth from tourists who travel to hunt or view these large animals. They play a large role in their ecosystems' processes and serve as an ecological indicator for habitat quality. The mule deer population, however, faces the risk of losing their habitat due to anthropogenic effects. In our study area, land is being lost due to energy-, agricultural-, and housing-development. 

>> Jeri: The partners for this project were the Southern Rockies Landscape Conservation Cooperative and the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies' Mule Deer Working Group. Currently, decision makers rely solely on ground surveys to identify suitable habitats for mule deer. This method does not provide a comprehensive understanding of how and when mule deer are using different habitat patches. Our partners at the SRLCC expressed the need for applied science tools that utilize remote sensing data to characterize habitat quality at a landscape scale. Partners will benefit from predictive geospatial habitat quality models to better prioritize conservation management of key mule deer habitats. They were also interested in understanding the impact of fire disturbances and their potential to create high quality habitats for the mule deer because they promote growth of valuable plants that provide forage and thermal cover.

>> Jeri: MODIS data from the ForWarn System, Landsat data from the US Geological Survey's Multi-Resolution Land Characteristic Consortium, ASTER data from the US Geological Survey and PRISM data were downloaded and processed for use in this project. Additional data was obtained from Utah State University's RS/GIS Laboratory's Mule Deer Mapping Project dataset and the US Energy Information Administration's Natural Gas Interstate and Intrastate Pipelines dataset.

>> Jeri: Utah State University's Mule Deer Mapping Project provided the GIS dataset for the winter range utilized by mule deer. USGS and US Forest Service provided shapefiles for all fires which occurred in the SRLCC from 2005 to 2014. Landsat data provided current and historical landcover to describe the forage within the study area. ASTER data was used to describe the elevation ranges within the winter habitat of the mule deer. All data was clipped to the SRLCC boundary. Landcover changes which occurred between 2006 and 2011 were analyzed to depict the potential impact of fires on vegetation. Phenology data was analyzed along with vegetation to show the amount of "greenness" in the areas disturbed by large fire events. Landcover data from 2011, ASTER elevation data, PRISM precipitation and temperature data were all weighted depending on importance to mule deer survival in order to create a habitat suitability model for our end-users. To analyze the impact of gas development on mule deer populations, pipelines within our study area were mapped out.

>> Jeri: Maps were created showing the vegetation and phenology changes that occurred four to five years after a fire. They demonstrated that fires can cause valuable changes in vegetation for mule deer, primarily changing evergreens to shrubs and grasslands and secondarily changing shrubs and scrubs to evergreen and deciduous forests. They also demonstrated that fires can increase "greenness" years after their disturbance. Map layers were also created for elevation, temperature, precipitation and weighted along with landcover type to create a habitat suitability model. This model suggests areas that decision makers could focus restoration and conservation efforts.

>> Jeri: This project demonstrated the positive effects of wildfires, which may suggest to end-users to utilize prescribed burns within their conservation plans. It also allowed us to establish qualifications to define parameters for a suitable habitat.


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