The spreading threat of noxious weeds, identified by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt as a major environmental concern across the western U.S., is the next target of the remote sensing capabilities of Earth Search Sciences and its Probe-1 instrument.
ESSI Chairman Larry Vance today announced that Probe-1 will be
employed in a federal grant project for the University of Idaho to
identify specific noxious weeds advancing across federal and state
lands in northern Idaho.
“Probe-1 has demonstrated its capabilities on many natural
resource challenges, and this project will help establish our
instrument as a critical tool in the environmental arena,” Vance said.
“The revenue our company will derive from this work will be dwarfed,
we believe, by work we will be asked to perform once the federal
agencies see the quality of information that comes back from this
airborne remote sensing project directed by the College of Agriculture
at the University of Idaho.”
Vance said ESSI’s Probe-1 has been assigned 43 flight lines across central and northern Idaho and eastern Oregon on the project. Vance said Probe-1 will cover some 40 square miles of Idaho and Oregon terrain during the grant project. Separately, ESSI will conduct remote sensing flights for other purposes covering some 2,000 square miles in the region. The work will be carried out over the next several weeks.
“The rapid spread of noxious weeds has partnered growers, foresters, environmentalists and sportsmen to take action against the invasion and dominance of our lands,” said Dr. Larry Lass, a support scientist at the University of Idaho and the manager of the project. “Early detection of small infestations is the key to success before the environmental harm is done.
Funds provided by the members of the Tri-State Demonstration Weed Management Area allow the University of Idaho to test the Probe-1’s potential to detect small infestations in range and forest. This will establish a baseline from which we can measure the future success of mitigation programs designed to win the battle against noxious weeds. We need to know where the weeds are before the battle can begin.”
The University of Idaho will also examine Probe-1’s potential in
detecting common agricultural weeds in crops.
“Current precision agricultural sprayers are being produce to
reduce herbicide application costs by treating only weedy areas,” said
Dr. Lass. “Costs savings have not been fully realized because weed
locations are poorly mapped. Funds provided by the American Farm
Bureau and Idaho Farm Bureau supports the University of Idaho’s effort
to determine if the Probe 1 can detect and map weeds in wheat, peas,
lentils, and barley fields.” Lass said he is confident of further
grant funding for similar projects across other states as success is
shown in these pilot projects.
Vance founded Earth Search Sciences 15 years ago on the idea that
an improvement on existing satellite technology could be developed for
use in an airplane to make more affordable and flexible the process of
scanning of the earth for minerals and other specific targets of
interest.
Probe-1 was brought to market in 1997, and in the second half of
the year conducted successful missions with U.S. government agencies
over Kazakhstan and for private clients over targets in the United
States. This year, Probe-1 has been employed in remote sensing
missions in Australia, Mexico and the U.S.
Remote sensing, or “hyperspectral imaging,” creates ultra
high-resolution images of the earth’s surface. Analysis of these
images can determine the presence of target minerals in geologic
formations or evidence of minerals from vegetal “signatures.”
Earth Search Sciences officials believe Probe-1’s low-cost
capabilities extend across mineral, environmental, defense,
agriculture and many other industries.
Earth Observation Reports At SpaceDaily
